Bilstein 4600

Has anyone on here replaced the OEM Hitachi shocks that come on the TRD Sport with ACTUAL Bilstein 4600's & not TRD off road take-offs?

 

I am looking to do the same, but other threads recommend 5100s. If you have a sport look at your drivers inside door sticker. It calls for 29lbs for the tires. Mine were set to 34 by the dealership. When I dropped them to 29lbs (cold) it made quite a bit of difference. I still plan on changing hitachi out but doing my grill first.

 

I've been the 5100 route on my 2012 Access cab Taco... very rough ride with pre-load on OEM springs. I've never tried them on the stock setting.

 

good to know - whats your tire pressure set 2

 

Have not checked that. I will today and let you know

 

Is there a difference between the 4600s and the OEM take off 4600s? Pretty sure they replace them with the same thing if/when they wear out?

 

YES, there is. While they may say "Bilstein" on them, their are built using Toyota specs so they aren't "truly" Bilsteins

 

Bilstein 4600s aren't Bilsteins? Wow that's news to me.

 

Ok, slight misunderstanding. The Bilsteins 4600's you would buy from let's say shockwarehouse.com, they are not the same as the Bilsteins you would go to your local Toyota dealer and buy.

 

Same here. What's your source on this fact?

 

What's the difference?

 

So the bilstein 4600s that Toyota Factory installs on their trucks are not built by Bilstein. They're manufactured by some other supplier (perhaps organically by Toyota) and then Bilstein just allows them to slap the sticker on? This is what you're saying.

 

No they are still built by Bilstein, but not using Bilstein factory specs, they are built by Bilstein using Toyota specs. They even say on the shock, "Toyota Bilstein"

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/comparison-trd-bilstein-vs-4600s-rear-shocks.472585/

See this link...

 

So no different than the 3rd gen specific 6112s. Built by Bilstein and spec'd for the Third Gen.

 

Completely different shock and yes very different. Bilstein engineered and developed the 6112 for the Tacoma (and other trucks) independent from Toyota. Toyota had no say in the development of the 6112. This also goes for the 5100's.

 

Very interesting. Leave it to Toyota to force another (smaller) company's hand in producing something they want and call it the same thing though aesthetically and functionally different. Money talks...

 

So even if you have a TRD off road Tacoma, changing out the factory shocks to true Bilstein 4600's will be an upgrade.

 

WTF??!!
I took the factory "un-Bilstein" Toyota spec'd 4600's and put in 2nd gen specific "Bilstein" 6112's and generic Tacoma "Bilstein" 5160's. Does that mean I don't have Toyota specific Bilstein's in my Tacoma?

Interesting....I'd actually rather have Toyota spec'd valving for my vehicle. Their engineers seem to know what they're doing, so I wouldn't consider an off shelf item in the same line up, an "upgrade".

 

No, wow this thread took an unexpected turn..........

Bilstein develops shocks for thousands of vehicles. Yes the 6112's and 5160's you bought are specific for your Tacoma. Bilstein measures travel distance and valving to create each shock. They measured the Tacoma's suspension travel and developed shocks to match and calculated valving based upon weight of the truck and so on. The springs on the 6112 are specific to your Tacoma as well.

 

For those interested, here is a link directly from Bilstein on all the shocks they offer that are SPECIFIC to the Tacoma

http://cart.bilsteinus.com/search/mmid=486260/drivetype=4WD