Cry Once Buy Once vs. Excessive?

I'm about 85% on-road and 15% off-road in my 21' TRD Off-Road. I'm planning to get Pizza Cutters and can't decide between Bilstein 6112/5160s and Kings. The Bilsteins are enough for my purposes, right?


EDIT FOR RESPONSES:

It's interesting that salt came up. I live in Virginia where we seem to salt the entire winter. Are the Elka's salt resistance high enough to be a differentiator?

The 15% wheeling I do would be intermediate trails with some rock crawling and one stretch of washboards.

Money isn't the deciding factor.

I'm carrying roughly 350 pounds between the Bed Rack, RTT, and gear, 100% of the time.

 

How gnarly is that 15%?

 

Plenty good.

 

Explain that common saying. Why would you cry with a new mod? Haha! I really don’t get it.

 

Kings are rebuildable whereas the bilstein are not. Long term can have some $$$

 

My Kings ride amazing but always seem to weep oil from the wiper seal after a couple thousand miles. Still love them nonetheless.

Now Bilsteins don’t ride nearly as well but oh my god are they indestructible. They’ll work the same as new after 100k miles.

 

If your 85% road, Bilsteins. But, if money is not an issue, kings

 

Buy once, cry once… trust me. Mine snowballed when it should have started this way from the beginning

 

6112’s are rebuildable. Depends on what you’re trying to spend. I hear kings have an extremely long lead time right now.

 

Stock may be all you need so either or some of the other choices. If you are on road for the majority why don’t you get a performance upgrade focused around that as a primary decision. Digressive shocks are so often overlooked and might be just what you’re looking for.

 

You can’t really find 6112’s either right now ..

 

Buy all the things!

 

I never wheel, my truck is a well driven daily. I ran an Icon stage 3 for 86k miles, today I grabbed some Dobinson IMS fronts and fox rears. I wanted something that road well and would work well if I wanted to wheel. I’d go Icon again but I also wanted to try something new.

 

I have 6112's and 5100's. I skipped the 5160 as it's pretty much a 5100 with reservoirs that have been known to leak on occasion.

I've been driving the piss out of them for nearly 30K miles, and I'm mostly very happy with them. They can be harsh at times (usually washboards), but otherwise I have no issues. On the flip-side, I have been harsh on them at times, and so far they're taking it in stride. I off-road every other weekend or so, but mostly easy to medium trails, and they seem to be enough for me.

If you do decide to go with high end shocks, have them tuned to your vehicle. Places like @AccuTune Offroad can valve shocks specifically to you vehicle based on some measurements and your preferences. This seems ideal to me if you're going to spend the money anyway. I believe Radflo will also build shocks specifically for your setup as well.

 

I just bought an Icon Stage 1 kit because Kings and Fox are on a 30 week backorder. Kit is about $1700 rides great and fills the void. I think they are most likely the easiest to get as well.

But the buy once cry once I think is the best idea. If you have the money buy the best shock you can afford. A 3.0 maybe overkill but a 2.5 will ride sweet on road and awesome Offroad.

 

If you are living in a climate where winter is cold, snowy and everything that comes with that.....keep klear of Kings. You'll be rebuilding your Kings yearly.

 

Good point! I believe Elka are comparable to Kings, and a gentleman on 4runners.com seems confident they will hold up in a northern climate better. They are made in Canada if I'm not mistaken. I can't confirm whether they make a kit for the Tacoma, though.

 

kings aren’t the best, other choices available in that price range that are as good or better,…so the 6112’s would be cherry as a great offroad shock without being excessive

 

They do.

 

I have the 6112/5160+Icon leaf setup with 255/85-16 G003 and it’s more capable than I am.