Eibachs Ride Bouncy

I don’t mind a little rake, in fact I kind of preferred it. Not so happy with this shop so far. Was inclined to do it myself but made the last minute choice to go to a shop. And he did save me money, by saying I didn’t need the timbren bump stops because they end up just limiting travel. I’ll lower the Eibachs an inch (which I can do while the truck is just on a jack, right?) and then see how it feels. Do I need an alignment again after that?

also: I’m pretty sure the rear is only lifted 1”. He removed some overload before adding the 1.5” AAL, so it added to about 1”

 

They’re old tires. I plan on getting new ones soon. I do have the old ones on hand still. Not sure how much that would affect the ride compared to the suspension, though.

 

I had the Eibach setup on a stock weight truck so I can speak from experience.

You need to jack the entire front end off the ground (both tires) to make it a little easier. Granted, using the Eibach spanner wrench is not easy at all, will take a fair amount of force and you might need to pull the tires.

Did you already get an alignment? When are you getting new tires?

I'd lower the truck an inch, and drive the truck around on the old tires. Once everything is settled and dialed in, then go get it aligned. Dropping a truck an inch is a big change to alignment numbers.

For reference, I just lowered my truck 1/4" and had a fresh alignment done.

 

I’m going to get new tires in a few weeks to a month. Maybe less. Perhaps I can call the shop and ask if they’ll lower it as just a bit of maintenance for free. I have to go in after 1200 miles for an inspection anyways

 

More than you can imagine.. I think I'd spend 10 minutes switching out your wheels/tires and go for a drive before dicking around with your suspension setup.

 

If you lower an inch I’d recommend getting it aligned again. So if you getting tires I’d do it the same time.

 

I’ll wait until I get the new tires, and if it’s still bad, then lower it maybe? Or are you suggesting I’ll get the same effect by just switching out my old, smaller tires.

 

Lower it now. Play around with the what settings you like.

Once you get new tires it should ride a little better.

Once the new tires go on, get an alignment.

OP has a 2020 Tacoma, this is a new truck for most people. The tires can not be bad enough to negatively compromise the ride that much. Unless someone put the absolute cheapest tires on it from Walmart and then drove 60k. It's not like we're talking a 93 GMC Syclone found in a barn with original tires that we are troubleshooting why it rides like shit.

 

I'm saying if you have an old set of wheels/tires that are easily accessible, throw them on right now and see if that changes your ride comfort. Its very possible you put on heavy E load tires, which are much more stiff than standard SL/P rated tires. If you can throw on some old wheels easily, or have a friend you can borrow their wheels for like 10 mins, its worth a try before adjusting your suspension and needing another alignment.

Or you can just adjust your suspension, put on new tires, get a new alignment, find out its just as stiff, and still be unhappy. There's tons of possibilities, we're all just shooting in the dark, but your top 3 suspects are too much preload on coilovers, tires are more stiff than previous, or spring rate of coils is more stiff than desired. Very likely all 3 are at play.

 

He stated he put on old (2018) 33" K02s. Going from stock tires (new or old) to 33" K02's, probably E load (new or old) will absolutely make a difference in ride comfort. But again, its very likely a combination of stiffer tires, more preload than desired, and stiffer coils than desired. We all know "off-road" mods don't help "on-road" mannerisms in any way, especially not at a budget price.

 

I am running 2018 BFG KO2 285/75/r16. They’re cracking and I need new ones ASAP.

 

I don’t mind if the coils are “stiff”, it’s just I read that Eibachs provided a good medium between performance and daily driving. I like the way it dives less and corners, just seems a bit rough. I’m tempted to just try getting new tires before I lower it, would save a lot of mental and monetary anguish

 

You do mind if the coils are stiff, because that contributes to your ride being stiff and feeling every bump. I'm encouraging you to try to borrow some wheels/tires from someone nearby to go on a test drive with, or use your old ones if you still have them, to figure out if most of that discomfort is because of your K02s or if it actually is your suspension. Spoiler alert, its both, but you should try to distinguish how much effect the tires are having on that discomfort before you go a spend $1500+ on a new set of tires and end up just as unhappy.

 

I generally don’t mind if the coil is tight. I just don’t want to be making my ride quality worse than what it would be, because then I paid for capabilities that I’m not getting. I know that when you mod a vehicle for off roading, you lose a little bit of the daily driving comfort. This just seemed a bit exaggerated from what I’ve read

 

There’s a difference between the coils just being stiff, and applying too much preload. As long as I’m getting what I’m paying for, I’m happy.

 

Might I also add, if the coil is naturally stiff from the factory, that’s all good. But if my application is making it worse, then not only am I affecting the daily drive, but I’m also bottlenecking my off road capabilities.

 

It's free to lower the truck, literally takes 10 minutes, maybe 15 if you need to pull the tires.

That's one of the benefits of the Eibachs, adjustments can happen on the truck. Almost any other coilover you'll need to pull the shock off, put it in a compressor, and adjust it. It's a huge pain in the ass for these other shocks.

I probably adjusted the height of my truck when I was on Eibach's 6 or 7 times to get it dialed in.

Did you just put these used tires on when you lifted it or were they on beforehand? What is the load rating of the tire?

 

You should take a look at the eibach front shocks with the adjustable notch settings and compare that to your adjustable eibach coilovers. The different notch settings are supposed to be for added weight, so if you use the higher notches without added weight, it yields greater lift (and more ride stiffness naturally). You've essentially done this with your coilovers - preloaded to a setting as if you were carrying extra weight (bumper/winch/skids), yet do not have the weight to compensate that extra stiffness. Those adjustments just don't affect ride height, as you add preload, it becomes stiffer.

 

These are not overly stiff coils from the factory. They are a standard 14" 600lb spring which can be found on nearly every other coilover application for these trucks on the market.

Your pre-load setting is making them more stiff than needed, ruining your onroad performance. If you think it rides bad now, wait til you take it off road.

 

Sounds like you know everything you need to know to fix your problem then.