Highway ride Qaulity

For the love of God, DO NOT follow the door sticker tire pressures. Read the sidewall of your tire. Inflate to just below Cold PSI. Or try both methods and see if you get different results.

 

lol the bed mat is heavy as hell. velcro?

 

I have the same truck. Mine is 2wd, not sure about yours.

I changed the tires and wheels over to the 265/70R16's from a TRD Offroad model, and noticed a HUGE difference in ride quality compared to the stock 245/75R16's and the stock Hankook tires. The ride definitely got smoother, I've had them on for about 2000 miles and love them. It could a mix of Goodyear tires and slightly larger contact patch, or it could be one more than the other I'm not sure. I also added a "leveling kit" to the front which according to most people reduces ride quality, and I think its still night and day compared to stock. But maybe consider all that when you wear out your stock tires, or just go for it now if you want. I've always thought ride quality varied greatly between different tire manufactures, but I may be crazy.

 

What kind of bed mat do you have? I have a Bedrug mat and it's light as heck.

 

toyota oem its rubber thick and heavy as hell. had to drag it to the bed to get it in because of its awkard size/dimensions and weight.

 

That sounds like user error.

 

i have the long bed, its comes rolled up in a box when you open it unfolds. Id love to see a video of you getting in your bed "gracefully".

i guarantee you will look and feel dumb.

Its a 1 time thing tho so no biggie, ill live.

made ride a lot better though especially with the bakflip.

 

My MAT is the rubber Toyota mat as well, and yes it's thick and heavy for what it is. Don't buy it from Toyota. Go Amazon for $99.

 

Psi on the sidewall of tire is MAX, not the recommended pressure.

 

This is just terrible advice.

 

Right, The Max "COLD" pressure. Don't take my word for it, I've only been doing this for 45 years. If it makes you feel better, do as the sticker tells you.

 

Just because you've been doing something for 45 years doesn't mean you've been doing it right. If you like driving around on bricks and wearing out the center of your tires by all means run at max cold psi.

Ideally OP should do a chalk test, and then adjust from there. Only time my tires are near max is when I'm hauling a lot of weight, and they go back to normal when I'm done.

 

NEWS FLASH, my tires don't ride like bricks OR wear out the center tread. Bias ply tires will do that, not modern radial tires. Do you live under a rock?

All jokes aside, do as you wish, I was only trying to help. I will kindly bow out of this debate.

 

I find the ride on the OR kind of floaty, which to be honest is what I expected with the wheels and suspension. It's not a bad thing, especially with the horrible roads in town here. Potholes with attitude.

On the highway it's just fine.

I was expecting a bit more body roll on the curves, but it's not bad at all. I don't beat it in the twisties like my Miata though.

I agree it's a truck. On a par with our previous Chevy Avalanche.

 

i had a chevy avalanche and I have to disagree with you there a bit.

chevy avalanche was like driving a boat, 65+ was scary.. lol

my favorite truck of all time.. miss it.

 

I don't need no stinking rubber mat to look and feel dumb thank you very much.

That aside, I'm still skeptical that a bed mat does anything to effectively weigh down the back of a truck.

 

We liked the Avalanche and would still have it except very poor gas mileage and very large--high off the ground, hard to park. Otherwise it was a great ride. Ours was 2014 or so, fully loaded, we had about 3 years. I remember it driving like a big lifted sedan. Fine for long trips.

I do find the Taco pleasantly responsive, in other words, doesn't drive like a big car/truck. It's fine for highway driving--much better than my other recent sports cars LOL.

 

Lolwhat. I came from a first gen Ridgeline (so baby Avalanche, just as ugly) and BMW 335i to the Tacoma and the OR is crazy floaty and all sorts of squirrelly compared to those other cars. I'm not criticizing, I've driven plenty of body on frame trucks before so I knew what I was getting back into and I'm generally happy with how the Tacoma rides compared to older iterations of body on frame. But c'mon, it ain't better than a sports car in any realm of reality.

 

Just got back from the dealership. 3 of the 4 tires needed balancing. Feels like a truck should now. Thanks for all the input!

 

Ah, the age old pressure debate. My door sticker on my second gen is 29 front/32 back. I run close to that at about 30 to 31 front/ 32 back. Anything higher and the centers start wearing out faster and the truck rides like a brick. To each his own.