Please Help!!!!!! questions about leveling kits, tires, and how the affect the ride.

Hey! This is my first post on the forum, I've used tacomaworld a few times when researching leveling and tire combos.... let's say my research was incomplete.

So, I bought my 2016 2wd SR5 v6 tacoma 2 months ago. The best thing I have ever bought. I love the truck so much and it's really been amazing having it! One of the very first things I noticed about my new tacoma is how smooth it rides, or rode. I may have been a bit over zealous, being that I've only had the truck for 2 months, and I immediately (after some research, and assurances from my roommate) bought bigger wheels, tires, and installed a 2" leveling kit in the front. After the install, on the first drive I quickly noticed the ride was RUINED. every bump was now apparent and was really a let down.

What I'm getting at is: what is the part that caused the suspension to feel terrible all of a sudden? I haven't been able to find a specific answer so I was hoping this would help.
Here is what I'm running: 2wd v6, w/ 2" leveling kit in the front, 31.6" KUMHO AT51 tires, and 17x9 wheels.

Another question is, if it is the leveling kit, can I run the tires I have now without them rubbing if I remove the kit? I'm currently considering returning to my stock wheel/tire combo and removing the leveling kit, as I know that would resolve the issue. Obviously I would like to keep my new set of tires if the ride is closer to stock without the leveling kit than it is now which is terrible. Thank you in advance!!

 

17 inch wheels ride worse than your stock 16 inch wheels (assuming).

Not sure what load rating your tires are, anything other than P metric will be worse riding than stock.

Not sure what lift you have, but any lift is going to be firmer than stock. If you loved the stock ride, you should leave it stock.

 

How would I figure out if my tires would run without the lift?

 

I'm sure you can run a sub 32" tire without any issues. Depending on width.

Someone else can confirm.

But, stock ride goes away when stock parts go away.

 

Thanks for the info! If someone else could elaborate a little more too that would be great! I Have a Rough Country leveling kit. How does the leveling kit negatively affect the ride? Do you feel the tires or the kit are more of the issue changing the ride?

 

Also I've read on here that 32" tire fits with no rubbing, but would the 17x9 wheel change that any?

 

also the tires a P 265 70 17

 

265s will fit in stock form. Is your ( leveling kit ) a spacer? If so just take it out and keep your tires and wheels.

 

yup its just a metal spacer. the fact that the rim is wider than stock won't make a difference? Do you feel the kit is more of the problem than the tires?

 

its the spacers, take it out, the 31.6" tires should be fine. Provided they aren't super wide.

 

So I called the shop that I had put everything on, I would have done it myself but I don't have a spring compressor or tire machine to switch sensors. He feels pretty adamant that none of that should affect the ride. He mentioned tire pressure. these new tires are filled to 42 where my stock ones were at 32. could that honestly be the fix? Or is this guy bullshitting me? lol thanks guy for all the help. I just want it to ride right again. How the suspension feels has made me afraid of bumps in the road! lol

 

Yes tire pressure will affect the hardness of the ride. But your install guy IS bullshitting you. A spacer lift will do nothing but make the ride harsher. Assuming you didn't change anything in the rear, you have changed the geometry of how the truck was engineered to ride.

Take the spacers out, and get Billstein 5100's or a complete OME coilover. Will ride better than the spacers, but nothing will be as good as stock unless you spend big dough on King/Fox.

 

chalk test is the only way to get your air pressure right. As for the shop, they don't know diddly shit, spacers=less than optimum ride. if you want to "level" your front, try Bilstien 5100's set at 0.85, this will level your truck. I have spend probably days here on the forum putting together what I think will work for my needs, yet I still read anything that comes out, knowledge is power. BTW, I am still 5 months off from having enough to do my 2" lift with 275/70/17's, so research time is plentiful.

 

Well Thank you very much for all that info! I will try tire pressure first to see how that feels. I'm really kinda anxious about the leveling kit now though. I will do trial and error and let you know what helps most.

 

I agree, I mean honestly if I could get that leveling kit out without having to switch tires that would be ideal. I should have known better than to take the cheap quick route. Never works how you hope.

 

Does the spacer pre-load the spring or does it sit above the strut assembly? If it is pre-loading the spring, that is the source of the poor ride quality.

 

42 PSI is way too high.

I run mine at 34.

 

But the OP might not have the same as you. There are kits that go between the spring and top hat of the shock/strut. He mentioned needing a spring compressor.

 

The spacer sits on top of the spring and is mounted to the top strut assembly. Seriously may have been tire pressure!!! It was @ 42 and I just reduced it to 35 and it seemed much nicer! My stock tires were @ 32 so I may go all the way back down to there. Shop just filled the to whatever they felt like I guess

 

Air pressure seems high at 42 but you've figured this out already. Get an alignment while you're at it.