Replaced Shocks and struts and now my ride is not as smooth. Please advise.

Hello,

let me start off by saying that I'm defiantly not a mechanic.

I recently had a shop replace my struts and shocks on my 2008 Tacoma Sport. The mechanic used KYB Excel - G Shocks and Struts. Now I can feel every little imperfection in the road. I'm curious if these are bad struts or if they were potentially installed wrong.

I'm planning on taking my truck back in, but I'm wondering if I should be asking for a different brand. The leaky struts and shocks that were on the vehicle rode smoother than the new ones.

 

Probably because they were worn out.

Try Monroe Sensatrac, but your old stuff is old. New stuff is new. Ride will not be the same.

 

What do you like doing with your truck? Are you always on pavement or do you like going offroad ?

 

I use it as my daily driver but I also like to do off road driving as well. Nothing too crazy, but I have to drop it into 4WD from time to time. I drive two track trails quite often.

 

If you don’t like the KYBs, you’re probably going to feel the same with the other brands.

 

You can check out the suspension forum, lots of good info.
If your on a budget Bilstein 5100s, Rancho 9000, are fairly cheap.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/forums/suspension.18/

 

I’d recommend Bilstein 5100s or some other similar system tuned for the Tacoma. It sounds like the suspension you got was perhaps a bit more stiff than you wanted, perhaps a performance style shock. 5100s ride much better, as would Eibach or OME

 

What are your thoughts about leaving the KYBs in the back but replacing the front struts with Bilstein?

 

Your new shocks are new. You've gotten used to the pillow soft ride that your clapped out old ones provided. Any brand of new shock is gonna feel stiffer than a worn out old one.

 

I don’t have any experience with KYB so I can’t provide insight on that. You can try it out and see if you like it, if you don’t like the feel in the back, you can always add in new rear shocks later.