Setup for mountain roads

I've been looking through thread after thread but can't seem to find anyone that has set their truck up for doing mountain roads. I have to take a mountain road about 7 miles each way to work. I usually hit about 50-65mph and it has a half a dozen turns that slow you down to about 20mph. Suspension that handles the mountain roads well is what i'm looking for. Obviously stiffer would be better but I'd still like 33's and would need a small lift.

I head to the snow a handful of times a year so but that's the extent of needing 4x4. Mainly just to get in and out of parking lots that have a ton of snow built up.

2016 TRD Sport 4x4

What would you guys suggest?

TIA!

David

 

Your only going to be able to go so fast on curvey roads in a truck. I live in the hills and use to drive curvey mountain roads every day untill I recently moved. Never really thought about it much but driving the roads may just be second nature to me as i grew up on them and have always had a truck. But my truck has ome setup front and rear with a dakar leaf pack. 886 springs up front. And im running 285s about to jump ship to 315s. My truck does great on back roads ( not much roll at all in corners ) But its no subaru.

 

Are you not liking the stock setup? Have you found a limit that is holding you up?

Myself, the sway bar was a problem. With it gone, off roading is much better as are uneven bumps on road.

I'm looking forward to when the stock Toyos are worn out. Some reasonable A/T tires would take me as far as I need to get.

Rereading your post though, I'm wondering if you are talking about paved, twisty roads? If so, the stock setup was pretty freaking stellar for a truck. Even without the sway bar, I still hustle it through corners to the point of hearing some tire howling.

 

I was running BFG KO2 tires and they seemed ok. Would coilovers on the stiffer setting be similar or stiffer than the stock TRD Sport suspension?

 

In my opinion the stock sport suspension is probably going to be better handling than the vast majority of lift options. Raising your center of gravity at all is bad for curvy roads no matter what the "upgrade" is, I'd stick with stock ride height if handling is the priority. If your only 4x4 action is snow then I'd go with pizza cutter 255s, that'll get you 33" tires that are best for snow/ice and won't require lifting/trimming.

For handling I think a good quality set of tires and adding some weight to the rear end are going to have the two biggest impacts.

Seriously throw on a rear bumper w/swingout I bet that improves turn in more than almost anything, just personal experience (I'm no expert) but all of my tacomas seem to handle best with a good 200-300lbs in the bed.

 

I was going to write that, but since I have no experience with lifts, I didn't want to speculate that much.

+1 on the weight in the rear for winter. Tossing a couple sacks of sand back there ($10 total) for winter gave a very noticeable change last year.

 

Yes I was looking at the 255's. Won't I need to lift it a little to fit the 33's under there?

Hmm interesting about the weighted backend. I'll have to make a home depot run! haha

 

Not for pizza cutters.

Definitely. I need to drop by to pick some up for this year. After winter is over, I drop them off in the sandbox at my Wife's school.

 

sport suspension, no lift, 255s on T4R wheels.

 

I've built trucks that can handle curves and ones that can run bigger tires. They are not the same truck. You will compromise somewhere. Anything much over a 50% aspect ratio is going to have sidewall flex in the corners. You could also run stiffer spring rates but that hurts your slow speed ride offroad.

 

Read up on people running the 255's. There are reports of adverse handling effects from running these skinny tires that you should be aware of. Especially on curvy mountain roads.

 

Are there any good 255 snow tires? I'm assuming you meant 255/80/17 size, since he wants 33's for some reason. I can't seem to find any other than ST Maxx. Others are Mud tires. Also, I don't know if 10mm will make any noticeable difference in "cutting through snow". This seems to be prevalent rumor in the forums, but I have yet to experience any benefits even going down to 235's. Actually, 285's seemed to handle better for me in the snow/slosh. It wasn't as prone to tracking as the narrower tires.

 

I think I would compromise on the off road ability since I'm never off road. I'm using the 18" FN BFD wheels so was looking at 265/70/18 which is a 32.6" tall wheel or there is 255/70/18 which is 32.1"... Hmm decisions.

 

I have done a lot of reading regarding this. There is not much you can do except a few things. Trust me when I say don't do suspension first to try to troubleshoot. I did this on my 350Z and changed the suspension out almost a half dozen times trying different setups and combinations only to realize that keeping it simple handled the best. Since we are not dealing with a sports car i suggest the following.

1. get better tires.. You said you "were" running BFG's so I am not sure if you still have them or not
2. Add a rear swaybar
3. optional get some 5100's to stiffen things up. But if your truck is doing really well with one or both of the first 2 options i would stop there and seriously think about the next choice you make.

If you do not want new tires than a swaybar is your only option. I have looked at the helwig rear adjustable swaybar and everyone has good things to say about them. Sport owners have benefited the most probably due to the stock shocks and lower profile tires. I do not want one but feel it is on my list.

As far as tires can you shake the bed of the truck by grabbing one side of it and see if the tires are actually slopping left to right? Like the sidewall is not very strong? My truck stock did this and going from 35psi stock to 40psi made it handle noticeably better.
Now I am not suggesting you drive it every day like this but its a free option to troubleshoot for now. If this makes an improvement than an AT tire with a stiffer sidewall would benefit. If you do not have this problem then a rear swaybar probably should be looked into.

As far as replacing the tires there are tons of options. Most will say go BFG KO but honestly these tires will add like 10+ lbs of weight per wheel and could seriously change the handling in a way you might not like. I am trying to stay on topic since you are only concerned about driving up and down the mountain and improving handling. Most that have them also have suspension upgrades to compliment them.

The only tire i can suggest for this would be the Firestone destination AT "P" rated tire. It will make your truck handle better and is advertised for good handling and it delivers on that promise. Plus you have the added benefit of it being an AT tire and this tire will NEVER wander on the freeway. The bed shake test will show you that the slop is gone. I come from driving a 350z for 10 years so I feel i know a little something about handling

 

I'm confused, are you talking about dirt/gravel roads?

 

These are lower profile......probably the best you are going to get.

 

After re-reading the thread once more i would suggest looking into a rear swaybar

 

One thing here is that adding a rear sway bar will add more bite to the front end. Given the stock weight balance, this is probably not a good idea esp in slick conditions unless you are adding a lot of permanent weight back there.

 

Referencing your original post; do you need these changes or are you just wanting bigger tires for looks?

 

So I'm back on the stock tires after running down the old KO2 265/65/18 and was looking to possible go up in size a bit since they looked a bit small.

I'm not on dirt/gravel. They are nice mountain roads that are nearly freshly paved so no rocks or debris.

A sway bar might do the trick!

Ahh... here is a post... this might be what I was looking for:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/adding-rear-sway-bar.492956/