Ride Quality - Jittery at certain speeds.

[FoozGrind]

The Trd sport has the same shocks as the sr5 they hit hard on bumps smooth otherwise. Your tire pressure is not the issue. IWait for bilsteins and get the 5100s that what i am gonna do.

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[porkyfly]

are there any other aftermarket shock options that are available now?

 

[FoozGrind]

are there any other aftermarket shock options that are available now?

Yea you can google them but it’s gonna be expensive like over 1grand easily. The bilsteins would prolly under 1k. How long have you had the 4Runner? I’ve had mine since March and yes it hits bumps like your being smacked in the ass but I am kind of used to it I mean I expect it now so it’s not a shocker when I hit the holes

 

[porkyfly]

Yea you can google them but it’s gonna be expensive like over 1grand easily. The bilsteins would prolly under 1k. How long have you had the 4Runner? I’ve had mine since March and yes it hits bumps like your being smacked in the ass but I am kind of used to it I mean I expect it now so it’s not a shocker when I hit the holes

I've had mine for a month and a half, around 2000miles. You should not expect to "hit bumps like your being smacked in the ass" on a 50k car. Ride comfort is a core competency of the 4runner, just like offroad capability and reliability. There should not be a regression going to this new model.

That said, I will say i rented a 2023 tacoma and i remember the ride quality being just as bad

 

[FoozGrind]

I've had mine for a month and a half, around 2000miles. You should not expect to "hit bumps like your being smacked in the ass" on a 50k car. Ride comfort is a core competency of the 4runner, just like offroad capability and reliability. There should not be a regression going to this new model.

That said, I will say i rented a 2023 tacoma and i remember the ride quality being just as bad

Ok, I don’t know how the stock ride was on my 2016 sr5 prem when I bought it back then I installed a set of 4 bilsteins 5100s within a week. Never had any issue with bumps or whatnot so I am going to do the same. It’s just the type of ride the model caters to. The every other model besides the sport and the sr5 come with upgraded shocks. I’ve also only ever owned a 2008 4Runner back in 2008 and then my 2016 so I am use to driving trucks and bumps.

 

[porkyfly]

never mind about the hybrid springs on nonhybrid theory - the hybrid models have the same issue

hope this is resolvable with replacement springs. If this issue is inherent to the platform i guess i should dump the car now

https://www.edmunds.com/car-news/2025-toyota-4runner-trd-pro-long-term-update.html

"I hate this thing on the street and the highway," writes supervising video producer John Adolph. "The springs are way too stiff. Every bump, every imperfection — my teeth and jaw shake."

 

[4jogger]

I wonder how many miles these guys have on the car. It feels like the suspension softens a litle over time.

 

[nandrian6]

I wonder how many miles these guys have on the car. It feels like the suspension softens a litle over time.

I'm at 1700, seems more jittery than earlier but hoping to get it settled in the next few thousand. I will also do some off road breaking in. At what mileage do you typically notice break in, in your experience?

 

[FoozGrind]

I don’t think it gets better you just get use to it I guess kind of the same thing.

 

[Nodak]

the only thing i have notice is the hybrid drive system goes wonky at times and introduces a weird driveline harmonic. doesnt happen every time but when it does it like its trying to engage/disengage within 1 sec constantly.

only way i can resolve it is to put it into sport mode or manual shifting mode so it turns off the auto start/stop and hybrid battery engagement.

 

[FoozGrind]

At low gear? Cause I have the reg engine and it buckles between 1 and 2 randomly when going slow I had to change drive mode also to make it stop

 

[Gumpus]

I've had mine for a month and a half, around 2000miles. You should not expect to "hit bumps like your being smacked in the ass" on a 50k car. Ride comfort is a core competency of the 4runner, just like offroad capability and reliability. There should not be a regression going to this new model.

That said, I will say i rented a 2023 tacoma and i remember the ride quality being just as bad

I'll just comment that the 5th Gen also gets plenty of complaints around ride quality and at least one source (Edmunds or Consumer Reports) gives it a very low rating. It sounds like the ride quality concerns are different (5th Gen is harsh front and rear but does "round off" the initial impact and the overall suspension stiffness required to support solid axles gives a ridiculous amount of head toss on crummy rural roads).

Regarding vibration peaks at 45 vs 70 that's normal since vehicles have sensitivity peaks at specific frequencies. The overall ride quality is definitely affected by physics since the rear springs need to support a solid rear axle plus 2 tire/wheel assemblies (like over 1000 pounds) versus an independent suspension that only needs to control a 50 pound tire/wheel assembly.

You can probably get a small benefit from switching to tires with a top rating for comfort like Michelin Defenders but that's an expensive experiment and will not eliminate your concern.

 

[nandrian6]

I'll just comment that the 5th Gen also gets plenty of complaints around ride quality and at least one source (Edmunds or Consumer Reports) gives it a very low rating. It sounds like the ride quality concerns are different (5th Gen is harsh front and rear but does "round off" the initial impact and the overall suspension stiffness required to support solid axles gives a ridiculous amount of head toss on crummy rural roads).

Regarding vibration peaks at 45 vs 70 that's normal since vehicles have sensitivity peaks at specific frequencies. The overall ride quality is definitely affected by physics since the rear springs need to support a solid rear axle plus 2 tire/wheel assemblies (like over 1000 pounds) versus an independent suspension that only needs to control a 50 pound tire/wheel assembly.

You can probably get a small benefit from switching to tires with a top rating for comfort like Michelin Defenders but that's an expensive experiment and will not eliminate your concern.

APpreciate this perspective a lot - I am hesitant to change tires at all, since I currently have Michelin LTX, which have from those I've spoken with, gotten strong reviews for ride quality. The other expensive experiment is switching to Fox 2.0s. Wondering if there's a way to trial out the Fox shocks before committing (e.g. wondering if any cars come stock w/ Fox 2's). Cheapest first-pass experiment is to simply weight down the back as if we have the 400lb hybrid batteries and see if it softens the initial load, I may try that this week.

 

[TheActuary]

It’s not a hybrid/non-hybrid issue. This is my 4th 4Runner and the suspension is notoriously sensitive to tire balancing. I have a ‘25 TRD ORP with Nitto Ridge Grapplers. The dealership tried to Road Force Balance 3 times, but they didn’t try too hard. The dealer was balancing the tires, but had to use lots of weight on several tires. That gives you a smooth ride on a perfect road, but introduce any imperfections and you start to feel a harmonic vibration because the heavy wheel assembly is bouncing all over.

Discount Tire was able to redo the road force balance with the objective of getting road force on each tire below 10 and using as little extra weight as possible. They had to reindex some tires but that helped a lot.

it’s still lot perfect, but I’m only at 3,500 miles. As others suggest, maybe the suspension will continue to break in and smooth out.

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