Toyota Forum banner
Cancel
Create thread New Garage Forums

Bilstein 5100's installed along with new tires

1 reading
Jump to Latest
9.8K views 10 replies 8 participants last post by  MattN03  
W
#1 ·
After a year and hours of research, finally pulled the trigger on a set of Bilstein 5100 shocks and new Goodyear Duratrac tires. Below are my thoughts:

Bili 5100's: Set at 1.75, which levels the truck perfect w/ the rear TSB. Truck rides great and thankfully no noticeable vibration. A friend did the install and it went well, except the we installed the bottom plate upside down, which gave us an added 1" but made it very difficult to compress and set at 1.75. At that point I figured something was wrong and went to the forumns for answers - mission accomplished.

Tires: New Goodyear Duratrac's - 265/75/16". One word....AMAZING. Purchased at Discount Tire in Reno. The day I had them installed, the snow started falling. These tires have excellent traction in the white stuff. They also transformed the look of the truck. Very, very happy.

Misc. - After the install of tires, took my truck to Mikes Automotive Perfection in Reno for an allignment. Good thing, as the install of the shocks really took it out of factory specs. All set now. Let me know if anyone wants to see the spaces after the 5100 install.

Below are some photos - truck is dirty as I've been on the mountain all week enjoying 5+ feet of new snow.


Image
Image
Image
Image
 
Save
Reply Quote Like Like
#4 · (Edited)
waizone said:
Tires: New Goodyear Duratrac's - 265/75/16". One word....AMAZING. Purchased at Discount Tire in Reno. The day I had them installed, the snow started falling. These tires have excellent traction in the white stuff. They also transformed the look of the truck. Very, very happy.
Click to expand...
Got a few questions for you on the Duratracs. I looked around on other forums of people running these to see if they were an option that I would consider. Other than all the good things people had to say (and believe me, there were a lot of the FJ forums but that was mostly for using them off-road), here's some specifics on the bad things.

1. On the tacoma, they tend to track poorly when hitting ruts/grooves in the road.

2. They wear quickly.

3. The sipes extend only 1/3 of the way into the tread block.

If you would, please report back over time your experience with 1 & 2. As far as 3 goes, can you take a look and tell me whether the siping does or does not go all the way down in the tread blocks?

EDIT: Found pics online to confirm that the siping does extend only 1/3 of the way down. As a result, they won't perform as well in rain/snow/ice once they wear down a little bit. Thumbs down to Goodyear by not following through. Snowflake rated tires should be rated for the life of the tire, not based on their "new" configuration.
 
R
#6 ·
I also have the duratrac's and they are amazing in snow and rain. So far I only have 5,000 on them, and haven't seen any wear yet. They are pretty quiet, definitely not a Mud terrain loudness. The tracking is just as stable as the rugged trails were if not better. Last I checked most tire siping only goes down to a certain depth.
 
W
#5 ·
Regarding tracking, haven't noticed any issues yet. They are suprisingly quiet for such an aggressive tread. I will report more as I put more miles on them.
 
Save
Reply Quote Like Like
Toyota Forum
posts
6.4M
members
660K
Since
2001
ToyotaNation Forum is a community dedicated to all Toyota models. Come discuss the Camry, Tacoma, Highlander, 4Runner, Rav4, Corolla, Rav4 Prime and more!
Full Forum Listing
Explore Our Forums
Camry 3rd and 4th Gen '92-'01, Solara '99-'03 Camry 5th and 6th Gen '02-'11, Solara '04-'08 Tacoma 2nd Gen (2005-2015) Corolla 10th Gen/2nd Gen Matrix (2009-2013) Camry & Solara Lounge