My daily driver in a 2010 Toyota Tacoma Double Cab. I would like to do something to improve the road handling in crosswinds. I have installed a rear sway bar and this did make a big difference. I have some bilstein shocks I bought used and will install them also if it will help. Any comments appreciated. Thanks.

 

Yeah..... slow down. It's cheaper.

 

what about install a bigger sway bar in the front?

 

turn into the wind!.

lol. i like the avatar.

 

you could buy a steering stabilizer. This will help with wind buffeting.

 

Air dam. Put in something that will reduce the amount of wind that sweeps under the vehicle.

 

Don't install the Bilsteins.

I was just talking with a shop owner - Tacoma owner last night about bilsteins on the Tacoma. For whatever reason, the Bilsteins suck on the Tacoma. He knows several owners who've tried them and hate them. He has the less expensive Tokico shocks on his own Tacoma and is quite happy with them.

I was surprised to here this as I've got Bilsteins on my Ford pickup and love them. Guess they just didn't engineer them properly for the Tacoma.

GL





Phil

 

It surprises me that the crosswind experience on a new vehicle is so bad that you're considering mods like this. It makes me think perhaps you're driving the wrong vehicle- or at least this vehicle was not intended to be driven the way you drive it. You can modify it but usually just a few changes aren't going to make a night and day difference and lots of changes may mean it's easier to buy a vehicle that's better for the job.

So it's twitchy in cross winds (I assume you mean on the highway?). But yeah, in the order of effectiveness/cost, i guess the traditional suspension thinking would be:

heavier sway bar in front
increase damping
lower, stiffer springs

as you get more damped, lower, with a heavier sway bar you get a more sports car-like experience which is also going to start to suck on rough roads and uneven terrain.

have you ever considered like an infinity FX-30 or something like that? (not my first choice but just using it as an example) It sounds like you wish you had a sprorty experience with something that can still eat up rough terrain.

 

Reduce your cross-sectional area.
i.e. buy a smaller truck that doesn't sit so high.

 

Lowering springs, or better yet air suspension so you can raise the height as/when needed.

 

my friend puts some weight in the bed over the rear axle.

 

Not, quite on topic, but one my high school friends had a Suzuki Samurai. That thing has so much surface area to weight that you practically had to sail it. Top speed into the wind was maybe 50 mph, with the wind behind you could get 80. A big side gust could knock the car into the adjacent lane. To go straight down the road with a continuous side wind we'd be turned at 10-20 degrees the whole time.

Anyway, obviously the answer is spoilers ... facing sideways.

Like this :



But mounted on the sides of the bed like this :



sideways down-force ! yeah!

 

Paint the car transparent so the wind doesn't know there is a car there?



T.