[Oldrooster101]

Have had the '11 since 2021. Got it with 220k km and it's now past 300k km! It was pretty rust-free and was driven by an elderly couple that mostly did highway. What lead me to believe that is how little wear there was and the large amount of rock chips on the front end. They also got a lot of regular service done at Toyota. Service records galore!

I did have to cut off the rear toe arms to get my ability to do an alignment back (seized bolts). I found a 4.5" cutting wheel worked wonders, a 6" was too big to get a good fit under there

Sorry to butt in, but you seem to have a lot of knowledge. I have a 2012 rav4 limited and it's do for a suspension refresh (150k on original components). I'm thinking I might as well upgrade its performance a little bit while I'm at it. I found a Gen4 Bilstein B6 strut/shocks and springs package for about $900. Would that be a wise choice?

 

[Oldrooster101]

The NX complete strut assemblies I got had the metal gaskets (non-too-rusted-looking) that were still intact, not in the best condition, but didn't flake off.
View attachment 211043

OEM springs typically will have paint marks on them to indicate they need to point out, however, it's rather hard not to place them properly since the perch and rubber isolators in the strut already has indentation for the spring to sit in. You can see them here from my swap.

There isn't really a big strut assembly difference between the later 4.3 and NX designs. NX's bearing and isolator is constructed as one-piece whereas the 4.3 are separate. There shouldn't any mount orientation when installed in the strut tower. The only part that is non-resusable is the strut lock nut.
View attachment 211045

According to this diagram the NX and and 4.3 Rav springs have the same part number. I was under the impression that the NX springs were stiffer. Does anyone know for sure if they are different?