Has anyone found replacements or replaced the OEM shocks and struts on your RAV with more absorbent/better ones? It would be nice if the ride could be improved to make it less “busy”!
Northwoods Performance suspension system provides increased ride height with tuned spring to dramatically improve street and trail performance. On the street, your RAV will eat the corners and have greatly reduced braking dive. On the trail, you will eat up the potholes and dips without...
northwoodsperformance.com
Says it will help with cornering and reduce nose dive when braking. No information about refining the ride.
Does anyone have expertise in this area who understands the ins and outs of changing shocks and suspension parts?
By “busy” I mean bumpy, jittery and bouncy—but not extremely so. It’s just enough to jostle me around and make me uncomfortable. On smooth highways the ride is fine, but I drive on back country roads quite a bit.
I did get new tires that helped calm the car down. But tires don’t change the nature of the beast.
I would look into the Northwoods Coils and Bilstein shocks / struts. You can decide whether or not you want to do the lift, or just get the coils for the stock height fit.
Can the Northwoods springs be used for zero lift? I only see a spacer for the Strut and think the rear spring would be too large. I really just want my RAV to stop bottoming out so easily. Perhaps just new struts would solve that.
I put Monroe shocks all the way around my 2013 XLE at 135,000 miles. While seeming to smooth things out a bit--perhaps just returning the vehicle to how the factory suspension performed when new--I didn't notice any substantial improvement. Shocks/struts are still stiff and the back end is still just as clunky.
I would look into the 4.5 gen shocks if they fit in a 4.4 gen RAV. They say the ride improved in the 2019 models so why not give those shocks a try if they have the same fitment as the 4.4 gen?
Good suggestion—I guess first thing would be to drive a 2019 model and see how much improved the ride is. I remember reading somewhere that the 2016 shocks won’t fit a 2015 model. So the same might apply to 2019. But I will do some research and see what turns up.
I put Nissan Armada rear shocks on my 07’ v6 with H&R lift springs. You get a big beefy shock with slightly longer travel, no more bouncy rear end. They are very nice.