My Fortuner gets Tough Dog's aftermarket suspension: Quick review

I took a calculated risk in choosing the Tough Dog Foamcell Adjustable suspensions, and I feel the risk has paid off very well.

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Installed: Tough Dog Foamcell Adjustable Suspensions in my Toyota Fortuner 4x4 AT

In July 2024, I bought an Attitude Black Toyota Fortuner 4x4 AT. One of the weak points of the car is the suspension which I felt to be very harsh at low speeds on bad roads. Last week, I upgraded the suspensions to the Tough Dog Foamcell Adjustable suspensions.

This thread is to document the complete installation. I will divide this thread into various sections. Please skip to the section of interest.

Before I proceed with details of installation, I would like to thank:

• My daughter for helping me with the data collection and analysis in comparing the OE suspension with the ToughDog. She is a Physics graduate interested in data analysis and we had lots of discussions on how to collect, analyze, and present the data.
• Friend and TBHPian Mr.Boss provided lots of inputs on suspension testing. He has experience in the automobile industry in suspension design and testing. He gave me lots of tips on how to avoid errors in data collection, and suggestions to improve data collection. He also gave me the tip about keeping the stiffness of the suspension on the driving axle (in this case the rear), slightly stiffer than the other axle.
• Friend and TBHPian RobiMahanta who first suggested the Tough Dog foam cell suspensions.

BHPian graaja recently shared this with other enthusiasts:

The Need for a new Suspension:

Following are the problems or area of improvement in the OE suspension.

1. The ride is very harsh at low speeds, and the car crashes into potholes and speed breakers.
2. There is some body roll in the corners. This is expected for a BOF SUV with high center of gravity. But there is room for improvement
3. Though the car handles well at high speeds, there was some floating feeling at high speeds on roads with undulations.

So, I decided to change the suspension to a more comfortable option. I listed the following requirements.

1. A suspension that improves the comfort and low-speed ride quality on bad roads.
2. A little improvement in body roll in the curves
3. More stability at high speeds

I was not looking to make the car behave like a sedan. I just wanted to improve the performance within reasonable limits imposed by the BOF SUV architecture.

I was also aware that low-speed comfort and high-speed handling don't go hand in hand. An increase in low-speed comfort will increase body roll and the floaty feeling on highways. Improving high-speed handling will result in harsher low-speed comfort. So, I wanted an adjustable suspension that I could adjust to depending on the road conditions I expected to drive on.

Selecting the suspension:

I spent a lot of time reading about various options available for the Fortuner. There were so many options and features to choose from, like:

Foamcell struts: This is a new technology where a foam based layer infused with nitrogen is placed in the outer chamber. This foam prevents nitrogen from mixing into the oil at high temperatures, thus preventing the reduction in damping.

Adjustable struts: These suspensions have a provision to adjust the rebound damping force. Some suspensions come with 16 way adjustment and the Tough Dog comes with 9 way adjustment. The advantage of these struts is that they can be set to various levels depending on the type of road being driven on - like softer setting for rough roads for better shock absorption, and stiffer setting for driving on the highways that can reduce rolling and pitching.

Electrically adjustable suspensions: Some suspensions like Tein have a stepper motor attached to the struts which can be operated using a controller from inside the cabin to adjust the damping.

Lift: Almost all the 4x4 suspensions result in some lift in the car. I could not find any option that did not result in a lift. This was the biggest discouraging factor for me. I was concerned that a lift will increase the already high center of gravity which can worsen the high speed handling etc. However, all reviews suggested otherwise. So, I decided to take a leap of faith here.

Based on various reviews and suggestions from friends, I shortlisted the following.

Old Man Emu (OME):

From older threads in Team-BHP, I found that Old Man Emu was the de facto standard for aftermarket suspension upgrades. However, I read several user feedback that these suspensions were stiffer than the OE suspensions. These suspensions are nitrogen based.

Ironman Foamcell:

The Ironman suspensions had very good reviews online and I found some good feedback in Team-BHP as well. These suspensions are based on foamcell technology, which is an advantage. However, these are fixed suspensions and reviews mentioned these to be on the stiffer side.

Tein 4x4 with EDFC: A couple of friends suggested Teins. One of them has it installed in his Endeavour and another in his previous generation Fortuner. These come with EDFC (Electronic Damping Force Controller) with 16-stage adjustment. However, I could not find any reviews or videos on the performance of these suspensions other than a few Instagram videos from an installer in Kerala. Also, if I did not opt for the EDFC, then the car has to be lifted to make adjustments to the struts.

Tough Dog Foamcell Adjustable Suspension: I found lots of positive reviews about the Tough Dog foamcell suspensions, and I found that these suspensions are tuned towards comfort. My friend and TBHP'ian RobiMahanta has installed the ToughDog suspensions in his Thar and he had very good feedback about their performance. Unlike the Ironman suspensions, which are fixed, Tough Dog has a variant with 9-way adjustable struts. Also, adjustments can be made without lifting the car. It takes about a minute to adjust all four struts.

Of the four, I dropped OME and Ironman as they did not have adjustable damping. Between Tein and Tough Dog, I chose Tough Dog for its foam cell technology and the easy access of the damping adjustment.

Tough Dog foamcell adjustable comes in two sizes - one with 40mm bore and another with 45mm bore. The 45mm is mostly used in heavy applications. It also comes with various spring rates like 0-300 kilograms, constant 300 kilograms, or 500 kilograms. The spring is selected based on the load requirement on the car, accessories like bullbars, winches etc. As my car does not have any off-road gear or accessories, decided to go with the 40mm struts and 0-300 kilogram comfort rated springs.

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Installation of the Suspension:

The dealer for Tough Dog is 6th Mile Customs in Indra Nagar, Bangalore. I talked to Mr. Thomas, who owns 6th Mile Customs, and he readily answered all my questions about choosing the correct variant, installation, adjustments, warranty, etc. I decided to drive to Bangalore and have the suspensions installed at 6th Mile Customs. I fixed an appointment on Friday, the 15th of October. Reached 6th Mile at 11:30 AM. Luckily, only one other car was in the workshop, and they completed the installation by 3:30 PM.

A few pictures from the installation.

6th Mile Customs, the Tough Dog dealer and installer. The owner Mr. Thomas is very knowledgeable about these suspensions and installation.

Customary picture of the car with all the suspension components.

Ride height measurement is being done before the installation. After installation, they check if the ride height is the correct expected value.

The car goes on the lift for suspension change.

The OE front suspension.

The OE rear suspension.

Comparison of the OE and new spring. The new spring is longer than the OE spring.

Comparison of the OE and new rear struts. The new strut is thicker and longer than the OE strut.

The new suspensions are installed in the front.

The new suspensions are installed in the rear.

The adjustment knob for the rear struts. These are easily accebile from below the car. One has to just squat by the rear wheel and reach below the car to adjust.

The adjustment knob for the front struts. These can be accessed behind the wheel. If the wheel is turned to one side, these become easily visible. But I have got used to reaching them without the wheel turned.

Ride height before and after. The front has increased by 50mm and the rear by 40mm. Mr. Thomas said once the springs settle down, there will be a small drop in height.

A mechanical wheel alignment machine. This is the first time I am seeing such a mechanical machine. Wonderful engineering, this is.

Alignment being done. They did a few rounds of adjustments and test drives to get the right adjustment.

Continue reading BHPian graaja's review for more insights and information.