The best suspension upgrade you can make are shocks that are tuned specifically for your vehicle. You can add all the wheel travel, articulation, or lift that you want. But if your shocks aren’t valved properly, your suspension will be a hot mess. Slapping some off-the-shelf shocks onto your ride will result in suspension that is way too firm and rattles your teeth out in the dirt. Or it will be too soft and just blow through its stroke hopelessly bottoming out. Actually, how your suspension performs will be a bit of a mystery because you are using valving that was never designed for your vehicle.

We don’t like mysteries in general, and definitely not with our suspension. That is why we like Bilstein’s 6112 front shocks and 5160 rear shocks. They are valved specifically for their applications. We have spent a lot of time behind the wheel of our Project Taco Toyota Tacoma equipped with Bilstein’s top-of-the-line ZoneControl coilovers (check out the story here). We learned from that experience that Bilstein spends a lot of time getting the valving dialed in just right. And, that’s a very good thing.

While the ZoneControl coilovers and B8 8112 rear bypass shocks are Bilstein’s most expensive offerings, the 6112 and 5160 shocks come in at a more affordable price point. And, they still come with lots of features and performance. The 60mm (2.36 inches) body on the 6112 holds plenty of fluid for proper cooling. Inside of it rests a digressive piston with application-specific valving. Pair it with the rear 5160s and you get a 46mm diameter monotube shock complete with a reservoir. Let’s take a closer look a Bilstein’s killer and affordable combo.