Why It’s Worth Upgrading From OEM Bumps
Bump stops limit the up-travel of the suspension to protect your shocks from bottoming out and prevent contact between other key components. Specifically, the lower control arms, rear axle, and frame during suspension articulation.
Additionally, bump stops can stop your oversized tires from making unwanted contact with wheel wells and fenders. While the factory ones are perfectly fine for trucks used mostly on-road, off-roading greatly increases the chances of bottoming out.
The Tacoma’s OEM stops are made of a hard compound, almost like a hockey puck. It doesn’t have much give to absorb impacts so when you hit them, it feels very jarring. Aftermarket options like the ones from Perry Parts are designed to absorb those harsh impacts while protecting your suspension and frame.
Product Overview
Perry Parts products are unique in their technology and manufacturing process. Yes, these are in fact, 3D printed; and naturally, I was a little skeptical about this. Included with the kit was a piece of sample material showing woven patterns in varying densities. This showed how the bump progresses to a more dense pattern the more it’s compressed.
Perry Parts’ 3D printing process is pretty interesting and unlike any other. For example, more material can be added in specific areas to reinforce weak points in the structure. Conversely, less material can be printed in areas for softer impacts. Custom machines allow them to print directly from high-grade, industrial polymers without the need to subject their raw material through multiple melt cycles which degrade strength and durability.
They’ve also incorporated air passages into the bump stops to aid in damping. This means that during low-speed compressions (i.e. rock crawling and slow-speed flex), air can enter through a large middle hole and escape through smaller ports on the opposite end. This allows the overall design to softly compress.
During high-speed compressions and harder impacts, those air holes are, in a sense, pushed/sealed against the frame, restricting the airflow. This builds internal pressure to increase rigidity in proportion to the input force.
Testing & First Impressions
I don’t jump my truck, and I don’t ever intend to. However, I occasionally bottom out the front end when coming off a ledge or unexpectedly bouncing into or out of a rut.
The front are almost an inch longer than OEM, which offers better support for my +3″ ride height and 33″ tires. With the extra length and high/low-speed progressive damping, bottoming out on hard front-end impacts feels much more controlled and less jarring than with the OEM ones.
My rear testing consisted of slow-speed articulation. I wanted to stuff the axle as far up as possible to test the integrity of the 3D-printed materials. With the rear end fully flexed, the bump stops can completely compress and provide ample cushion between the leaf springs and the frame. These have returned to their original shape after repeated compressions, and the printed layers of material came out unfazed.
Perry Parts has done some extensive testing in-house. They’ve also sent out their products for unbiased, 3rd party testing with positive results in performance and consistency.
After a few thousand miles, I can surely say that these work great and I’ve experienced no issues. Not to mention, these are really well priced.
Final Thoughts
Perry Parts is “new tech” through and through. The idea of using a 3D-printed part as a component meant to take repeated abuse was foreign to me. However, after running these bump stops and seeing what they’re capable of, I’m pleasantly surprised and will be using them from now on.
I appreciate the greater control I feel off-road with no longer bouncing off the hard OEM stops. Being such an easy modification, I only regret that I haven’t swapped them out sooner!
I haven’t been able to test high-speed/hard impacts, but I’ll report back once I have some experience with those, so stay tuned!
