Iron/Gold Armor balancing

Armor is a crucial part of Survival mode, but it feels a bit unbalanced. You can obtain a full set of iron armor in 1 cave visit, in about 15 minutes. A full set of iron armor grants you 7.5/10 of the total armor points. Upgrading to full diamond armor, which takes much more time and mining, only gives you an additional 2.5 armor over iron armor. 

The point is, iron armor is a bit too strong for its easiness to obtain, however I don’t think the solution would be to just plainly nerf iron armor and call it a day. What if instead, we switched the armor points of iron and gold armor. Gold is a rare resource, yet not as rare as diamonds. It’s rarity is perfect for giving that sturdy 7.5 points of armor, while still not being the very best. It’s low durability however could be a bit problematic. We want it to last, however we don’t want to change the idea of gold, as it’s always been known for its low durability 

What if, gold armor exclusively could receive mending I as a level 30 enchantment from the enchanting table. That way it wouldn’t break so fast, if at all, but there’s still a reason to upgrade to diamond armor later, as it’s still better. This change would additionally act as a mini “cave update” as suddenly gold has a new value to it, and the lower levels of a cave are more valuable to explore