4Runner 5th Gen Upgrades

Now I’m in the 4runner club, what are some upgrades to perform?  I’m going to break it up to expensive upgrades and less expensive upgrades because if you are like me you run that credit card up on an expensive item which means you gotta wait a bit before you can run that credit card up again.  So for the in between times I’ll put a list of some less expensive upgrades so you can feel you are still doing something.  Let’s find what we want to rack that credit card with first.

EXPENSIVE UPGRADES

Suspension ($4000 parts)

Most everyone wants to add that nicer stance.. usually its 2-3” and some popular brands that offer a Toyota specific lift is companies like the most popular ARB with there Old Man EMU suspension, Rancho, BDS and even TRD has a performance suspension.

Roof Rack ($1300 parts)

Just about every 4Runner you see on the road has some sort of Roof Rack.  Sometimes loaded with gear, kayak or very common now is a RTT (Roof Top Tent). Some of the most popular roof rack brands include Sherpa

Paint Protection Film (PPF) - $8500

In todays world paint is not as great as quality as it use to be.  Now paint chips easier, scratches easier and all around doesn’t stand up to every day as well.  With Paint Protection it adds a layer on top of your paint that will take the scratches and harmful rays instead of your paint.  Some popular brands include 3M, XPEL are some of the top dogs in the PPF arena.

Wheels - 

The stock TRD 17x7 rims are nice and great for the winter since skinny tires are the best for some winter tires but they are cast aluminum and are not beadlock so airing down gets sketchy.  The rims I love for year round but mainly summer and offroading I will always get the Hutchinson Defense and Mobility Beadlock Rims.  Have them on my K5 Blazer for the last 10 years and still look awesome, function great.  I want that same quality on my 4Runner but instead of 7" wide they will be a bit more width like 8.5" is what is used on the Tacoma possibly.

Tires ($1300)

This can vary a ton depending on what you are going for as a goal.  Factory my 2024 came with Bridgestone duler H/T 265x17 which look like a street tire. I would not trust these tires offroad.  From reading around on other reviews some of the most positivily talked about tires include: Toyo AT3, Falken Wildpeak, BF Goodrich KO3, Nitto Grappler

(Before getting tires you may want to wait until you get the suspension lift

Front Bumper w/Winch $1300

So many choices and ways you could take this path but I have my eye on a C4 front bumper with some bar lights, hidden 12k lb winch.  It would serve me very well for years.