5 Things we HATE about the 4Runner

Buying a new vehicle is always an exciting and joyful experience, but there is always something either designed poorly or just doesn't function properly. We ran into this when purchasing our 2022 Toyota 4Runner as our first shop vehicle, we knew purchasing this vehicle it was going to be getting heavily modified so things were going to be changing quickly and frequently. One thing we made sure to do is experience the vehicle in stock form and let me tell you was this let down.

Now let me firstly say, WE LOVE the 4Runner. But somethings just grinded our gears and needed to be fixed ASAP. Some of these things are design flaws we just didn't like, but most are areas we found to be underwhelmed by and could easily fix with some new parts.

#1 - Throttle Pedal

This was the first thing we all noticed! Everyone commented on how sluggish the throttle pedal felt and how long it took the 4Runner to accelerate. We knew there had to be a way to fix this sleepy throttle pedal and boy did we fix this. Once we got our Pedal Commander installed and running this 4Runner awoke from its slumber and was ready to move. The throttle response was instant and acceleration improvement was massive. When ever we get asked about a great first mod the Pedal Commander is always at the top of our list. You can purchase a Pedal Commander for your 4Runner at the link below.

#2 - Window Switches

The placement of the window switches didn't bother us at first, but once we started driving and using the vehicle more it became more of a nuisance. We were always fumbling trying to find the switches since they were so high up in a weird location. We also noticed how often we kept hitting the buttons when leaning out of the window on the trail making sure we weren't hitting rocks or going down the wrong line. In the end there is nothing we can do to change the placement of the window switches, but come-on Toyota DO BETTER.

#3 - Factory Suspension

This was something we knew going into buying our Toyota 4Runner from past experience, but were really surprised just how soft the suspension rides. Some people might love how soft the suspension is, for us it was not good for what we want this vehicle to do. When we hit the brakes and the whole vehicle slams forward or take a turn just a-little to fast and you think the car is going to tip over, this soft suspension had to go.  Also, the amount of forward rake was unbelievable coming in at 2 inches of forward lean! The best part about these complaints are they can be easily fixed with either a leveling kit or a full lift kit. To start we tackled the issue of rack and installed a Maxtrac leveling kit which was a perfect fit and corrected the ugly rake bringing the vehicle completely level from front to back. This however was just a simple solution to our suspension complaints, we knew what was needed to truly fix the issues. To truly fix the soft stock suspension we needed a lift kit so we installed an Icon Stage 1 kit to replace both front and rear suspension. The Icon kit installed easily and gave our 4Runner a full 3 inches of lift and completely fix the soft suspension issues. Both the Maxtrac leveling kit and Icon Lift Kit can be found linked below.

#4 -  Chrome Badges

This is just absurd at this point that in 2022 vehicles still come with chrome badges. Everything else on the 4Runner is black but sure let's just throw some ugly chrome badges on it. We had to fix this immediately and ditch the ugly chrome. Using the Yota X Black Out Emblem Kit we were able to remove all the from from the front, back, and sides of our Toyota 4Runner. They easily stick right over top and hide that hideous chrome for good. You can find the Yota X black out kits linked below.

#5 - Tires

We realized when buying our Toyota 4Runner that it wouldn't be trail ready right off the showroom floor, but it could be with 1 simple upgrade. For our 4Runner we decided to get a TRD OFF ROAD and were disappointed by the tire choice sold on a vehicle label OFF ROAD. They were just normal tires not ready to handle any type of trail or off road adventure. We were able to completely upgrade the capability of our 4Runner by having 265\70 Mud Terrain tires installed. These are a stock size tire but with beefer treads allowing more grip in off roading conditions. You can find Yokohama Geolandar M\T tires linked below.