Best Tires for the Toyota 4Runner
The Toyota 4Runner is a favorite for camping and mountain loving drivers all over. It is a reliable, large SUV which can be used for all sorts of road trips. When it is time to replace your factory tires, you have a few choices to make. The tires that Toyota chose when they launched the 4Runner are a great mix of cost, durability and treadlife. But it might not be exactly what you need, depending on how you drive. Below are a few great options for the best tires for your 4Runner, depending on how you drive and your trim level.
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Best Tires for the Toyota 4Runner SR5, TRD Off-Road, and TRD Pro
- Kumho Crugen HT51 - Best budget tire
- Firestone Destination A/T2 - Best mid-priced tire
- Michelin Agilis Crossclimate - Best superior tire
Best Tires for the Toyota 4Runner Limited
- Yokohama Geolandar I/T GO72 - Best budget tire
- Michelin Defender LTX M/S - Best mid-priced tire
- Toyo Open Country A/T III - Best superior tire
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Original Equipment 4Runner Tires
What tires are on my Toyota 4Runner? The current generation 4Runner is sold in multiple trims with two tire sizes:
- The 4Runner SR5, TRD Pro, and TRD Off-Road trims come with 17-inch wheels and 265/70R17 tires. The OE tire for these trims is either the Firestone Winterforce 2 UV or the Goodyear Wrangler AT/S.
- The Limited trim comes with 20-inch wheels and P245/60R20 tires. The OE tire for this trim is either the Bridgestone H/T D684 or the Yokohama Geolandar G96B.
Top Replacement Tire Brands for Toyota 4Runner
We’ve recommended three replacement tires in 17-inch sizes and 20-inch sizes, with moderately priced and cost-no-object varieties. No matter your budget, there are plenty of choices available for your 4Runner. All of these tires have ratings of four-stars or higher based on consumer surveys and all are based on the 2020 model year:
17-inch Tires for Toyota 4Runner SR5 and TRD Pro
- Budget: Kumho Crugen HT51 - Kumho makes an incredible tire with a solid budget price. The HT51 is rated for severe snow use and has an excellent tread life rating.
- Moderately Priced: Firestone Destination A/T2 - Just like the Kumho tire, Firestone’s Destination A/T2 tire is rated for severe snow service. It has a lesser tread life rating, but comes with excellent customer reviews and a great off-road focus.
- Cost-No-Object: Michelin Agilis Crossclimate - At $222 per tire, the Crossclimate isn’t cheap, but it’s extremely well reviewed and also has a severe snow service rating.
20-inch Tires for Toyota 4Runner
- Budget: Yokohama Geolandar I/T GO72 - It’s a trend with 4Runner tires, but the Geolandar is rated with severe snow service in mind. It’s also frequently discounted and has excellent customer reviews.
- Moderately Priced: Michelin Defender LTX M/S - The Defender LTX M/S has a staggering tread life rating, excellent fuel economy numbers, and stout customer testimonials.
- Cost-No-Object: Toyo Open Country A/T III - The Open Country A/T III is a relatively new tire, but has all of the benefits of its predecessor with a lower price and a better severe weather traction rating.
When Should You Replace Tires?
There are two regular milestones that will suggest that it’s time to replace the tires, not only on your 4Runner, but any vehicle: Time and mileage.
Considering most drivers cover between 12,000 and 15,000 miles per year, the vast majority of 4Runner owners are going to be past the mileage that their original equipment tires were intended to cover before they’ll go past the tire’s usable age.
The life of your tire can be somewhat predicted by its UTQG (Uniform Tire Quality Grade) rating. Tire manufacturers apply their own grades to tires for treadwear, traction and temperature. When you’re researching tires online, a UTQG will come up next to the tire name in three digits and a number (ex. 500 A A).
You can glean a bit of info from the tires by reading this rating:
- 500 - The durability rating of a tire, compared to a control tire with a treadlife of 100. To obtain a grade, tires run on a 640 kilometer course for 11,520 km. Every 1,280 km, the tread depth is measured, to provide a projected tread life. The higher the number, the longer the predicted treadlife.
- A - This is the Traction rating of a tire, which indicates how well a tire stops in wet conditions. The highest letter grade is AA, followed by A, B and C.
- A - The second letter in the UTQG is the Temperature rating, which indicates how well a tire holds up to extreme heat. A is the highest, followed by B and C.
Original equipment Bridgestone H/T D684 tires on the 4Runner earn an ok 360 B A UTGQ rating. Unless they are damaged, these tires could last as long as 36,000 miles before you need to replace them.
The other consideration is time. Each tire has a raised date code on the sidewall. The number begins with the letters “DOT” followed by 12 digits in three four-digit groups. The date code is the third group of four digits. To decipher the date of your tires, the first two digits represent the WEEK the tire was produced, and the second two digits represent the YEAR.
For example, if your tire’s date code is 3217, that indicates the tire was manufactured in the 37th week of 2017, or some time between September 11 and 17th that year.
Once tires go beyond five years old, it’s time to consider replacing them. Tires are made up not just of rubber and steel or kevlar belts, but chemicals that help the tires resist UV rays, temperature changes and a lot of other environmental hazards. Those chemicals start to break down after five years or so, and the tires aren’t doing the job that they need to do.
Why Not Replace with Original Equipment Tires?
There’s no harm in replacing your tires with the shoes it came with from the factory. However, depending on what kind of driver you are, there are significant reasons to purchase something different.
You only need to purchase ONE set of tires for your car every four years or so, depending on how much you drive. When an auto manufacturer purchases tires, they buy them by the hundreds of thousands. For the manufacturer, the decision to choose a supplier one brand or another comes down to a price point.
Many of the 4Runner’s OE tires are rated well for snow and off-road traction but have lower tread life ratings and subpar on-road traction ratings. Many people who buy a 4Runner won’t take it off into the dirt, so these tires may not be the best choice for a replacement. In this case, the other tires that we’ve listed above have many of the same bad weather traction capabilities with longer tread life ratings.
Changing Toyota 4Runner Tire Sizes
Depending on the year and model, you may be shopping tires to fit anything between 15-inch for older models to 18-inch wheels with various widths and sidewall sizes along the way. It is possible to change the wheel and tire sizes, but a general rule of thumb is to keep the total diameter of wheel and tire the same. So, that means that downsizing an 18-inch wheel to a 17-inch wheel would include a proportionate upsizing of the tire sidewall to compensate.
Downsizing wheels has its advantages. Benefits include:
- Better ride quality – More rubber means more cushion for poor road conditions.
- Cost reduction – Big tires are expensive, so moving to a smaller wheel size will mean less costly tire purchases.
- Seasonal changes – Winter and snow tires are available for a larger selection of smaller wheel sizes and the narrower footprint will provide better traction.
- Off-road – Many people choose to downsize wheels for off-road use to increase the vehicle’s shock absorption capabilities and bump traction on loose surfaces.
On the other side of the coin, going up in wheel size has its benefits:
- Better handling – Slimmer profile tires makes for less rubber to move around.
- Better looks – This one’s subjective, but many people feel that larger wheels look better than smaller wheels with more rubber.
- Better braking – Larger, wider wheels provide a bigger patch of rubber on the ground to slow the vehicle, reducing braking distance.
See our recommendations for the Best Extended Warranty for your Toyota 4Runner
How to Read Tire Sizes
When reading tire sizes, it’s important to understand what the numbers mean. The Toyota 4Runner’s 20-inch wheels come with P245/60R20 107T all-season tires:
- 245 - indicates the width of the tire from one sidewall to the other in millimeters. This tire is 245 millimeters wide.
- 60 - indicates the aspect ratio, or sidewall height, as a percentage of the tire’s width. In this case, it’s 60 percent or of the tire’s width.
- R - means radial tires. Radials are the most common type of automotive tire and have fabric woven in at various angles with tread that is strengthened with additional layers of rubber
- 20 - indicates the wheel diameter.
- 107 - is the tire’s load rating.
- T - is the tire’s speed rating. T-rated tires have a maximum top speed of 118 mph.
You may have noticed that the Toyota 4Runner’s two tire sizes have different diameters and also different aspect ratios. Generally, automakers choose tires that have the same outer diameter. This allows them to have only one speedometer setting.
Now that you know what comes on a new 4Runner and how to read the size numbers, let’s look at the different types of tires available to you. Depending on the type of driving you’re doing, where you live, and the weather, you have a variety of choices for tire types:
- Touring and All-season tires - provide a smooth ride, good wet and dry traction, decent winter traction, and longer tread life. These tires are acceptable for winter use but can’t be expected to provide the traction and stopping power that a dedicated winter tire can.
- Performance tires - are focused on providing confident handling, better wet and dry traction, and a sporty feel. Their higher grip and speed ratings come with a tradeoff of shortened tread life and reduced ride quality.
- All-terrain tires - are built to maximize off-road traction and provide good durability overall. Their construction means more noise and less comfort on the road, but winter traction and tread wear is acceptable.
- Winter and snow tires - are made with special rubber compounds that maintain grip and pliability when temperatures drop. They are also built with special tread patterns to maximize the vehicle’s ability to start and stop on very slippery roads.
Tire Sizes By Year
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Toyota 4RunnerTire FAQ
- How long do Toyota 4Runner tires last?
Any decent tire should last in the 50,000 mile range, but you should always be replacing tires when they hit the wear bars, or at 4/32” tread depth, not miles.
- What tire sizes are on a Toyota 4Runner?
The 4Runner SR5, TRD Pro, and TRD Off-Road trims come with 17-inch wheels and 265/70R17 tires.The Limited trim comes with 20-inch wheels and P245/60R20 tires.
- What is the best Toyota 4Runner tire pressure?
Check inside your driver’s side door for a white and yellow label that will tell you the exact tire pressure recommendations for your 4Runner model. That tire pressure can also change depending on the load of passengers you’re carrying, as well as the cargo load. Note that the pressure on the tire itself is never the correct setting, but rather a maximum.
- How often should I rotate my 4Runner’s tires?
Rotating tires is more about the tire than it is about the car. A typical rotation interval is somewhere between 5,000 and 7,000 miles, though specific cars and tires may change those numbers a bit. The 4Runner is either a rear-wheel or four-wheel drive-based car, so the rear tires will be worn more quickly than the rears. Do not blow off this service.
- What is the best 4Runner tire change kit?
Your Toyota 4Runner should have come equipped with a compact spare tire and changing tools in the trunk. In this case, you already have everything you need to physically change the tire, but you may want to carry an extra roadside emergency kit with an upgraded lug wrench, jumper cables, and emergency markers just in case.
