Snow

Has anyone gotten stuck in the snow with their 4Runner? I got stuck in my driveway and had to rock the truck out. It wasn't a lot of snow either may be 3 or 4 inches. Am I doing something wrong? I bought this gas guzzler to prevent getting stuck in the snow.

 

Were you in 4 high?

 

Do you have 4wd? If you do, did you shift into 4H?

 

Tires.

 

Yes I got stuck because I couldn't shift out of 2wd and we got over half foot of snow. Luckily it was next to my house so I got a shovel and was out in under 5 minutes. If your 4runner doesn't have 4wd or its broken put weight in the back to let the rear tires get more grip.

 

No I wasn't. I've had this truck 5 years and never shifted it! Thanks

 

If you don't use it you loose it just sayin
Transfer cases sometimes become stuck if not used

 

Yeah manual says to "exercise" the 4WD system now and then maybe every couple months? Doesn't it go in 4WD low without moving?

 

Is it manual shifter or rotatable selector?


If its a manual shifter put some effort and pull it straight down to H4. I've seen Jeeps getting this stuck and I have pulled with both hands to engage.

If its rotatable selector turn to H4 after little spin it should engage. In both cases a green icon will flash and will be solid when fully engaged.

If you are not comfortable call the dealer and see what they advice.

 

The Dueler HT tires these come with new doesnt help any. Why Toyota Why did you put such shitty tires on a 4x4 ????????????

 

To help the tire industry make money...HEELLLOOO
LOL

 

I mean, there's nothing necessarily wrong with the stock tires. Frankly, for 90% of 4Runner owners, they're great. I just wish they at least put an A/T tire on the TRD OR.... different wheels, so why not different tires? Toyota's cheap, that's why.

 

Not sure what tires the OP has, but tires are always the single most important thing when it comes to traction. 4WD is huge for exploiting whatever traction your tires do have (leveraging the traction of 4 tires is obv much better than just 2), but the tires are so important.

My first snowy drive in my Limited was in about 6-8 inches. The weakness of the stock Duelers showed itself in heavy ABS activation when coming to a stop, even from slow speeds. And also in the slide the truck made when I was trying to turn while coasting down a snowy hill. These are good "tells" for the tires, since the 4WD system is playing no role in those situations.

The excellence of the 4WD system, however, proved itself by how easily I could accelerate through that amount of snow, including up hills, despite the weak traction of the tires. It did an outstanding job of powering through despite the relatively poor traction of each individual tire.

 

I wonder why same model has different tires even though they come from the same factory. Both my SR5 and TRD ORP got Dunlop Grandtrek AT20, I don't think they are really bad tires since even the $90K Land Cruisers have them. The Limited came with Yokohama Geolandar G96 and it has seen one snow storm and it was not bad at all. Wonder how many 4Runners come with Dueler HTs.

 

I grew up in the South, so things may be different around here. My perspective has always been that tires have a season associated with them. Like most things, it's hard to have a "do it all." I always just assumed that anyone that drove in snow had either a dedicated vehicle for it (with appropriate tires), or had dedicated tires for it which they swapped to when the season came. I don't mind my A/T tires one bit, but I could definitely see someone complaining about the noise if they were picky like me and didn't care for it - therefor I think the stock H/T tires are appropriate on the base model (SR5). If you live where it snows a lot, winter tires should be in order, IMO. Another tire thing that tons of people fail to realize is that fancy high-performing sports car tires are "summer tires" and they stick for jack-squat once the temps fall below 50ish. Yes, your Corvette could be faster on "lame" all-seasons. One day.. we'll have at least 5 or so vehicles.

 

My wife's Corolla has winter tires that I sometimes put on it. With them the car is a tank in the snow, it's a lot of fun, on the 4runner I do not run a specific snow tire, and I don't have problems with traction.

 

oh and the stock tires are just fine, I had the Bridgestones on the 4runner and the Dunlops on my Tacoma and on the Tacoma they were just fine even in deep snow.

 

I agree the Geolanders that come stock on some Runners seem pretty good. I wish mine came with them instead of the Duelers. the 2019 Limited I tested had the Geos, but the 2020 Limited I got had the Duelers. If you look at real-world reviews and expert tests, you'll see that the Duelers perform very poorly in the wet or snow. And my experience with heavy ABS application when coming to a stop, and from just slow speeds, backs that up. So I find them acceptable for powering through snow only because of the 4WD system, and do not much trust them for braking or directional stability -- two, ahem, kinda important things.

 

I ran them for around 30k miles and did not have any significant issues that were not caused by my overdriving for conditions. Sure there are better options out there but for a stock tire they are not the death traps that some make them out to be, now the stock headlights are another story they are super inadequate.

 

Good to hear. When I either get sick of mine or wear them out or move to a snowier climate I'm going either Michelin Defender (with a dedicated winter tire on separate rims if I'm in the snowbelt) or maybe the Toyo AT3 as a good all-rounder with more of a winter and off road bias than the Defenders. The Defenders BTW have amazing reviews and tests, and have also proved themselves to me with long time use on a family member's SUV.

Totally agree on the headlights. That's the only thing I think Toyota really failed at on this vehicle. There's no excuse for such crappy illumination on any car, much less one that costs this much and is meant to have so much utility. I switched to H9s and the OEM LED fogs, so now it's decent. But as stock, wow what a fail.

 

Bridgestone Defenders seem to always get excellent reviews. Maybe the best all-around tire out there for the non-extreme guys.

 

that is what my dad put on his limited and he absolutely loves them, he does a lot of highway miles on them.

 

I sold my tires when they were new on FB marketplace and they were sold in no time.

 

Anyone saying the Dunlops are good in snow has probably never had tires that were good in the snow. I nearly crashed mine the second or third week. The Dunlops are not 3PMSF tires. Anyone driving year round on AT's should be on 3PMSF tires if they live where it snows.

As for the OP; Like the others have said, use the 4WD. Exercise it occasionally to make sure it works. Even with good tires, you'll need 4WD occasionally to get moving. A FWD sedan with snow tires is better in the snow than a truck or SUV with AT's in 2WD.

 

okay

 

Exactly. This has been tested numerous times. As a rule, winter tires on a 2WD car are safer in the snow than all season tires on a 4WD car.

I qualify this by "as a rule" only because tire technology keeps advancing and is really quite amazing. The snow and off road performance of something like the Defender would have been unthinkable for an all season tire (aka a "no-season tire" LOL) 20 years ago.

While I have yet to see real world testing of the Toyo AT3, its claim to be snow worthy in addition to its other attributes will be impressive indeed if justified.

 

It's funny how people's experience varies. My 4R came with the Dunlops and I thought they were positively dangerous in winter, especially on slick/icy pavement. My experience agrees with the ratings and reviews on TireRack.

$261+ Dunlop Grandtrek AT20 Tires

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tire...toYear=2017&autoModel=4Runner&autoModClar=SR5

I recently put on Michelin Defenders and the improvement in all conditions (dry, wet, ice, deep snow) is dramatic.

 

Exactly! The user ratings show them being awful in snow, and yet some find them adequate. I found them ok at best. I've had several tires that were WAY better in snow. Those Michelins would surely be better as well!

 

Snow tires- Hakka 8 look good. You can get studded versions. Ice will always win but the snow tires have a softer compound that sticks better in cold temperatures. I have some cooper AT now and they are all right, but I haven't tried enough to have a good comparison.

 

When we had our Infiniti G35xs (awd) we had high performance summer tires on factory 18" wheels.
We also bought a set of cheap 17" wheels & blizzacks for winter. We used 2 pair of Blizzacks & one hakkapalita (sp) during our 8 yrs of ownership.
I believe in ice tires 100%. That Infiniti would just accelerate with no problems or wheel spin or computer interference. It was a tank. The only limit was ground clearance.
If Nissan hadn't dropped the ball on quality; we probably would have kept it in addition to the 4Runner!
Ryan.