Rear Fishtailing cornering mild snow

I would drop them down to the OE spec, which I believe to be 32 for you. Tire pressure will also make a huge difference. I have 33's and run 35psi in the winter, and 40 in the summer.

 

It is also worth noting the OE tires are mediocre in the best of conditions. I upgraded my OE tires on my 2020 Tacoma to AT3's and they were pretty good in the winter.

The Toyo A30's that came on my 4Runner were hot garbage from day one. After about 10k they would chirp and howl on warm dry asphalt when cornering.

My rule in life is that you never cheap out on things below you (Tires, shoes and mattresses).

 

nooo! Dont mismatch tires. Get a real AT tire like Falken wildpeaks or Mickey Thompson Baja boss and call it a day.

 

Lol if you can fishtail, the tires will break traction to avoid driveline bind. Just put it in 4hi and carry on. In RWD the 4Runner has less traction than FWD sedans.

 

#3 Learn how to drive in the snow.

 

This is the way, learn by doing. Gain confidence by finding your limits.

 

And it’s fun! It’s very easy to do “rotate in place” tight little donuts.

But realistically we don’t have to rely on our skills at the ragged edge of traction in the 4runner because of the VSC. Which is a good thing, otherwise you would need to be constantly trying to figure out when you should shift into 4wd, in and out, all the time.

Truth be told, if it wasn’t for VSC, a part-time 4wd 4runner would be fairly annoying to live with during winter. Or any rear wheel drive car for that matter.

 

It was a rude awakening for me. Having used AWD all my life.
Now extremely cautious of inclement weather.
Plan to keep the 2022 T4R for 10years. 3 years old now.

Looked at the 2025 SR5 and GX550. Wasn't super thrilled.

 

If you live where it snows, no substitute for good snow tires, regardless of what people say. I run Blizzaks during the winter. They are good, there are others. It's pain to swap but well worth it.

 

Add me to the list of initial disappointment at lack of full-time 4wd. When I first started looking at the 4th gens, all of them I looked at had the lockable center differential. I think they also could be shifted into 2wd as well if you wanted to (which you can’t do on the 5th gen full-time transfer case).

The nickle and diming is even worse with the 6th gen because limited trim no longer have a lockable center diff as standard equipment. You gotta step up in option packages to get the center locker. Without it, the 6th gen Limiteds can not really be called full time 4wd anymore, since it functions only as an AWD transfer case like most car based cute-utes and crossovers.

 

^That's because Limited is a second-tier street trim now, below the Platinum.

 

I live in a lake-effect snow area and I fishtail way more than twice each winter. It is really easy to break the rear end loose in 2WD on slick surfaces. You have to be gentle on the throttle.

If you want a noticeable improvement get real snow tires.

 

Any more info on the loss of the center locker? I can’t find any info so far indicating the removal of H4L (but keeping low range?) or Limited having any options packages to change it - at least for my ZIP.

But eh, I’d certainly prefer the center LSD anyway over the clutched system in many pickups and other crossovers these days just for longevity.

 

I saw it published somewhere a while ago. Maybe the platimums list center locker as availabel?

 

VSC can only do so much until one goes too fast for computer intervention to save the day, ultimately the tire contact patches are the limiting factor on how much deceleration and direction change can be applied.


I grew up part time in the midwest on rwd cars and trucks. One of the cheat codes was just to driving around town in 2nd in automatic transmissions when it snows, in many older american rwd cars putting it in 2nd means from a stand still, it starts not in first but rather in 2nd and stays there, so throttle input is greatly dampened to avoid fish tailing, One would still have to observe the speed of course, common sense. With the 3 or 4 speed autos of the old, 2nd is good up to over 80mph so it more than covers the speed one should be driving in bad snow weather.

 

Yeah I just checked the Toyota site and “building” a limited tells you you get full time 4wd. Same thing for the platinum. Neither mention whether if it does or does not have H4L (locked). I could have sworn I saw a least a couple places that said the center locker would not be on base limited trims on the 4runner. I saw it early in the release info, so maybe toyota changed their mind? Would be nice if they made it plainly obvious on their website.

That’s one of the frustrating things about this platform’s release across all models. It seems like all the important mechanical details are hidden or very hard to find. Toyota doesn’t even advertise the models that get the “extra good stuff”. For example, the high angle cv axles on some Tacoma trims. Some things they should hide out of shame, like the smaller rear diff on the LC250s…, but at least they could advertise when they bless a particular model or trim with notably better mechanicals.

 

The rear diff on a "Land Crusier" being weaker than a 4Runner is some shameful cow manure.

But if my conversation with other real life 4runner owners I come across is any indication of it, buyers of 99% of the new units wouldn't even know what these things mean, so why make things intimidating to all those first time buyers, all they can about is the name plate and if the tailgate is automatic so loading grocery is easier. The last TRD Off Road owner I was talking to at the kids' school function admitted he hasn't tried 4wd on his yet after 2 years of ownership.

 

I thought I saw something like what you saw too, huh.

Perhaps misinformation, especially with all the things shared I can’t really see Toyota arbitrarily adding another transfer case just for one trim.

Granted, weirder things have happened.

Ever since I got burned by the Hyundai/Kia immobilizer thing I’ve thought of new car buying as a game of MineHunt. Can’t take a single feature for granted anymore!