Silver fo sure

RUGGED Elegance...

You should have started a pole! I say Silver because of the Silver cladding & chrome bumpers.

That's Golden Pearl, and you can't compare the two!!
Golden Pearl looks amazing all color matched ❤️

But the earlier white is a starker white, and doesn't look as good all color-matched. Of course, only my opinion.

Edit:
It's worth mentioning- the white-on-white in the OP is a '00 SR5, not a Limited. Having no body cladding definitely changes the look too.

Also a good point - those are Bushwacker flares too, not OEM.

-Charlie

Yeah, I was wondering what model that Runner was, I've never seen such a combo before, so it makes sense that it's not a stock model. BTW, since we're discussing the details of models, colors, and flares, I think it's a '99, based on the side mirrors .

Thanks for all the awesome feedback, these are some very helpful thoughts (realizing that there is no right or wrong, and as Tyler James said, variety is what makes our trucks unique from one another!).

The majority's preference for silver is in line with my thinking. I think that all-white would look elegant and clean, but not tough or rugged (or as my wife said, it'd look prissy ). Now, I do think that all-white would look awesome on a truck that has been lifted or modified, because the ruggedness would be built in. But I don't expect to do any of that to mine, and I don't want it to look prissy.

I also agree that body colored flares look very good on darker trucks, it definitey makes them look tougher.

As for black flares, I considered that, but I think that painting the flares and cladding black is too much black - at least it's not the look I'm going for.

So at least for the nearterm, I'm going to do the minimal, and repaint my two replacement flares in OEM silver - I can always go crazy later and repaint them any other color.

Question - unfortunately my flares/cladding have been repainted by the PO - does anyone know if they are supposed to be high gloss, semi gloss, satin, etc?

Also, @ Tyler James Inc , I'm curious why you think that black wheels would not look good with white/silver? Have you seen photos of this combo that you could share?

In my opinion, the look of the white-on-white 2002 Limited is easily the GOAT.

It's what I was looking for but I eventually settled for the white/silver.

I'd paint it all white, but to each their own though.

Glossy for sure. The silver paint on my 4Runner was worn down to a flat, dull, streaky finish. I never paid any attention to it until I parked next to a mint-looking 01/02 model with similar flares and wow they were so smooth and glossy!! One could see their own reflection. My truck looked much older. Initially I used Duplicolor Perfect Match and clear coat to repaint my flares but it didn't turn out right so I ponied up the $500 to have the shop re-paint my silver cladding (I may have used "Millennial Silver" instead of "Silver" so that's probably why it didn't turn out right. Totally different colors for Toyota...)

Thanks - yeah, my flares are a bit dull, so I'll have to decide if I should paint the two replacement ones with something to match, or go all out and paint all the flares/cladding with the right/glossy finish.

Any idea what the official color code for the Silver flares was in '97? Was it the 926 Lavender Steel Metallic?

Oh, definitely not Lavender Steel Metallic (926), that's more of a purple/blue grey. And it's not Millenium Silver (1C0), which is lighter. According to the Toyota Reference: "Cladding on 96-98 models are either painted Dark Gray (156) or Silver Metallic (181)" I don't know what color the shop matched it too, but pretty sure the latter is correct. I believe the Dark Gray is the near black color usually used with Anthracite 4Runners.

I second

Thanks - mine is definitely silver, so must be 181 .

Wanted to update this thread - I did a full 180 from my last post here. After two years of thinking, obsessing, and looking at other trucks, I decided to go with the body-color cladding, a la Sport models. I'm very happy with how it turned out:

Looks great man. I have the same kind of debate in my head. I want to get the truck rhino lined but not sure if I want to stick with the limited theme or sport.. I have jade mica/topaz right now and I want to do a dark forest green with maybe a light tan/grey color for the flares when I do the rhino liner.. or should I just go solid green.. hmm.