Hey everyone,

I wanted to know what some of your favorite mods are for driveability/comfort on your 3rd gen? Some people have said replacing the seats made a big difference, some suspension and tires...

What has brought your 3rd gen to the next level?

For me it has been my retro projector fit. It made a massive difference in night driving and general look!

The OEM suspension has MUCH to be desired. Half the reason you see so many lifted 4runners is because everybody wants to replace it, and most people use the opportunity to gain a little height while they're at it. My TRD lift in front eats up bumps and dips so much better than stock, there's basically no way to compare the two, like riding in a shopping cart vs an actual car.
New bushings all around makes a WORLD of difference too. Not really a mod, just a tedious task many car owners neglect (if they even realize it, at all).
Another good one is sound deadening material - some people add it in the roof and trunk and it supposedly cuts down the noise by a huge chunk (I'm sure you've noticed your 4runner have an excessive amount of wind/road noise.) Can be quite the weekend job to get it installed, though I've yet to see anybody go through with it end up regretting it, or having anything poor to say. I personally would like to get around to this one day, its pretty ridiculous at times.
Tires make a big difference too - as worn tires cannot trap sound, but too aggressive will cause harmonics on the highway.

Tires.

Hard not to love the 99+ center console upgrade. Only us 96 to 98 owners will truly appreciate this.

Which bushings did you replace?

1. Bluetooth Kenwood headunit, CarPlay, and new speakers. Nothing modernizes the 20 year old ride more in my opinion.

2. Back up camera. Saved my ass a few times... literally.

3. Projector LED retrofit headlights. As OP stated... night and day difference.

4. Sound deadening. Take a look behind the door panels. Something’s missing...

5. LED interior dome lights. Nice to see the floor of the vehicle when opening the doors and hatch.

New seat foam and sheepskin seat covers from ShearComfort, very cozy




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

So far all trailing arms, panhard bar, and both swaybar bushings (and new links). So pretty much everything in the rear, and I'm soon going to replace UCAs and LCAs which will be damn near all of it. All of mine were totally shot with the exception of the swaybar bushings - I just replaced those trying to chase down a clunking sound which turned out to be just a loose sway link lol. Trailing arms were definitely the worst, with practically no visible rubber and made the rear sound like it was falling apart. None of these were hard to do, but the control arms are notorious for being a pain to swap bushings especially with age, and mine are well rusted anyways so why not get a new set and avoid the hassle?

Thank you for everyone's replies so far! I really would like to know if anyone would change the way they did sounds deadening after living with it? Would you concentrate harder on certain areas? Yes I completely agree! When I changed out the suspension I redid the bushings and man that really helped!

Sent from my Mi MIX 2S using Tapatalk

Yep most people don't realize the difference until they get a nice new set!

Sent from my Mi MIX 2S using Tapatalk

Spiker's hood struts are worth their weight in gold and are very easy to install if you have a pop-riveter, another idea
Honestly some of the best money ever spent, ****in hate that kickstand!

Spiker hood strut, spiker ultra gauge mount, accessory power hot at all times mod, Bluetooth head unit, and replacing all my wood grain out for black trim

I got a scratch and dent Bluetooth head unit from crutchfield for like $35, sound quality is so much better than the oem radio and an adaptor, I liked it so much it was one of the first mods I did to my Miata when I got it

Next would probably be a good alignment and tires especially for a lifted vehicle, after many miles driving on crappy alignments from shops that don’t care I found a shop that would let me come in and tell the guy what specs I wanted and only cost me $45 but the improvement in handling and drivability over the toe only firestone alignments is amazing

Oh man, I do wonder what these trucks would ride like with brand new bushings. Are you sure they weren't hard to do? The LCA seems like a b*tch to do after all these years. Definitely would need to get torched out, and possibly a hydraulic press. I hate suspension work in general.

Sound deadening and insulating interior.
Less road noise, sound system sounds better, cooler in summer, warmer when it gets to 37*f like it did Friday night was at Expo slept in Runner.