Definitely time to update my 12 to a 20 and I've been seriously thinking about the TRD CAI and the TRD Exhaust, so I'm very curious to see what the Dyno runs tell about any possible power gains.
So I finally ditched my KO2s today, and I'm pretty happy so far... after an ~8 mile drive home . With the new 4Runner, I do not plan to spend as much time on stock-unfriendly trails so I didn't need as aggressive of an AT tire. 95% of my time is on-road and I commute 5 days a week in Atlanta, which has pretty rough roads, so I wanted something smoother and more compliant for the day-to-day.
I did a ton of research and looked at almost every P-rated AT tire and finally landed on the Yokohama Geolandar A/T G015. Yes, I looked at Falken Wildpeaks, Duratracs and everything in between. If it helps anyone else, here's the chart I compiled in my research - "rating" column was my own based on my search:
The Geolandar stuck out after reading hundreds of reviews for these tires, but the Terra Grappler G2 was a very close second. When I was at the dealer getting them installed today, I spent some time talking to Southeast Toyota's tire "rep" about this tire and many of the others that I considered. A few interesting notes from him:
He said that he's had good experiences with the Hankook tires, and has never seen a complaint with their AT tires
Mentioned seeing and hearing lots of complaints about balancing the Falken Wildpeaks over the years and said it would be "mid-pack" for him, in my position
Agreed that the KO2 is a great tire if you spend a considerable amount of time off paved roads, but is more than I needed
I told him I came down to Geolandar and Terra Grappler G2, and he said he'd give a slight nod to the Geolandar because of road noise and wet traction.
He did mention that the TG G2 is basically a cut rate KO2 with a P-rated option, and that's not a bad thing, but for my needs, the Geolandar would probably serve me better
So, they don't look as aggressive as KO2s but they also don't look as basic as a passenger tire. A nice in-between, IMO.
The difference in ride quality and noise was immediately noticeable. I do still think of the KO2 as a great tire... it's just more than I needed. Being back to the smoothness of a P-Rated tire with these Yokos feels like my old LS 430 in comparison to the KO2 though. Also a little quieter, but I never felt like the KO2s were "too loud." Last but not least, losing ~5lbs per corner, the truck does feel a little quicker on its feet, which is exactly what I wanted.
I have a road trip coming up later this week, so I can report back with more opinions later.
So I finally ditched my KO2s today, and I'm pretty happy so far... after an ~8 mile drive home . With the new 4Runner, I do not plan to spend as much time on stock-unfriendly trails so I didn't need as aggressive of an AT tire. 95% of my time is on-road and I commute 5 days a week in Atlanta, which has pretty rough roads, so I wanted something smoother and more compliant for the day-to-day.
I did a ton of research and looked at almost every P-rated AT tire and finally landed on the Yokohama Geolandar A/T G015. Yes, I looked at Falken Wildpeaks, Duratracs and everything in between. If it helps anyone else, here's the chart I compiled in my research - "rating" column was my own based on my search:
The Geolandar stuck out after reading hundreds of reviews for these tires, but the Terra Grappler G2 was a very close second. When I was at the dealer getting them installed today, I spent some time talking to Southeast Toyota's tire "rep" about this tire and many of the others that I considered. A few interesting notes from him:
He said that he's had good experiences with the Hankook tires, and has never seen a complaint with their AT tires
Mentioned seeing and hearing lots of complaints about balancing the Falken Wildpeaks over the years and said it would be "mid-pack" for him, in my position
Agreed that the KO2 is a great tire if you spend a considerable amount of time off paved roads, but is more than I needed
I told him I came down to Geolandar and Terra Grappler G2, and he said he'd give a slight nod to the Geolandar because of road noise and wet traction.
He did mention that the TG G2 is basically a cut rate KO2 with a P-rated option, and that's not a bad thing, but for my needs, the Geolandar would probably serve me better
So, they don't look as aggressive as KO2s but they also don't look as basic as a passenger tire. A nice in-between, IMO.
The difference in ride quality and noise was immediately noticeable. I do still think of the KO2 as a great tire... it's just more than I needed. Being back to the smoothness of a P-Rated tire with these Yokos feels like my old LS 430 in comparison to the KO2 though. Also a little quieter, but I never felt like the KO2s were "too loud." Last but not least, losing ~5lbs per corner, the truck does feel a little quicker on its feet, which is exactly what I wanted.
I have a road trip coming up later this week, so I can report back with more opinions later.
How's the ride compared to the stock 20s?
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__________________
2019 4Runner Limited in Magnetic Gray Metallic, w/Redwood Interior, and 3rd row. Mods: Lastfit 7440/7443 Led Blinkers | JDM ASTAR LEDs throughout the interior and backup/license plate bulbs | OEM Tundra LED Fog Lights | Morimoto Elite HID 5500k 35w | Xenon Depot Led Pro 9005 w/LED Driver for DRL / XPLORE OFFROAD USA Flag rear windows | Adams Polishes UV Ceramic Paint coating
Going to a wider tire makes the biggest difference compared to the stock 20s... everything feels more stable and planted, and less "wobbly." The stability is my favorite part of this tire/wheel change, as it was with the KO2s over the 20s.
On well paved roads, ride quality is pretty consistent with the stock 20s, but bumps and imperfections are a LOT less jarring (more sidewall).
After the baseline dyno was done, I had the Borla Touring exhaust installed. Quick, easy, and I didn't need any aftermarket hanger - stock worked just fine.
I was originally going to do dyno runs as follows:
1. Base
2. Borla
3. Borla + TRD CAI
... but the Borla tubing is the same exact size as stock, so I don't think it's worth a dyno on it's own. With that said, is it worthless? No. I actually really like it and would buy it again, even if there is 0 performance improvement. It sounds great... though I will warn you, for someone who is conservative with exhausts, during the break in period, you'll think, "what did I just do...?" Trust me, it gets better and settles down very nicely. Fitment is so nice and looks very OEM:
Of course, it's really hard to capture exhaust notes on camera, but here you go:
Out of curiosity, right before I got my baseline dyno, I started running premium gas. Of course, it takes 4-5 tanks before you'll see any difference - if there is one - but I've been on two road trips this month and am 15+ tanks of premium (91) into my experiment at this point. So...
My commute is 90% city, and I drive fairly aggressively.
Stock (combined) with BFG KO2s on 87 octane : 14.5 MPG
Stock (combined) with Yoko Geolandar G015 A/Ts on 87 octane: 15.5 MPG
Stock (combined) with Yoko Geolandar on 91 octane: 16.8 MPG
Stock highway with Yoko Geolandar G015 A/TS on 87 octane: 18.6 MPG
Stock highway with Yoko Geolandar G015 on 91 octane: 19.4 MPG
So, there is some real, measured improvement to MPG when you run premium. I've been keeping notes over the last 4 weeks, and the results above are represented to the best of my ability.
The butt-o-meter says there is a little extra oomph at the top end on premium, most notably for passing power.
Thank you for being so thorough in your research. I also have a TRD intake and cat-back exhaust. Looking forward to the results of your next dyno run with the intake to see what your results are. Also, have you thought about adding an Underdog Racing MAF calibrator to your list of engine mods? That would make for a very interesting third dyno pull!
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2016 Trail Edition. Prinsu Roof Rack, Rigid 50" Midnight Light Bar, Ditch and Fog Lights, Icon Stage 2, Icon Rebounds, TRD CAI, Flowmaster 60 series.
Is it possible to disable AWD on a limited? I'm curious what the difference is in the drivetrain loss between AWD and two wheel drive.
For fun I looked up TheWraith's stock dyno run, which was done with just the rear wheels on a different model dyno, atmospheric conditions, etc. His T4R netted 220 HP and 236 ft-lb.
__________________ '16 Magnetic Grey SR5 Premium - FN 6-Shooters, 265 KO2s, TRD CAI, various other do-dads
So happy to be back in a 4Runner again! Previous Toys - '87, '89 and '93 4x2 Pick Ups, '03 4Runner, '08 Sequoia
Is it possible to disable AWD on a limited? I'm curious what the difference is in the drivetrain loss between AWD and two wheel drive.
For fun I looked up TheWraith's stock dyno run, which was done with just the rear wheels on a different model dyno, atmospheric conditions, etc. His T4R netted 220 HP and 236 ft-lb.
If you were to adjust the numbers from the second two runs for temperature based on a +35% boost due to temps, you'd have roughly:
Stock: 191.3 hp and 217.9 lb-ft of torque
TRD Intake + Borla Touring Exhaust: 203.2hp and 230.6 lb-ft of torque (+11.9 hp, +12.7 lb-ft of torque)
TRD Intake + Borla Touring Exhaust + URD MAF Calibrator: 204 hp and 231 lb-ft of torque (+12.7 hp, +13.1 lb-ft of torque)
The piping on the Borla is the same as stock, so I do not assume the exhaust made any impact on the runs and credit the TRD intake.
Some here have said that they feel a big difference with the URD MAF Calibrator. I did not, and am not surprised to see such negligible gains with its use. For what it costs, I do not recommend this mod.
Max Horsepower: 211.1hp @ 5,300 RPM
Max Torque: 238.4 lb-ft @ 4,150 RPM
Compared to stock, that is:
+ 19.8 hp
+ 20.5 lb-ft of torque
Compared to just the TRD Intake and Borla Touring Exhaust, that is:
+1.5 hp
+ 1 lb-ft of torque
NOTES YOU NEED TO READ:
1) Remember that these numbers are smoothed/averaged. There was one run that was as high as 215hp and 242 lb-ft, but most were 210-212hp and 237-239 lb-ft.
2) Take a look at the temps. They make a difference. The day I did my first run, it was 77F and 70% humidity. The day I did this run was also the same run that I did with the TRD Intake and Borla Exhaust: 48F and 50% humidity. I asked the tech who helped me how much of a difference he thought the temps made, and his assumption was 30-40% boost.
If you factor that in, the real increase in performance with the TRD intake and URD MAF Calibrator (assuming a 35% boost due to temps) would be:
+ 12.87 hp
+ 13.3 lb-ft of torque
So you'd have roughly 204 hp and 231 lb-ft of torque if the temps were the same on my third run.
3) After doing the second run with the TRD Intake and Borla exhaust, I disconnected the battery, installed the URD MAF Calibrator, drained any residual charge left in the system, let it sit for 20 minutes, reconnected the battery, did a few "warm up runs" and then did a few final runs.
Video - I'll post the chart in my next post:
Cool to see the different curves together and the nice power bump from the intake and exhaust.
So, if I understand you correctly, did the shop perform all the dyno runs without a correction factor (for temperature and humidity differences), like the SAE or some other standard? That would save you from having to guess at a percentage (35%) adjustment.
__________________ '16 Magnetic Grey SR5 Premium - FN 6-Shooters, 265 KO2s, TRD CAI, various other do-dads
So happy to be back in a 4Runner again! Previous Toys - '87, '89 and '93 4x2 Pick Ups, '03 4Runner, '08 Sequoia
Cool to see the different curves together and the nice power bump from the intake and exhaust.
So, if I understand you correctly, did the shop perform all the dyno runs without a correction factor (for temperature and humidity differences), like the SAE or some other standard? That would save you from having to guess at a percentage (35%) adjustment.
Correct. They did not include a correction factor, which I suppose would have been helpful here. Doh.
If the run files were saved, perhaps the shop can easily edit them.
Many years ago, the first run I did on a car lacked correction. When I realized it, I went back and was able to get a new print out. Was bummed though, that the baseline numbers were lower with SAE applied. Ha ha.
__________________ '16 Magnetic Grey SR5 Premium - FN 6-Shooters, 265 KO2s, TRD CAI, various other do-dads
So happy to be back in a 4Runner again! Previous Toys - '87, '89 and '93 4x2 Pick Ups, '03 4Runner, '08 Sequoia