Hi, my name is Dennis from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, and I have recently purchased an 07 shadow mica V8 SE.
To avoid getting into a lengthy post about why I bought it, I'll try to keep it short for now.
I needed something that was able to tow a small sports car on my light weight home built car hauler to race events throughout western Canada, something that was 4WD to deal with the winter conditions that we experience 6 months of the year here, something that would be reliable, something that would be a good daily driver, and something that I could use for camping trips, etc. The V8 4runner seems to be the one vehicle that can do it all. I had looked at some 07+ 5.7L Tundras, but they are so big, and do not have a center differential, so would make a worse daily driver/winter vehicle.
Until now, I have been using a 92 2WD suburban as a tow rig, daily driving my 92 240SX autocross car, and using a MK1 VW Rabbit GTI with studded tires as a winter beater. The 4runner will allow me to sell all of those vehicles and replace them with one sensible "grown up" vehicle.
I only plan on doing some light off roading with it (camping, etc), so will be modding it with a bias towards being a better highway tow rig.
Currently, I have not done much to it. I sold the 265/65/17 BFG Rugged Terrains that came one it (They were downright terrible in the winter), and bought 265/70/17 winter tires for it.
I also ordered a 5000K HID kit from an ebay vendor for it (hopefully it isn't total crap), and also bought some yellow hella bulbs for the fog lights. The HID kit has not arrived yet, but I'll install the yellow fog light bulbs when I install the HID kit. I've always been impressed with how well yellow lights seem to cut through fog/snow/rain when out on a dark highway at night.
Oh, I also bought a set of LT265/70/17 michelin LTX MS2's for summer/towing use (supposed to be very quiet and smooth, have low rolling resistance, and work well in all on-road conditions), and am currently trying to decide on which wheels to purchase to mount them on. The short list is:
SCS Stealth 6's in bronze. Good price, light weight, clean design, hubcentric on the T4R, and Vin seems to be a good guy.
Level 8 MK6's in bronze. I like how they look, the price is right, they are available in multiple widths and offsets, but they are VERY heavy.
MB 352's in either silver or black. They are ~25lbs a peice, so not too bad. I'm not sure how the silver machined centers with black faux beadlocks will look. I'm a fan of clean wheels, so am trying to avoid wheels with all of the fake bolts and faux beadlocks on them.
Going over bumps, it seems like the front suspension was bottoming out on the bump stops. When I mounted the winter tires, I took a peek at the front bump stops and it was obvious that they were being used a lot. With that said, I'll have to lift the front a bit to provide more compression travel, as well as to level it out a bit. I have no plans to lift the rear, but do plan on getting some airbags for the rear to prevent sagging while trailering.
Anyways, here are a couple of pictures:
Here it is the day that I picked it up from the Yorkton Toyota dealership:
And here it is with the 265/70/17 cheap chinese winter tires on it:
This is the light trailer that I will be towing with it (except the BMW Ministock car will be replaced with a spec miata race car):
The only thing that I've done to the exterior is the application of a few #13 decals...my race car number.
To avoid getting into a lengthy post about why I bought it, I'll try to keep it short for now.
I needed something that was able to tow a small sports car on my light weight home built car hauler to race events throughout western Canada, something that was 4WD to deal with the winter conditions that we experience 6 months of the year here, something that would be reliable, something that would be a good daily driver, and something that I could use for camping trips, etc. The V8 4runner seems to be the one vehicle that can do it all.
I had looked at some 07+ 5.7L Tundras, but they are so big, and do not have a center differential, so would make a worse daily driver/winter vehicle. Until now, I have been using a 92 2WD suburban as a tow rig, daily driving my 92 240SX autocross car, and using a MK1 VW Rabbit GTI with studded tires as a winter beater. The 4runner will allow me to sell all of those vehicles and replace them with one sensible "grown up" vehicle.
I only plan on doing some light off roading with it (camping, etc), so will be modding it with a bias towards being a better highway tow rig.
Currently, I have not done much to it. I sold the 265/65/17 BFG Rugged Terrains that came one it (They were downright terrible in the winter), and bought 265/70/17 winter tires for it.
I also ordered a 5000K HID kit from an ebay vendor for it (hopefully it isn't total crap), and also bought some yellow hella bulbs for the fog lights. The HID kit has not arrived yet, but I'll install the yellow fog light bulbs when I install the HID kit. I've always been impressed with how well yellow lights seem to cut through fog/snow/rain when out on a dark highway at night.
Oh, I also bought a set of LT265/70/17 michelin LTX MS2's for summer/towing use (supposed to be very quiet and smooth, have low rolling resistance, and work well in all on-road conditions), and am currently trying to decide on which wheels to purchase to mount them on. The short list is:
SCS Stealth 6's in bronze. Good price, light weight, clean design, hubcentric on the T4R, and Vin seems to be a good guy.
Level 8 MK6's in bronze. I like how they look, the price is right, they are available in multiple widths and offsets, but they are VERY heavy.
MB 352's in either silver or black. They are ~25lbs a peice, so not too bad. I'm not sure how the silver machined centers with black faux beadlocks will look. I'm a fan of clean wheels, so am trying to avoid wheels with all of the fake bolts and faux beadlocks on them.
Going over bumps, it seems like the front suspension was bottoming out on the bump stops. When I mounted the winter tires, I took a peek at the front bump stops and it was obvious that they were being used a lot. With that said, I'll have to lift the front a bit to provide more compression travel, as well as to level it out a bit. I have no plans to lift the rear, but do plan on getting some airbags for the rear to prevent sagging while trailering.
Anyways, here are a couple of pictures:
Here it is the day that I picked it up from the Yorkton Toyota dealership:
And here it is with the 265/70/17 cheap chinese winter tires on it:
This is the light trailer that I will be towing with it (except the BMW Ministock car will be replaced with a spec miata race car):
The only thing that I've done to the exterior is the application of a few #13 decals...my race car number.
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