Front Right Wheel Slots

[sud]

Hey all...new to the forums here.

I just bought a Nautical Blue 2007 Toyota 4Runner SR5 4WD model about 2 weeks ago (pics to come soon!). She's already got ~1200 miles, but its for the 1st time I noticed these slots on the front right wheel (circled red in the attached pic). I live up here in the NJ, which just got flooded with a huge rainstorm. Taking my truck out going through huge puddles was a lot of fun, but I started to get worried when I noticed these slots. Anyone knows what these are for?

 

[DaBoostCreep]

One of two things:
To aid in getting cool air from the front of the vehicle into the wheelwell, although it would seem this isnt a very effective way.

The most logical reason is to help keep the fender linings/bumper from becoming a parachute and trapping air at highway speed, thusly increasing drag and lowering fuel economy.

 

[toto]

I assumed it's the latter - some sort of aerodynamic thing, albeit a small one. Other Toyota models have a plastic tab hanging down in front of the front wheels for that reason, but since the 4Runner has such a big front bumper, I figured they went with the slots instead.

 

[greasefingers]

Pour some water in there and see if it all runs out thru the bottom somewhere. If not then cover them up or rust will soon to follow.

 

[Falls]

If your doing a lot of water running I would be more worried about the rear breather tube.

I would not worry about the slots and water , I just went out and checked , dont worry about them water wont sit in there , nothing will rust. I dont know what the are for though.

 

[sud]

Thanks all for your comments. The funny thing is that these "slots" are only on the front right wheelwell and not in any of the other tire wheelwells. This freaked me out, figuring I lost a piece of the wheelwell, so I had to double check on the web if all the models have this (as you can see in the picture the body color is gray and not blue like mine, so this was not a pic from my car Maybe I'll ask my dealer...

 

[Uneek]

I say it's for the air intake. On the FJ, Toyota mention something that it's reversed the louvers so water can't be splashed into the intake.

I beg to differ on the aerodynamics, because it's not on the driver side sheild.

Covering or removing it should cause any problems, because members who has lifted and put bigger tires have trimmed around that area.