How Fast is it Safe To Go in My 4Runner?

Macaque said:
Some of the dirt roads around here don't have speed limits. The "forest roads" have speed limits under 35mph, even if not posted, but roads that are private or not maintained by the state are wide open. My county doesn't have any local speed laws to regulate speed where it isn't clearly posted. So if OP's area is similar he technically "can" go 90+ without breaking the law, but that doesn't mean he should do it and call it safe.
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Good point.
 
Yeah, the body roll on these trucks is just hideous, wasn't so bad on my 03 Sport, but my 08 SR5, I have trouble taking bends very fast at all. That's why I have a weekend car with several grand into the suspsension, no body roll at all on that bad boy
 
The x-reas system actually makes a huge difference.

Taking off-ramps with my SE versus my Dad's LTD... His truck was scary at 45mph, but mine was stable and fun
 
BlackWorksInc said:
Fastest I went was 120+ (Speedo stopped there so I dunno how much more I managed,) though to be honest, after that I kind of lost the desire to go that fast in my 4Runner, even with the V8... I normally hit about 75~80mph on freeway if traffic is going around that, sometimes tip up to 90mph on long trips on cross-state highways, though the tires have worn enough from off-roading and such that I have a tire imbalance at about 90 and it annoys me.
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Factory 116mph Governor, I've hit 116 a few times.

Tires are your biggest concern, not just speed rating but also proper inflation. Second biggest obvious concern is over heating.
 
And for the "you're not safe at X speed" grandmas out there.

Safe is relative, at 20mph I was very unsafe the first 100 miles I ever drove. 1000's of drive miles later and a few years I was unsafe again on the roads at 30mph when I got my first motorcycle. 10s of thousands of miles later and thousands of motorcycle miles later I was fairly unsafe at 120mph on a motorcycle. 15 years later and I've hit 170 a couple of times on a motorcycle and felt pretty darn unsafe, but when I slowed down 120mph after that it felt very safe and almost calm.

If you feel unsafe at a certain speed chances are good that you are, dont impose your lack of driving ability and fear of speed on someone else.

Before anyone gets in to a conniption fit I live in the NV Desert that for most part is flat and free of vegetation or other visual impairments. And for the love of Gawd please dont tell me its the law. Some mental midget in a Govt office decides thats the speed limit so I'm forever bound to follow it? I'll accept my tickets and move on.

:bounce:
 
emelianenkov said:
The x-reas system actually makes a huge difference.

Taking off-ramps with my SE versus my Dad's LTD... His truck was scary at 45mph, but mine was stable and fun
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Yes it does, that's about the only thing I miss from my 03 was the cornering. Sometimes I still forget I'm driving my new truck and can't hit corners the same speed / aggressiveness :lookout:
 
Having driven from KS to Denver several times, and having lived in Eastern Montana an hour from nearest doctor and grocery store, I know the type of terrain being described here. In six years in Montana, we hit 3 deer and one fox, always at normal driving speeds. The deer did a lot of damage, but it would have been far worse at 110 mph than it was at 55. I knew a guy in rural SD who swerved to avoid a rabbit on a gravel road and hit the ditch at 45 mph. At that speed, the damage was minor and he wasn't hurt. At 110 mph, what might have happened? A lot of times deer are hard to spot until you are right on top of them. They are often lurking just off the road and sometimes they jump right into your path. That is probably the greatest danger. All it takes is one time and you are dead.

I know the thrill that comes from diving fast. I did that when I was younger and had more of a sense of invincibility. As I have gotten older, that sense of invincibility tends to go away. I feel that I have so much more I want to accomplish in this life, and I know that my days remaining are going to be less than I would like to have. I look forward to the day my daughters get married and perhaps have a child. How selfish would it be for me to rob them of the opportunity to walk down the isle with dad because he felt the need to go out for a joy ride? Or if you are young and single, imagine the pain your parents, brothers or sisters would feel if they had to put in the ground before you had the chance to make your dreams come true, due to something so silly as a joy ride? Is the thrill of going fast worth that much to you?
 
I haven't drove the car anywhere past 80mph, but I've seen them go REALLY fast on the fast lane by people in a really big hurry.
 
DaGimp said:
And for the "you're not safe at X speed" grandmas out there.

Safe is relative

If you feel unsafe at a certain speed chances are good that you are, dont impose your lack of driving ability and fear of speed on someone else.
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True, but worse are the people who impose their over-confidence behind the wheel on other drivers and kill somebody. I feel safe driving really really really fast on gravel backroads because I do it so often, but I don't trust that other people driving fast have the same skill to do it safely. All it takes is some jackass trying to corner like Ken Block in a blind turn to hit me head on and ruin my day.
 
IceNine said:
Having driven from KS to Denver several times, and having lived in Eastern Montana an hour from nearest doctor and grocery store, I know the type of terrain being described here. In six years in Montana, we hit 3 deer and one fox, always at normal driving speeds. The deer did a lot of damage, but it would have been far worse at 110 mph than it was at 55. I knew a guy in rural SD who swerved to avoid a rabbit on a gravel road and hit the ditch at 45 mph. At that speed, the damage was minor and he wasn't hurt. At 110 mph, what might have happened? A lot of times deer are hard to spot until you are right on top of them. They are often lurking just off the road and sometimes they jump right into your path. That is probably the greatest danger. All it takes is one time and you are dead.

I know the thrill that comes from diving fast. I did that when I was younger and had more of a sense of invincibility. As I have gotten older, that sense of invincibility tends to go away. I feel that I have so much more I want to accomplish in this life, and I know that my days remaining are going to be less than I would like to have. I look forward to the day my daughters get married and perhaps have a child. How selfish would it be for me to rob them of the opportunity to walk down the isle with dad because he felt the need to go out for a joy ride? Or if you are young and single, imagine the pain your parents, brothers or sisters would feel if they had to put in the ground before you had the chance to make your dreams come true, due to something so silly as a joy ride? Is the thrill of going fast worth that much to you?
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Very well said
 
I wont drive fast on dirt roads. They are too loose and rough to be safe. But as for the track next week, it sounds like maybe it's not a good idea then? I know my tires are rated for 112mph. Does that mean at 115 they will fail? I'd like to just push it to 120 just that once on the straight in a controlled environment, but I'm not going to be stupid. The tires are my main concern in this case. I have them properly inflated to 36 psi.
 
DaGimp said:
Factory 116mph Governor, I've hit 116 a few times.

Tires are your biggest concern, not just speed rating but also proper inflation. Second biggest obvious concern is over heating.
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Really? Are you sure it's limited on the V8? I had the needle pegged on the 120 mark with stock tires, so it should have been accurate, not doubting you I just never saw anywhere that it is governed.
 
My suggestion is to go the speed limit and if you wanna go fast take it to a track. Now for racing stuff either go to my build or look up the 4runner video thread and watch some of the stuff I posted.
 
This blows my mind.

I'm never going to find out myself, but I had it filed away as a fact that the 4th gen has a speed limiter somewhere around 115-120mph. I had it filed that way because I've read about it here many times over the years. My memory could easily be faulty, but this feels like the first time I've seen it credibly called into question.

[MENTION=26817]SkylineGTRracer[/MENTION] , surely you of all people must know. What's the story?
 
JB. said:
This blows my mind.

I'm never going to find out myself, but I had it filed away as a fact that the 4th gen has a speed limiter somewhere around 115-120mph. I had it filed that way because I've read about it here many times over the years. My memory could easily be faulty, but this feels like the first time I've seen it credibly called into question.

[MENTION=26817]SkylineGTRracer[/MENTION] , surely you of all people must know. What's the story?
Click to expand...

It is governed, 120 mph.
 
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