Wheel upgrade

T

Tha Krazy One

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Hola everyone. I just inherited my dad's old 02 4Runner SR5. He has done his best to take care of it to the best of his ability. He got himself an F150 a while ago and doesn't use the runner so I offered to buy it from him. So now I have it in Los Angeles now and it needs a bit of work, mainly interior cosmetic... Thank god for Pick your Part. Anyways, it has stock 225/75R15's on it but the label inside also has the option for 265/70R16. I would like to upgrade to 16's or if possible, 17's as it will be my new Daily Driver. OfferUp has alot of runner and Taco rims with tires available. I need to replace the tires within the next few months so I would like to also upgrade in size. So I don't know if the optional size will bolt on with no issue with the speedometer. It's not a 4x4 model and I don't plan on doing any real towing or off-roading with it. Any information would be greatly appreciated.
 
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You asked the question kind of odd. Wasn’t sure if you were primarily concerned with bolting up or speedo having an offset.
Kind of figured a guy would just use one of the online calculators for tire changes and see whats what for the speedo.

With your tire change and assuming your speedo is tuned for 225/75r15 the online calculators say at 70 on the speedo actual would be 75.75.

Or maybe your asking if you can or how to adjust the speedo reading. That I don’t know much of. Your rig should use the ABS hall sensors and computer.
They sell converters, but I don’t know if they apply here. Maybe a Toyota dealer can adjust it for you? Others will know if speedo calibration is what your asking.

Universal Speedometer Signal Interface
 
Dieselchessy has it.

Use an online tire size calculator. You put in your original tire size and the new ones you are considering and it will give you the differences. Pretty much any 16" will affect your speedo unless you go low profile (but why would you?)

You should be able to use the standard 16" sizes that everyone uses here with no issues other than the speedo and slightly taller gearing.
 
Tha Krazy One said:
So I don't know if the optional size will bolt on with no issue with the speedometer. It's not a 4x4 model and I don't plan on doing any real towing or off-roading with it. Any information would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...
The chassis (body clearance, etc.) is the same between the 225/75-15 and 265/70-16 4Runners. Physically, they will bolt up the same whether you have a 2WD, 4WD, etc. So, any of the wheels/tires the 4WD guys use, you can too.

Issues you will run into (up to you what you want to fix or not):
- You are geared for the smaller tires, so rpms (and available torque) will drop with larger tires. A 4.10 rear diff will fix that and should be cheap.
- Your speedometer will be off by the ratio of your current tire to the new tire size. The speedo is driven off the ABS/VSC system, so changing gearing won't change the speedo reading.
- Your brakes are smaller due to the OEM 15" wheels. You can upgrade both front and rear easily (calipers/pads/rotors in front, wheel cylinders in rear)

-Charlie
 
Almost all 4Runners say they came with the 225/75/R15's but rarely any of them did. Something about a lower tax when they imported them from Japan (all 3rd Gens were made in Japan). Some tire shops get confused about that and recommend the wrong size tire but if you compared your speed with a GPS you're not going as fast as your speedo says. Unless you have the base of all base modelswhich you don't, it's an SR5, the 265/70/R16 is your stock size. Any larger than that and your speedo will be reading slow.

The 16" and 17" Tacoma and 4Runner rims fit great. I have Tacoma TRD wheels on mine.
 
gamefreakgc said:
Unless you have the base of all base modelswhich you don't, it's an SR5, the 265/70/R16 is your stock size. Any larger than that and your speedo will be reading slow.
Click to expand...
Not true. Heck, there is an '02 2WD SR5 at my work that has OEM 15" wheels and my '99 SR5 was also a 2WD truck. SR5 2WDs had to be optioned with 16" wheels, it was not part of the SR5 trim.

-Charlie
 
Thank you to all who contributed with feedback. OK so I found this site online that let me get the specs from the 4Runner and other Toyota/Scion vehicles when it was manufactured and what it was outfitted with.

Vehicle Specification | Toyota Owners

You input your VIN and it will give you the spec sheet for your vehicle. So mine came with 225/75R15 stock. So this sounds like if I want to go with a bigger rim size I would have to go with a lower profile tire.
 
That site will show many SR5's as having 15" wheels (at least it did for my 16" wheel parts 4Runner) - so that isn't a full picture. It would show the full build sheet + options if you looked up your VIN on the Toyota TIS system, but that requires a subscription fee.

Even so... if your truck currently has 15" wheels, that's probably what it came with...

-Charlie
 
Tha Krazy One said:
So this sounds like if I want to go with a bigger rim size I would have to go with a lower profile tire.
Click to expand...

Not really.

If you are OK with the speedo reading slightly different you can put on a tire with a larger diameter. As the guys have said above, put a set of the 16" size that most came with, is it 265/70R16?? and you will have no troubles, except the speedo and maybe a little less off the line power (if you would even notice).
 
A lot of good info in this thread. I can tell you my personal experience going from the 225/65/16 (someone had installed) on my 01 T4R to 17" 2018 265/70/17 T4R off road wheels. The speedo read 89 mph when I was doing 80. I'm in the Southwest; we do that here. When I found a set of 2018 4Runner wheels with original tires on it the speedo matched up with the GPS. Gas mileage is the same or better now. No noticeable difference in power or pep even though the tires/wheels are significantly heavier now.

Original:
mini-2019-09-18-13h25m32.jpg


With 2018 T4R wheels:
mini-2019-12-31-14h01m22.jpg


In my opinion this was a major upgrade in ride, looks, and correcting the speedo. It's also amazing how much better these look without the sideboards.
 
I'm gonna try what gamefreakgc said and run a navi app and verify the speed. It could be that it had stock 16's and not the 15's it has now. I will report on this soon. It's just for whatever reason the runner looks weird to me on 15's
 
Tha Krazy One said:
It's just for whatever reason the runner looks weird to me on 15's
Click to expand...

They do look a little funny on 15's. I have 15s on mine but I find 1st gear a little too tall as it is so I won't go bigger. I'd then want to regear.

If you stay at 15's, you'll likely be looking at 235/75r15 as your size. Almost no one makes the 225 anymore. Still lots of choice in the 235 though. The 235 fills the wheel well better and looks better on the truck.
 
phattyduck said:
Not true. Heck, there is an '02 2WD SR5 at my work that has OEM 15" wheels and my '99 SR5 was also a 2WD truck. SR5 2WDs had to be optioned with 16" wheels, it was not part of the SR5 trim.

-Charlie
Click to expand...

That's true, I forget there was no base model in the newer years so it was an option. For the older years (96-00?) there's 3 trims, base, SR5 & Limited. The vast majority of the 15" are base models.
 
Tha Krazy One said:
I'm gonna try what gamefreakgc said and run a navi app and verify the speed. It could be that it had stock 16's and not the 15's it has now. I will report on this soon. It's just for whatever reason the runner looks weird to me on 15's
Click to expand...
Thinking about this again... I don't think the brakes for a 16" wheel truck don't fit under the 15" wheels.

You can also figure out your rear diff ratio. If it is a 3.73, you have a 15" wheel truck.

-Charlie
 
I ran a navi app and a gps mph app and the truck is accurate with the 15's I don't plan on re-gearing the truck since it is a daily driver and I don't plan on doing any off roading in it. I might just get a set of 16's wheels only from offerup and get some 235/70/16 to give it a bit more of a stance and still adhere to the speedo and not worrying about re-gearing and additional work to it. Thanks to everyone who chimed in with helpful info.
 
Tha Krazy One said:
I ran a navi app and a gps mph app and the truck is accurate with the 15's I don't plan on re-gearing the truck since it is a daily driver and I don't plan on doing any off roading in it. I might just get a set of 16's wheels only from offerup and get some 235/70/16 to give it a bit more of a stance and still adhere to the speedo and not worrying about re-gearing and additional work to it. Thanks to everyone who chimed in with helpful info.
Click to expand...
If its your daily driver just go on Craigslist, etc for a set of rims and tires from a 4runner or tacoma. There are many people who buy one and take off the factory wheels and tires to upgrade to something more aggressive. You can get these cheap. Bolt them on and don't worry so much about the speedo. The differences, if any, will be minimal. And worth it to look cooler with better kicks for your ride.
 
Ryan and Jerri said:
If its your daily driver just go on Craigslist, etc for a set of rims and tires from a 4runner or tacoma. There are many people who buy one and take off the factory wheels and tires to upgrade to something more aggressive. You can get these cheap. Bolt them on and don't worry so much about the speedo. The differences, if any, will be minimal. And worth it to look cooler with better kicks for your ride.
Click to expand...
Just make sure they are from a 6-lug tacoma if you go that direction. 6-lug Tundra wheels also fit.

-Charlie
 
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