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I bought my Toyota 4 Runner in November 2002 as a 2003 model.

As can see from the pictures a couple of inches more ground clearance will really help a lot. I scraped the bumper a couple of times on trails, both front and back. I also found the standard Dunlop AT20 tires lacking in mud as they cake up easily and slides all over the place with little traction. The stock tires is OK for on road driving but never really impressed. See www.toyota120.com for a great forum and technical information.

In April 2004 I fitted a Daystar spacer lift kit. I posted the instructions on another page here’s the link. In May 2004 Bridgestone Dueler A/T Revos were fitted in size 265/70/17, which is slightly larger than the 265/65/17 that was previously on. It added basically 0.5” in height. In the process so far I noticed a drop of almost 2MPG at 75-80MPH speeds. Noticed very little performance decrease and very little change in handling. The A/T Revos are slightly noisier in conjunction with the lift than the stock setup. I also noticed cross wind stability and sensitivity has decreased somewhat. Off road capability has increased significantly, but it will still take time to appreciate it in reality. See my first lifted trip with the new tires at this link.

I also switched over to Mobil 1 at 20k miles in the engine, tranfer case, front and rear diffs. Just flushed the transmission with Toyota ATF Type IV. So lets see the tire lifetime and what if any improvements the oil will give in terms of fuel consumption.

Below is some picture of the 4Runner after the lift and some with the new tires. I like the fact that it is not that noticeable at all.