I noticed the same condition with my runner, I asked at my first Serivce and was told there is a thermostat in the transmission. Closes when cold and when it starts to warm up, it opens releasing the rest of the cold fluid then all of the fluid comes up to temp
I put a set of winter tires on and driving around in Friday’s (12/26 in CT) night storm there was zero drama in 4hi. Vehicle did everything well, stopped, turned and accelerated with ease
Speaking as collision estimator for a Toyota dealer body shop, cost to paint a 4 runner is easily $10k+ more so if you want door jams, engine bay also done. in my opinion a wrap is much easier option and more cost effective.
matching the color is not a hard thing to do when you have the right...
Find pig tails is awesome for this. The staff are very helpful if you cant find it on their site. I use this site often at work. They have a number to text photos too and they can help match that plug