Limited trim upgrade from 20'' to 18'' TRD wheels, Ride quality

[Nodak]

Thank you guys for all the great information! Thank you for the weight of the stock/wheel combo @808runner . That was very helpful! I've been searching for that information.

So now, I was wondering what you guys think about dropping down to 18'' wheels and the Michelin Defender LTX MS2s in 265/70/18? It would have been nice to have that aggressive look that yall have on your 4runners, but the bumpiness on these poorly paved roads is driving me nuts. If the soccer-mom-car-aesthetics is the price I need to pay for a less bumpy on-road ride, I might have to go that route.

Buuut, if I were to still try to obtain that awesome look that yall have, what do you guys think about the Cooper Discoverer Road + Trail AT. Looks like it is in the "on road all terrain" category- meant for those who primarily drive on pavement with occasional very mild off road use.
I think it's in the same category as the Bridgestone Dueler AT Ascent that @Nodak recommended. With those, I might get to upgrade to a 33'' tire.
I just can't get over the white letters on the Dueler AT Ascents....free advertisement for Bridgestone.

you can always swap sides, one side is usually white, the other side is black

here is tire racks reviews of several tires in the same category

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/taking-off-road-tires-on-road?ttid=337


here is the same list but summarized

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/taking-off-road-tires-on-road?ttid=337#tire-report-236

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[Nodak]

and if you want all the tests

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests

 

[Griffin27]

I swapped out my 20" rims and tires on my Limited and it made a big difference in the ride. I didn't like the stock ride, way too harsh.

I swapped to 18" TRD Pro rims / Nitto Terra Grappler G3 in 275/70/18 @ 33 PSI.

Ride is way softer than stock, no increase in road noise. I really like the Nittos.

I probably should have gone with 285/70/18 but I was scared my MPG would be even worse. I'm getting 17 MPG now.

No rubbing on this setup.

 

[theapoco01]

Thanks guys. Just an update. Went with the 18'' TRD "upgrade" wheels and Bridgestone Dueler A/T Ascents. Softened up the ride significantly! Thank you all for the recs.

@Griffin27
I saw your threads on the dechroming and grill swap. Your 4runner is exactly what I would want mine to look like. I was highly highly considering the Nittos but got a better deal on the Bridgestones. Stuck with 265/70/18 for mpg, as I will be adding skid plates as well. But ngl, those 275/70/18 Nittos are awesome.
Tempted to find some black roof rails and do the grill swap, but realistically this is a 3 or 4 year car.

 

[Griffin27]

Thanks guys. Just an update. Went with the 18'' TRD "upgrade" wheels and Bridgestone Dueler A/T Ascents. Softened up the ride significantly! Thank you all for the recs.

@Griffin27
I saw your threads on the dechroming and grill swap. Your 4runner is exactly what I would want mine to look like. I was highly highly considering the Nittos but got a better deal on the Bridgestones. Stuck with 265/70/18 for mpg, as I will be adding skid plates as well. But ngl, those 275/70/18 Nittos are awesome.
Tempted to find some black roof rails and do the grill swap, but realistically this is a 3 or 4 year car.

It's SO hard trying to figure out which tires to buy. I don't do a lot of serious off roading so I was looking for a quite, smooth tire on the payment that looked aggressive. Plus I installed the extended fender flares so I wanted to fill out the area with a bigger 18 tire. I should have gone 285.

Another member posted a killer deal on TRD skid plates so order one. It's at the power coat shop now. I'm coating it black.

The grill swap is cheap, but removing the bumper and installing it kind of sucks. I'm glad I did it but I wouldn't want to do it again. (removing the bumper is easy) removing the grill from the bumper sucks lol.

Those tires you got look bad ass !!!

 

[Nodak]

Thanks guys. Just an update. Went with the 18'' TRD "upgrade" wheels and Bridgestone Dueler A/T Ascents. Softened up the ride significantly! Thank you all for the recs.

@Griffin27
I saw your threads on the dechroming and grill swap. Your 4runner is exactly what I would want mine to look like. I was highly highly considering the Nittos but got a better deal on the Bridgestones. Stuck with 265/70/18 for mpg, as I will be adding skid plates as well. But ngl, those 275/70/18 Nittos are awesome.
Tempted to find some black roof rails and do the grill swap, but realistically this is a 3 or 4 year car.

how are the a/t ascent.

waiting for a new discount tire to be built and open before i buy new tires and really torn between defender ltx m/s2 vs the a/t ascent right now.

 

[ninong.trdpro]

Thanks guys. Just an update. Went with the 18'' TRD "upgrade" wheels and Bridgestone Dueler A/T Ascents. Softened up the ride significantly! Thank you all for the recs.

@Griffin27
I saw your threads on the dechroming and grill swap. Your 4runner is exactly what I would want mine to look like. I was highly highly considering the Nittos but got a better deal on the Bridgestones. Stuck with 265/70/18 for mpg, as I will be adding skid plates as well. But ngl, those 275/70/18 Nittos are awesome.
Tempted to find some black roof rails and do the grill swap, but realistically this is a 3 or 4 year car.

Would you mind posting some photos of your new setup. Im thinking of doing the same thing too on mine.

Thank you

 

[theapoco01]

how are the a/t ascent.

waiting for a new discount tire to be built and open before i buy new tires and really torn between defender ltx m/s2 vs the a/t ascent right now.

Late reply- They are awesome! These are my first set of non-highway tires (so take with a grain of salt), but they aren't as noisy as I expected them to be. They ride pretty smoothly and look great! I have about 1k miles on them now.

For future readers of this thread and one more data point:

I daily the 2025 4Runner Limited (non-hybrid), no body or engine mods, air dam not removed.

Miles driven: 550 miles (two tanks of gas).
Drive mode: Comfort Mode
Wheel/tire: stock 20'' chrome wheels, stock Dunlop 265/55/20 tires
MPG average: 19.8/19.7
Driven mostly on tollways/highways (90% highway, 10% street estimate).
No passengers. Carry about 150 pounds of equipment.

At a little less than 600 miles, I switched wheel/tire setup.

Miles driven: About 1100 miles (four tanks of gas) since switching tires/wheels
Drive mode: Sport Mode
Wheel/tire: 18'' TRD "upgrade" wheels (PTR56-35242-F1), Bridgestone Dueler A/T Ascent, 265/70/18
MPG average: 19.8
Driven mostly on tollways/highways (90% highway, 10% street estimate).
No passengers. Carry about 150 pounds of equipment.

Net: No loss in MPG
TBH I was expecting and fully prepared for a small loss in MPG.
Pleasantly surprised that there was no change.

I was driving on comfort mode with the stock setup to try to "smooth" things out.
I drive mostly on tollways/highways with lots of construction and rough gravel- if anyone has ever been to Dallas/Fort Worth, you know there is always some sort of road construction going on.
The ride was very uncomfortable, no matter what setting I put it on.
The comfort mode was the most "comfortable", because on sport modes, I had to deal with all the vibrations and stiff/rough falls into potholes.
The downside of comfort mode was that I was getting carsick/motion sickness from the relatively soft suspension setting- I was getting the same feeling of being on a kiddy rollercoaster.

After the switch to the tires with taller sidewalls, I am able to put it on the Sport mode and eliminate the motion sickness. It is also much smoother on the roughly paved roads with ongoing construction/highway repairs.

Next moves:
I will be installing the Trailhunter front skid plate + Trailhunter Transfer Case plate + removing air dam in preparation for some trails in Oklahoma and Arkansas.

Will report mpg changes.

 

[ifunlisted]

That's great info, thanks!!

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