WeatherTech Floor Liners For 5th Gen 4Runner

WeatherTech Floor Liners Review for 5th Gen 4Runner

When it comes to floor liners and floor mats, you have plenty of options. You can go with brands like Husky or WeatherTech and even random Amazon brands that white label products straight from China. Sometimes these floor mats and liners come in on the cheap side so be careful what you buy. Do your research. The choice is yours but today, we are looking at the Weathertech Floor Liners; likely the option that will give you the most protection.

Odds are if you have picked up a car or truck magazine in the last decade you’ve seen an ad for WeatherTech. Their multi-page spreads are often the largest ads in any buff book, and it’s not unusual for them to get more pages than some of the features. And they fill those pages; selling you their seat covers, their cell phone holders, and of course their signature product- floor mats.

That’s right, the advertising and sponsorship empire of WeatherTech is all built around what might be the least interesting accessory imaginable – floor mats. Most people get by just fine with the throw-away scraps of carpet included with their 4Runners, yet WeatherTech claims to have a better way.

Find It Online

• WeatherTech.com: Check Price
• Amazon.com: Check Price

Floor Liners, All-Weather Floor Mats, or HP Floor Liners?

In the course of WeatherTech’s quest to provide every imaginable accessory for your vehicle, they’ve not only created a wide array of products, but they have also created a selection of floor mats. Again, most people get by with their factory-supplied carpet mats, but WeatherTech is giving you a choice of three different approaches to the floor protection problem.

Their signature product, which is what this review is about, is their Floor Liner.

Floor Liners

According to WeatherTech they precisely measure each vehicle they manufacture Floor Liners for, using literal actual lasers, to give them the exact dimensions and a hyper-accurate account of every contour, bump, and curve of the footwell. And it shows, the way these things fit into the footwell of the 4Runner is honestly impressive.

The entire floor area is covered, and extensions reach up the kick panels and towards the firewall to provide coverage in areas where dirty boot toes often scuff and soil your interior.

All-Weather Floor Mats

These are a more traditional floor mat, offering a rubber alternative to the factory carpet. They are certainly easier to clean especially when you’re dealing with mud or salt, and they offer a less intrusive option than the Floor Liners. But they don’t provide the same literally over-the-top coverage, so if you’re looking for maximum protection this isn’t it.

HP Floor Liners

They’re a similar high-sided design as the standard Floor Liners, but with less coverage for a sleeker look and feel. They’re also made from a softer material, meaning they feel more luxurious underfoot. If your 4Runner spends more time handling your commute than handling mud and snow, you might prefer the HP Floor Liners.

But for this application, a 4Runner whose primary purpose is to take us places and through conditions that are beyond the capabilities of the daily driver, the obvious choice was the standard Floor Liners.

Performance

The Weather Tech Floor Liners excel in two key areas- fit, and protection.

As discussed the fit is shockingly good, sliding into every nook of the footwell to provide seamless coverage that feels more planted and integrated than even Toyota’s own mats.

They even feature mounting holes for the 4Runner’s toggle-style mat retention clips. This means if you take your truck into a Toyota dealership for service they won’t give it back to you with the driver’s floor mat in the trunk.

But the real reason you put these, or any floor mats, in your 4Runner, is to protect the interior.

Unless you take your shoes off before driving even the most mall crawling owners are going to track mud, salt, and who knows what else into their vehicle every time they get in to drive.

Unlike the vaguely rectangular carpet squares Toyota provides, these Floor Liners cover not just the center of the footwell, but every inch of the floor as well as the kick panels and behind the pedals. These raised edges also help keep melting snow and rainy boots from soaking the interior, even if you bring a significant amount of water in with you. And that’s just what they do when you’re bringing stuff into the car.

Cleaning is easy!

The other way they are superior to carpeted mats, or even softer rubber mats, is the ease of cleaning them once they’re dirty.

Simply slide the Floor Liners out of the footwell and dump out the debris. The raised sides mean you won’t have to worry about spilling on the way out, and the hard plastic construction means there’s no “stickiness” holding dirt and debris in the Floor Liner. If you’re trying to get extra clean, you can even pressure wash them to clear every last bit of dust off.

Final Thoughts

Granted, these WeatherTech Floor Liners may not be the most exciting way to spend $200 on your 4Runner. There’s no getting around that.

But on the scale of the cost of buying and maintaining a 5th generation 4Runner, $200 isn’t actually that expensive. And unlike the less expensive alternatives, WeatherTech Floor Liners actually provide an improvement over the factory floor mats.

They protect more, and they clean easier. This means less time spent cleaning out and a more comfortable experience while you’re driving.