JASP615

Hi Everyone,

I really need some guidance with a problem that I just noticed that is getting worse. I have a 06 GX 470 which I have had since new this truck isn't even 3 yrs old yet. My truck is kept impeccable inside and out. If there is salt my truck it's washed off right away. If we come down from the mountains on the way my truck is hosed off even the undercarriage. The truck has 25,000 miles on it. I live in Philly so there is little snow that we do get. Maybe 2-3 times during the winter.

We have owned 12 brand new trucks in 25 yrs. I have never had one problem with rims from any other maker. This is our first foreign vehicle and I expected more. Prior to this I owned 2 Cadillac Escalade's 2003 and 2005. Never had a problem with the rims but the quality just wasn't there inside.

How do I handle this? Is this covered under warranty? I'm really upset about this. How can the rims on a Lexus just bubble up like there is rust under the paint? This isn't just pit marks anymore but large size patches. this is not by the weights for balancing.

I want this taken care of because this is the one truck that I wanted to hold on to. I would normally have gotten a new one by now but feel this is nuts because the truck still looks brand new and I paid it off a couple months ago. Why get rid of something that is what I want.

Please give me some advice or information that I can use to help me get this taken care of. Has this happen to anyone else? Just because I'm a girl I don't want to be taken advantage of. This site has always given me great advice so I respect the knowledge here. I see that this has been posted before but I'm still under warranty and will be for another 13 months and I didn't see any suggestions on how to handle this.

tommynasty

I have a 2005 GX with 28K miles on it, and I have noticed a couple small (maybe the size of a dime) spots towards the inner part of one of my rims that looks bubbled up due to rust under the paint. Since it is barely visible and its on the inner most part, I have just ignored it. I don't want to try and rub it and end up chiping the bubble off. Has anyone else noticed this? Is there a fix? How much would the chrome equivalent of the stock rims cost?

gsobol

Search is your friend. This has been discussed since '07.

Some people have luck getting dealers to replace the wheels under warranty. I'm in the same boat as you (also '06). I was cleaning my car over the weekend and noticed BIG splotches of bubbling paint on all the rims (I yet have to crawl under the truck to check the spare). I'll be taking the truck to the dealer soon and will definitely discuss the issue of the rims.

Here are some links from previous discussions:
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/gx-...rusting-2.html
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/gx-...corrosion.html
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/gx-...ng-wheels.html

itsZep

I wonder if this is geographical phenom?

purplehazek4

I wouldn't blame the quality of Lexus for the paint problem on the wheels as Lexus doesn't manufacture the wheels. However they should take care of the problem for you.

If warranty doesn't take care of it, you can just buy another wheel. Ebay usually has them for cheap.

I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that the wheels on the GX470 are not designed by Toyota

JASP615

Thanks, I have a call into my Lexus Dealer now. I will see what happens. I fully understand that I can purchase new rims for the truck and I would if I was the one to cause the problem but why should I have to spend additional money out of my pocket if it's a defect? I can't believe that this is something that we caused. This problem is wide spread.

I do blame Lexus for this problem. If you are going to build a quality truck then it's up to you to use quality parts. I'm sure Lexus can make sure that the problem is rectified or change manufacture for the rims. If not then I would expect them to stand behind the quality of the rims that are used. 4 yrs bumper to bumper is just that. Sorry but I'm pissed.

From what I'm reading this has been happening for at lease 2 yrs. Plenty of time to find out the source of the problem and fix it. I will not accept going half for a problem that I did not cause. My truck is not even 3 yrs old yet so I think if they even looked at my truck they would see that it's not from abuse. Not to mention I'm sure I'm not the only one that has had this problem.

I will let you know what happens.

Sami

VictorGX

JASP615--

I live in PA, but my recently purchased '04 GX came from NY. All four wheels are having the same issues that your wheels are having. I brought the blistered rims to the attention of the service representative at my local dealership. After he talked to the service manager he said that they would fix the wheels as a "one time good faith" fix.

BTW - To perform the fix they send the rims offsite to some guy that will strip off the finish and put on an new finish. I haven't had them repair them yet, but will do it the next time my GX is in the shop.

Good luck.

JASP615

I got a call from the dealership that I purchased the truck "Cherry Hill Lexus" I call first thing on Monday 8 AM and of course there was no one to be found to speak to (this is a large dealership) So I left a message on voice mail for Vic who is my service rep. Well when 3 PM rolled around and no call so I then placed a call to Brian the service manager. Still no call back by Monday night. At 6pm I called back and said that I found it to be a bit odd that I left a message on voice mail for my service rep and service manager and neither felt the need to call me back. I requested that a message be placed on his desk since he had a hard time retrieving messages from his phone. They did.

This morning I received a call from Brian the service manager. I guess Vic didn't want to handle this. I explained my problem to Brian and right away I got cut off telling me that there is no problem that he see's 3000 cars a week in service and he has only saw this 2 times and both were from neglect leaving the break dust on the rims....OK so I said do you mean to tell me that Lexus did not use a rim that could handle break dust????? He told me that it was the ones that didn't wash their cars for months. Well I said OK then we can move on since my truck is cleaned once a week. He then told me that he would have to see my truck in order to judge weather or not I took care of the truck. Give me a break. Your an hour away from me and the truck was just there for you to repair something and your own drivers.....2 of them remarked at how well my truck looked. In fact Vic himself remarked that this would be a dream trade in can't you just speak to them.....No good. I said can I take a picture and send it to you since you are only there M-F 9-5. NO, how do I know your not going to take a picture of the same rims? Are you kidding me? I guess you would know when the truck came in to be repaired......He told me he was sure that they would not cover it but if I wanted to proceed I could take it to a closer dealership and have them look at it. But this is not a warranty issue there for they didn't feel the need to fix it.

Well that's what I did. I called Wilke Lexus on the main line right after I got off the phone with Cherry Hill and asked to speak to the service manager. I was directed to Tom who is the service manager and I explained what transpired with the other dealership and that they told me that I could bring it into them so they could see it and then they could call Cherry Hill. Tom said no problem when would you like to bring it in. I said I would like to take care of this right away and he said then you can bring it in now for me to take a look. When I arrived Tom was waiting for me he was professional and he stated that he himself have not seen this problem but when he inquired upstairs he was told that Lexus is aware of the problem and it's to be covered under warranty. Not only will they do this under warranty, but this dealership is going to handle this so I don't have to go back to Cherry Hill NJ's Lexus dealership. Now what does that tell you? Another dealership is willing to fix something they didn't even sell. I'm also happy that the service manager reinforce that by no means is this neglect. So for all of you out there. I was told that this is a warranty issue and that Lexus knows about it and is willing to fix it.

They will be sending my rims out to be refinished. I asked would there be a problem with this and why not just replace them. Tom said that there has been a problem with the rims for a while now and there is no guarantee that replacing the rims would solve the problem. I'm scheduled to have them repaired Aug 14th and they would be done to Lexus standards.

rainmn

I love how no service managers have ever seen this problem, yet it appears to be a very common one.

My wheels had the same issue, however my truck was way out of warranty, so I bought some 4Runner wheels. (Sad that the 4Runners come with better wheels than the GX does.)

This is just one more reason that I'm not all that impressed with the quality of these trucks. The list of issues that my GX has had is pretty large compared to all of the other less expensive SUV's I've owned.

I like the truck, and currently have no plans to get rid of it, but I expected more from Lexus in terms of quality.

VictorGX

JASP615 -- Glad to hear you found a dealership that was willing to work with you. I have an appointment on 8/5 for my dealership in Pittsburgh to have my rims re-finished. I'll let you know how it goes.

JASP615

Victor I would greatly appreciate it if you would update me. Like I said I am scheduled to drop my truck off 8/14. I'm quite nervous about having them re-finished.

Pearlpower

iTrader: (2)

Interesting, we take our GX off road, snow, dirt, mud, highway, etc, and the wheel paint finish is very solid. Wonder what they changed......Glad they are taking care of you.

Artyy

Call the Lexus care # 800 25 Lexus.They did new rims for me. My service manager would not let them refurbish my rims. He believes the pitting would only come back again. I will tell you tho that they looked into my records and my past cars and said that i have been a loyal customer, that is why they would give me new rims. Good luck to you all. Fight Fight. I believe Lexus should stand behind this"Manufactured" defect.

rainmn

If you search for the threads on this, there's an interesting story from a member who had their wheels replaced (not refinished) under warranty.

When they showed up for their service appointment and the tech took the "new" wheels out of the boxes, they were all bubbling already. That would rule out abuse and neglect....wouldn't it?

VictorGX

JASP615 - Here is an update with my rim situation:

Good news. Bad news. The good news is the rims turned out pretty good. The corrosion/bubbling is gone and the rims have been re-painted with silver paint. The bad news is there is now overspray (i.e., mist from the silver spray paint) on my brake rotors, calipers, and generally covering the entire brake housing.

Essentially, the 3rd party that performed the service (Lexus outsources this procedure) left the rims on the GX while performing the work and did not mask properly. In fact, not only was there mist inside the rim, but I could even see slight overspray on the tires themselves from where the tires weren't masked off property.

When I picked up the vehicle today I immediately asked to speak to the Service Manager after I determined there was unacceptable overspray all over the brake assemblies of all four wheels. The SM agreed that the 3rd party that refinished the rims had performed substandard work. He offered to do anything necessary to address the issue...including turning the rotors to remove the paint from the rotors (which I did not want to do), pay for my next service appointment, or even replace all four rotors for free. I told him that the mist on the rotor would undoubtably rub off quickly, but the overspray would continue to remain on the other parts of the brake assembly -- and that is why I was disappointed. At that point he offered to have his service guys try and sand off those parts.

I told him that I would need some time to decide what I wanted to do. The SM told me to call him next week and we can decide what I want him to do (ie. replace rotors, give me a free oil change, etc.). He also asked me to refrain from filing out any Lexus survey until he had a chance to resolve this issue.

BTW - During our conversation the SM mentioned that Lexus has never "officially" addressed this wheel issue -- meaning they have never released a Technical Service Bulletin (TSB). Therefore, each dealership deals with these issues on a case-by-case basis. He did say he has to get approval from corporate before agreeing to refinish a customer's wheels.

Sorry that story got a bit long. Hope it helps. And I hope your refinisher masks properly next week.

VictorGX