oztiks

Much to my dismay I recently brought my car to two dealerships in the south florida area. My front rims are experiencing SEVERE rust/pitting all over. After taking it to both dealerships; the first dealership blatantly accused me of running after-market pads on the car and that was the reason the rims were rusting (the car did not have aftermarket pads at ANY point and I have the receipts to prove it). They escalated it to the regional manager who denied the warranty claim. I then took it to another dealer who pretended to be more confident regarding the issue, they told me they would contact lexus and inform me of the decision within 2 business days. A few days later I receive a brief voicemail from the dealer saying "Hi.... your repair request is being denied by Lexus. Sorry. Bye".

At this point I called the service manager, asked him what was going on, he directed me to call lexus corporate and inform them of what was going on. The person I spoke with made note of my claim and said i would hear back within 2 business days. About 7-8 business days later I received a call from lexus corporate stating they were "Respectfully denying" my claim, but would "split the cost" of having the wheels REPAINTED at the dealer, even though lexus AND the dealer were not 100% confident this would work.

I bought a $65K car ($54K used); and Lexus will not replace my RUSTING wheels which they designed in conjunction with BBS. They also deny knowing of any other instances of rust occurring on IS-F wheels. When they offered to SPLIT the whopping $175x2 cost with me that was the straw that broke the camel's back. I let them know I was going to be purchasing a 2010 soon, have had 3 other lexus before this (and have 2 more in the driveway with the -F), and they could have cared less. Before this I had nothing but good to say about lexus, and now I have nothing but bad. I am immensely disappointed in the decision lexus has made regarding my vehicle and the known wheel rust/pitting issue, and they are losing a 4x buyer who replaces their car every 2 years; all over <$4K in wheels.

Unfortunately I am not sure what to get at this point, but with Toyota and Lexus value plumetting it's not the best time to be getting rid of the car, but I will be doing so anyway...

Gymkata

I'm sorry to hear that. The pitting issue is extremely frustrating. The amount of brake dust is absolutely ridiculous. I bought my ISF new, and have tried to keep up with washing off the brake dust, but to no avail. I love almost everything about the car but this and a few other minor things. I spent about three hours trying to clean the wheels on Sunday. The rears are mostly okay, but the front ones are rusted in the crevices. When I purchase aftermarket rims, I am definitely going to make sure they are a design that can be cleaned easily. My lexus dealer has treated me very well so far. Maybe I will go to them and complain about this issue and see what they do. I certainly haven't been negligent in any way, and wheels shouldn't look like that after 9 months of ownership (and 14k miles).

LiCelsior

iTrader: (32)

lame...so the rusting/pitting is a common issue with F owners yet Lexus corp doesnt want to deal with it?? i think u guys should get together a small claims suit against them.

ISFer

iTrader: (2)

Sorry to hear that, Oztiks.......That's unacceptable treatment for such a loyal customer. Push corporate all you can for coverage.
Now is not the time to be selling your Lexs.

G/L
C.

airlaird

I'll agree with Oztiks frustration...Lexus and Toyota BOTH need to be a bit more humble and need to REALLY do what they can to keep their "fan base". This recent series of events of acceleration issues will take a looooooong time for consumers to forget.....
That story surprises me....actually, maybe it doesn't...
airlaird

niko14

Vehicle or Dealership Experience: 1-800-255-3987 (Option 3)

Call back and speak to a manager and raise hell.

A03

To everyone's belief I clean out the rims everyday before I drive..
I learn to deal with this on a day to day basis..nothing new..
Only advice I could give anyone with the F brake dust issue is get a Dust brake remover and 2 towels..
1.I water down the towel#1 and wipe off dust brake
2.I spray the dust brake remover and then clean out the rims with water/water hose and then with tower#2 dry the rims..
3.Only on sundays when I give the car full car wash I repeat Step 1 and 2 and then I would put some wax on them..

That's only advice I could give you, despite of it the rims looks in tip top condition although not 100%..

Last, Much as I love the F but this will be my Last F due to the impression it left me the 1st time on something trivial as this..

bnizzle87

it sucks that they were unable to help you. you've been a loyal customer with all the lexus vehicles in your name, and they are shooting themselves in the foot for not providing a quality service to a customer. that being said, wheel pitting is an all too common occurance from what ive read on the forums, as well as those who are not on here. some have complained about it to their dealers, and i think in one or two instances there was a resolution where the dealer would try to re-spray the wheels. im not sure how they were able to get it done, but some dealers have received complaints about it. i do the same thing as A03. my F gets driven a lot more now, and im just seeing the accumulation of brake dust. there is slight pitting, so i dont care how hard i work my hands and arms- i am determined to get all of it cleaned up! im not sure how else to deal with the pitting though...

OutCaster

iTrader: (1)

rust?! man .. my wheels are pitting as well, but I hope they don't rust

jadu

iTrader: (42)

sorry to hear about the rust issue.. but glws

oztiks

Thanks for all the positive responses guys. It is a sad day/realization for me. I truly enjoy this car more than any other I have owned, and am sad to have to have to get rid of it over this..

gengar

I've maintained since I first started driving the car hard that the brakes are the best thing on the car, so I see the copious amounts of brake dust as an unfortunate necessary side effect. FWIW, I've found ONR with a brush to be very good at cleaning off brake dust and it has the plus side of being pretty much the most manageable solution out there.

Sorry that you're having so much problem with Lexus corporate. It's disappointing for sure.

caymandive

iTrader: (2)

Can you post pictures of the rust you are talking about? I believe the wheels are forged aluminum so rust "shouldn't" be an issue. The pitting on the other hand is certainly something common to the F and as others have said it's a matter of keeping up with the brake dust by cleaning the wheels off regularly to prevent the pitting from having a chance to oxidize.

caymandive

iTrader: (2)

Just a thought, but do you know if the previous owner may have run aftermarket pads? Some race pads with high metal content would be the only reason why there would be signs of rust on an aluminum wheel. If the previous owner ran race pads and neglected the wheels even slightly the metals would infuse in the wheel and start to rust.

oztiks

Will try to post pics up soon-ish

The car only had 1600 miles on it when I got it.