Alloy Wheel Corrosion

[black knight]

Dear all

Has this been discussed on the forum?

It seems to be a common fault on the RX300 and the IS200s too. The lexus dealerships seems happy to replace as required - but the issue for me is that Lexus dont seem to be able to fix the problem - so although the customer service is great I do wonder about intial quality. Seems to me that this is something that will come back and bite them...

For the record all four wheels on my 8 month old Rx300 are being replaced already.

BK

[dazzab69]

Has anyone else had to get their alloys replaced on the MkII RX300, mine are starting to look like my IS200's did.

Was the dealer okay about changing them, or is a call to Lexus UK required ?

[Sabastian]

Has anyone else had to get their alloys replaced on the MkII RX300, mine are starting to look like my IS200's did.

Was the dealer okay about changing them, or is a call to Lexus UK required ?

←

My dealer in Exeter pointed out the corrosion to me at my first service, ordered 5 new wheels and replaced them 1 week later. The strange thing was that I hadn't actually noticed it until it was pointed out to me. I will be more observant on my second Mk2 RX. :mat:

[jamesholden]

All Toyota/Lexus seem to suffer from Alloy corrosion, there notrorious for it, some people manage to get away with it in rare cases though, some aftermarket refinishers manage to stop them doing it again but not very often.

[fergy]

guy at my owrks RX300SEL needed a new set at the firts service.... so expecting to have to get mine replaced after the first winter, and probably each subsequent winter.

OK'ish when under warranty... issue is when it runs out.

[jovery]

Recent had our RX300SE's changed, car was 7 months old.

This is our 3rd Lexus (2 IS200's before) and every one has had to have the wheels replaced at least once. I'm pretty sick of it to be honest especially as they now insist (at least Hadleigh do) on inspecting the car first before ordering the replacements and they only replace the wheels which show corrossion which means you can have 3 replaced and then the 4th can go the next week ?!?!

This time round I wrote to Lexus to explain my annoyance and was sent a bog standard reply stating they were aware of the issue and where looking in to it as it is specific to the UK - Looking into it for 4 years????

We was told by somebody at our dealers that in some cases customers are being told to leave it until it gets really bad and then have them replaced. LEAVE IT on a car that costs £35k !!!

The last lot of wheels we had on our last IS where finished in the UK and they where perfect and lasted, I've had alloys on all my our cars and never had this problem I think it's time for them to take theier head out of the sand and do something about it.

Sorry for the rant but I'm a bit fed up with this problem, I love the cars I can't believe they let themselves down like this

[fergy]

Not just a lexus issue...father in law is on second set of Mazda 6 alloys (2 year old car), mate just got his mazda RX8 alloys replaced (1 year old car) and I had a new set of alloys out of BMW on my 330ci...

BMW is worse, as if you've any kerbing they will not replace whether they are corroded or not !

[jovery]

I'd heard that Mazda had a similar problem, a guy at work is on his second set for an RX8

Never had the problem on any of my BMW's though

[kitty]

Had two sets replaced on the IS300. Problem I found with the older style IS wheels was the polished alloy and painted face joins/interface - seemed to start from there on all 3 sets of wheels - they were never 'sealed' particularly well from new.

When we changed to the new RX, took the wheels off and coated with solution of light oil. I always use a coating of WD40 about once a month on alloys.

Hopefully the RX wheels will be better, but it looks like I'm gonna be proved wrong by your experiences :shutit:

[AlexUK]

I`ve had the same problem on my Toyota Rav 4 the GX version after the first winter I noticed the decline in the wheels & thought it was down to me not looking after them properly. The second Rav 4 the XT3 version had a different wheel pattern, I regulary cleaned & polished protected them & they were still good one year later. I then traded it in for the RX300. What a good move. Treating these wheels with the same weekly clean/polish so to early to say yet.

Regards Alex

[The Mole]

Cause of corrosion is due to more than one factor.

1) Salt on our roads - only UK suffers the problem

2) Sharp edges on wheel design doesn't help

3) Higher magnezium content premotes corrosion once laquer penetrated.

Same with most fancy or exotic alloys that use high magnezium content to aid light weight.

Notice how Ford wheels seem to escape? - Soft curvy designs that weigh a tonne!

Merc AMG's or BMW Alpina's? - High magnezium and complicated 'edgy' design... you can watch them flake!

As the UK is the only market to suffer (mainly due to the salt) it is cheaper to replace under waranty than change the whole design and manufacturing process..... but they're on the case.

[Cymro]

Have a mark 1 RX300, new March 2003. Corrosion appeared on the 4 used wheels after a year or so. Dealer changed the 4 (but not the unused spare). Now out of guarantee (March 2005) but corrosion extensive on front two, and evident on rears to limited extent. Shall be taking in to dealer next week in forlorn hope that they'll change them.

Wheels on my TT (2 years older) are perfect. It is possible to make decent wheels. Why can't Lexus?

[RxMike]

Rx300 MkII now 17 months old and 10,000 miles.

No corrosion what so ever yet, but I do keep em clean.

Will give them a thorough inspection though before the warrenty runs out.

The car is always garaged so I don't know if this helps.

Rx Mike