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Rust ! - I Don't Believe It


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I know it's a 9 year old car, but I just haven't seen rust on body panels of any of my cars for so long, I thought they'd cured it forever. This spot has got quite bad - it's just above the silver plastic trim halfway down the door. Looks to me like the trim and the lower plastic panel will have to come off and the whole upper part of the door will need respraying. Just crossing my fingers that this is a freak occurence

Mike

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I know it's a 9 year old car, but I just haven't seen rust on body panels of any of my cars for so long, I thought they'd cured it forever. This spot has got quite bad - it's just above the silver plastic trim halfway down the door. Looks to me like the trim and the lower plastic panel will have to come off and the whole upper part of the door will need respraying. Just crossing my fingers that this is a freak occurence

Mike

Could it be that your jam jar had a bump there some time in the past and was not repaired by a Lexus Approved Repairer?

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I know it's a 9 year old car, but I just haven't seen rust on body panels of any of my cars for so long, I thought they'd cured it forever. This spot has got quite bad - it's just above the silver plastic trim halfway down the door. Looks to me like the trim and the lower plastic panel will have to come off and the whole upper part of the door will need respraying. Just crossing my fingers that this is a freak occurence

Mike

I have exactly the same problem. There are four or five rust spots right at the top of the plastic trim on the driver's door, I reckon they're at the points where the trim attaches to the door. Fortunately, the 12 year corrosion warranty is covering them and it's off to the dealer tomorrow to be sorted. The passenger door was resprayed when I bought it a couple of years ago, so I wonder if this was due to the same thing.

The only real problem is that I'll probably have to make do with an IS for four days. :whistling:

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wow - never even thought I'd still have warranty on the paint. I'll have a word with them tomorrow. Doesn't look like the door has had a bash or been resprayed and the bleb is coming from behind so it's not external damage. Anyway - there are chips on this car and the one I had before that never rusted even though it appeared it was down to base metal. I think Spacenase is right - it's where the trim attaches - or where the lower plastic panel fastens to the door. (what year is yours by the way? - just in case I want to quote your post)

Mike

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wow - never even thought I'd still have warranty on the paint. I'll have a word with them tomorrow. Doesn't look like the door has had a bash or been resprayed and the bleb is coming from behind so it's not external damage. Anyway - there are chips on this car and the one I had before that never rusted even though it appeared it was down to base metal. I think Spacenase is right - it's where the trim attaches - or where the lower plastic panel fastens to the door. (what year is yours by the way? - just in case I want to quote your post)

Mike

Mine's a 2001 'Y'. My guess is the paint around the holes where the trim attaches is thin/missing/damaged and that's where the rust is coming from. Since that trim has never been off, it must have been a build problem so I wonder if more owners will see this?

When I took it in, they took photo's to send to the warranty people and they said that they might send an assessor to confirm it hadn't been incorrectly repaired. The guy from the service department did a good check for overspray, but couldn't find any so said it should go through fine. It took about 4 or 5 weeks to process and they said it could be more if they insist on sending an assessor. The sticking point was that the warranty people didn't want to pay for a new plastic trim, but the service guy said they often break when they are taken off. I think they'll put a claim in for it if it does break.

Good luck with yours! :D

KEITH.

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wow - never even thought I'd still have warranty on the paint. I'll have a word with them tomorrow. Doesn't look like the door has had a bash or been resprayed and the bleb is coming from behind so it's not external damage. Anyway - there are chips on this car and the one I had before that never rusted even though it appeared it was down to base metal. I think Spacenase is right - it's where the trim attaches - or where the lower plastic panel fastens to the door. (what year is yours by the way? - just in case I want to quote your post)

Mike

Mine's a 2001 'Y'. My guess is the paint around the holes where the trim attaches is thin/missing/damaged and that's where the rust is coming from. Since that trim has never been off, it must have been a build problem so I wonder if more owners will see this?

When I took it in, they took photo's to send to the warranty people and they said that they might send an assessor to confirm it hadn't been incorrectly repaired. The guy from the service department did a good check for overspray, but couldn't find any so said it should go through fine. It took about 4 or 5 weeks to process and they said it could be more if they insist on sending an assessor. The sticking point was that the warranty people didn't want to pay for a new plastic trim, but the service guy said they often break when they are taken off. I think they'll put a claim in for it if it does break.

Good luck with yours! :D

KEITH.

There is no rust on my '94 Ls400 and at LS430 prices there shoud be none on yours

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I went to look at a LS430 at Lexus Milton Keynes - think it was a 2000/1 - it was one of the newer shapes but very early model - didn't have standard fit parking sensors, only aftermarket add-ons. Anyway it wasn't a bad car for the price and I was near to saying yes when I stood back and noticed the front nearside door had something on it. On closer inspection, just above the silver strip, was a rust bubble the size of maybe a £2 coin, maybe a bit bigger. I said no even though they offered to fix it - I had doubts in my mind in case something had gone wrong with a repair.

It might have been the silver strip had been removed and replaced incorrectly, chipping the paint away -either at the factory or following a repair. Interesting is seems to be a weak point on other LS's too.

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Lexus teesside looked at it yesterday and photographed it. I got the distinct impression they might replace the door - subject to what the Toyota rep says. Does that mean the internal panels as well - 'cos I'm sure they wouldn't match a 9 year old interior.

Mike

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Lexus teesside looked at it yesterday and photographed it. I got the distinct impression they might replace the door - subject to what the Toyota rep says. Does that mean the internal panels as well - 'cos I'm sure they wouldn't match a 9 year old interior.

Mike

Hi Mike

If they do replace the door, they will use your existing door card, window mechanisms, handles and electrics as possible.

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Fired with enthusiasm I took my 1998 LS400 to Milton Keynes for them to have a look at the rust spots at the top of both rear wheeel arches. They agreed that the car was covered by a 12 year perforation warranty - and then a bloke came out with a gadget which could read paint thickness in microns. His diagnosis was that both rear wings had been resprayed at some time, and the off side had had a new panel welded in - so the warranty was invalidated! I found this a tad difficult to believe, but, hey, you can't argue with technology! I'd be interested to hear how Coventry dealt with the door issues - maybe I'd have more luck there!

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  • 2 weeks later...

This story's got a familiar ring to it! My 2004 LS430 had rust round all the front door trim clip holes - though only visible from inside, discovered whilst installing extra soundproofing. Car was 2 years old at that time, definitely no body repairs, though it had racked up 50,000+ miles of M4 commuting for the chairman of a well-known supermarket! Probably exposed to more than its fair share of salt and grit. I sent photos to Toyota QC at Tahara plant, and got a nice letter back telling me to approach Lexus GB for advice. They weren't interested and said it wasn't covered by warranty, so no surprise there. Though full marks to them for replacing all 4 alloys which had blistered. Fortunately I'd caught the doors before the blistering emerged from behind the trim panels and a combination of Jenolite and Waxoyl stopped it from spreading. The car was a big disappointment after my '95 LS400 mk3, not a trace of rust on that one at 7 years old. Where are you now M203TBU??

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