Alloy Wheel Corrosion

[paulw]

My 5 year old is220d has bad corrosion on all 4 wheels, worse at the front, this has come on gradually in the last 12 months despite regular cleaning.

I've now found myself looking at the wheels on other is and have noticed quite a few with the same problem.

How many people have suffered with this? is it a known problem and what's the best way of repairing at lowest cost?

the car has only done 45K I'm the second owner so don't know all the cars history but the alloys were OK when I purchased 2 years ago, I'm beginning to wonder if the dealer didn't have these repaired before sale and now a bad jobs showing up.

I've just seen in The Times that Toyota lost their case against inaccurate reporting when The Times said dealers covered up and did not report known faults, one of which was alloy wheel corrosion

Any comments or advice would be welcomed

[Sterling]

Lexus have always has this problem with their alloy wheels. On my old 2000 'X' IS200 SE, I got a company to come to the house to repair. It was a rubbish result. Basically all they did was rub down the corrosion on the faces and respray. They charged £65 per wheel. About 18 months later they looked really bad, so I took them to a company near Prestick Airport http://www.carrickalloys.co.uk . They removed the tyres, fine sandblasted the whole wheel and then powder coated them. The results were brillant and I never had any further issues. Sold the car in late 2009 and the wheels still looked brilliant. Cost £55 per wheel for the powder coating.

[ironrose]

I changed the colour of the alloys because the alloys were badly curbed.. the alloys were corroded in a few places before changing the colour

http://www.lexusowne...showtopic=77626

I got them changed in a placed called Premier Wheels in coulsdon Surrey.. took £240 for all four .. did not have any problems with corrosion since then...

[dazed]

My 5 year old is220d has bad corrosion on all 4 wheels, worse at the front, this has come on gradually in the last 12 months despite regular cleaning.

I've now found myself looking at the wheels on other is and have noticed quite a few with the same problem.

How many people have suffered with this? is it a known problem and what's the best way of repairing at lowest cost?

the car has only done 45K I'm the second owner so don't know all the cars history but the alloys were OK when I purchased 2 years ago, I'm beginning to wonder if the dealer didn't have these repaired before sale and now a bad jobs showing up.

I've just seen in The Times that Toyota lost their case against inaccurate reporting when The Times said dealers covered up and did not report known faults, one of which was alloy wheel corrosion

Any comments or advice would be welcomed

It's a known problem. I had my first set replaced under warranty after two years. My second set now look a complete and utter mess after three years.

Corroding alloys is my single biggest gripe about the IS and is unacceptable in my opinion. My previous car (Honda Accord) had one set of alloys for 7 years and showed no sign of corrosion for the first six years.

What I'd like to ask the forum is, does anyone here have any recommendations for third party alloys (nothing flash) that will last reliably for at least four or five years?

[Ala Larj]

I'd like to ask if anyone has got theirs changed/repaired through warranty?

[mraines]

I had all four replaced under the used car warranty before that warranty expired.

Hope that helps.

[paulw]

Having kicked this issue off I'm pleased to say that having taken the car back to the Dealership I bought it from they photographed the wheels and e mailed them to Lexus who have agreed to replace all 4 and asked me for a £150 contribution which after 5 years is I think, fair enough although I still feel they should never have been like that in the first place. The dealer said it was due to the salt put on British roads, my reply that if that was the case all alloys would look like mine didn't get a reply

[ohnomis]

Very interesting paulw... could you expand on this? Have you now recieved your new alloys?

My IS250 is 4 years old, and similar to you, the corrosion on all four wheels is terrible. I've had quotes for them to be shot blasted and powder coated, £220 which is reasonable, however, I'm loathed to have this done on what appears to be a common problem on lexus alloys.

I think a visit to my dealer is in order, any info you can give me to arm myself with?

[paulw]

The new set are on order and due to be fitted next week, I suggest you mention being a member of the club and have noticed all the reports about this being a common problem,It seemed to work for me and I think it must be because the dealership didn't argue and neither did Lexus.

Pity they weren't so accommodating when it came to the cost of replacing the EGR valve, apparently another common problem.

[normski2]

If you are just a little bit adept with spanners/sockets you can easily check and clean the EGR. It's worth doing. I did mine 3 times during my ownership. It is really important if you don't do a big mileage.

There are quite a few posts here showing how to do it and a really good YouTube video to watch too.