shoebopper

Greetings!

I'm a newbie to this forum. Please be patient.

I purchased a used 2006 RX330 in August 2009 with 37,000 miles on it. The vehicle had chrome wheels on it. I noticed that the chrome seemed to be flaking on the inside of the wheel and corroding a bit around the lugs. The dealership was not a Lexus dealer and had purchased the vehicle at auction. The originating dealership was out of Long Island, NY, and the RX ended up in southeastern Ohio. Quite a nice ride.

However, since August the chrome continues to go bad. I contacted Leuxus USA and their response was basically "too bad it's out of warranty" but recommended I take it to a Lexus dealer. In May, I took it to a dealership in Columbus, Ohio and the service director had no problem noticing that there was an issue with the wheels and that perhaps Lexus would fix them. He contacted the original dealership on Long Island only to find out that the dealership had installed these wheels rather than the factory and that the wheels warrantly ran out in February of this year. Rather convenient.

I contacted the dealership myself and found out that this particular dealership sends out Lexus factory wheels to have them chromed and installed on their vehicles. The customer service manager assured me that my concern would be forwarded to the firm who does the chroming. Don't know if that happened or not...as I have nothing from them. Of course, I could get a "refurbished" set of chrome wheels for about $1,000, not including mounting and balancing, from the dealership. Apparently, they missed the point about warranty and my location 500 miles away.

The question, therefore, is whether anyone has had similiar corrosion and flaking issues on Lexus factory wheels chromed by someone else, and what was done to correct it? I'd be happy if they gave me back the original alloy wheels, but I don't see that occuring in the future.

mandyfig

That's the chance you get if you go after aftermarket chrome wheels.

Chroming itself is an art. Doing it on a big part is asking for a headache.

They are ok within a few years until they show the defects, discoloration, flaking, etc.

shoebopper

I would agree. It's a shame that one of Lexus' "premier" dealerships (or however they described themselves) would put junk on these cars and then not stand behind them.

I didn't see a problem with the factory wheels (the spare is still factory alloy). I guess the chrome made it shiny.

mandyfig

Yup shame on the dealers who want a quick impression and then leave you with crappy wheels.

cclingma

Yes, I have a very similar problem with my wife's 08 RX350. From what I've learned on this forum it appears that our wheels would have had the factory alloy look but the dealer sent them off to be chromed. Great thought but bad implimentation. I'm working on my speach for the dealer. Another problem is that I'm not sure what I'm even asking for. I really don't want another chrome job that will last at best two years. This is really frustrating on a "luxury" vehicle. The wheels on my 03 Silverado with 75000 miles look great.

noz34me

I can beat that; have a '94 Mustang GT with alloy wheels that are perfect; '98 Nissan 200SX SE-R, wheels are perfect. I could go on and on. My '04 Lexus the wheel paint is flaking off like a bad case of dandruff.

Car rides and drives great, but the more I research into the types of idiotic, easily avoidable quality issues these cars have the more buyer's remorse I have.

redrocks

I hear ya, noz34me! Makes me wonder the same thing about Lexus quality.

noz34me

The fit and finish on most of the car is exemplary. Obviously a lot of thought went into the design and most of the mechanicals. I'm sure Lexus purchases the wheels from another vendor. Just lack of quality control on the vendor's part and Lexus' for not holding their feet to the fire.

Right now I've got the dealer I bought our Lexus from looking for replacement luggage rack crossbars. All 4 of the pins that hold the bars in place were broken on ours. I finally got them off using needle nose pliers. There is absolutely no way that this part (made of plastic) could be expected to hold up. I'm sure UV deteriorated it some, but it's like they took something so simple and made it so complicated just to help the aesthetics maybe 5% over another design. Crazy. Well, certainly not trying to hijack this thread, but just another example like the wet headlights.

LBCDan

I have had chrome OE wheels on mine for 4 years now without any problems, they still look brand new. Of course I live in Southern California where there is no salt on the roads.