budwom

We have a 2013 RX 350 which has been a great car, but we're noticing what appears to be
some rust or rust colored discoloration on the inside edge of the "L" logo on the tailgate.
To be more accurate, it's just inside the chrome ring which circles the L.

Just inside the chrome ring, there is a definite rust tint, only about 1/20th of an inch wide, maybe
2-3 inches long.

Has anyone had this issue? If so, does the warranty cover anything like this (we live in
salt land, but the car is not even two years old)...maybe if the problem worsens I'll just have to
go to the local body shop and have them do some minor repair work.

SteveCraig

We had our complete rear hatch door replaced last year, no charge to us.
The internals of the latch mechanism were getting some moisture, maybe simple condensation.
Small traces of water were carrying rust out between the latch gasket & the sheet metal.
They had an updated gasket they could have installed but chose to replace the entire door.
Do not believe it was the sheet metal but rather the bare/plated hardware inside.

Get it to the dealer & figure the source. Might be the logo itself.

What colour is your car ?
Dealer has replaced about 20 rear hatch doors locally over the last 18 months. 75% were on white cars, the balance mostly the light metallic gold colour.

TechNut

They use potassium chloride around here in the winters. It can definitely cause discoloration on the chrome bits. I try to get it cleaned off ASAP. My 2013 has perfect chrome but it hasn't seen much bad weather. We always drove the Prius in bad weather because it was so much easier to clean in the winter. Now the Prius is gone so the cleaning equation has changed...

BertL

OP, Steve and Doug bring up good points. It would be interesting to know the color of your RX -- I suspect it's lighter color (white, perhaps?). What you're seeing could be real rust, but personally, without seeing a picture and knowing more, I suspect it more likely may be something commonly known as "rail dust"... iron/metal contaminants from a myriad of places that essentially attach themselves in various ways to your clear coat and wheels, and when the right conditions happen, those little bits rust. It's not the actual car rusting, but those bits sort of "on top" and perhaps partially embedded in your finish. The situation is discussed in various car detailing forums. Fastidious folks like me use products such as CarPro Iron X Iron Remover as part of initial finish prep to get rid of those bits as they are not always visible and won't come off with normal washing or even claying techniques. I used IronX on both my RX (nebula grey) as well as my SLK (diamond white metallic) the day I brought them home as I started my initial detailing regime. The effects of the product on my darker RX (from Japan and less than 100 miles from the West Coast port) were not well seen, but on my white SLK that did ride the rails in Germany and had a lot further to get to me, the product revealed and removed dozens of little spots all over the sides of my brand new vehicle.

This isn't a car detailing forum, so if what I'm trying to explain may be a possibility, I'll let you pursue research or continue that discussion over in our Detailing Forum if you're so inclined. THIS LINK (look at the 2nd photo which is much worse than my SLK looked like) as well as THIS ONE have more info on Iron X, and WWW searches on "rail dust" will explain more what it is, where it comes from, and various methods to remove it as well. Good luck.

budwom

Thanks for the info, guys.

The car is silver. The discoloration is definitely not rust coming up through the paint, but there is
definitely a strip of discoloration, perhaps it is emanating from underneath the chrome circle which surrounds the "L" logo. I could try a bit of very light rubbing compound on it, but I think I'd rather
just wait and watch and see what happens.

My major problem is that the closest Lexus dealer (where I bought the car) is 170 miles away, so it's not trivial to stop by.

The car is only two years old with 21,000 miles, so I guess I can wait this out and see what develops...I had just wondered if this was a common problem or not.

BertL

Not a common problem.

I can't remember for this particular location on an RX, but many of the chrome emblems are simply stuck on over the paint clear coat -- there is no "pin" and hole into the panel as used to be more common and likely created more possibility for true rust problems in the long haul. Also, not all emblems are metal these days, some are plastic-of-some-sort with chrome plating -- meaning, "the rust" you're seeing may not be that, but more of what I was trying to describe as rail dust that came from some other place and has gathered around your emblem. In fact, on my SLK, the way it's designed, the rear end, even more so than our RXs, gathers dust, dirt and other contaminants faster than other parts of the car when you're driving around. It's always a mess even after detailing and then a quick drive. As I remember, I removed as much "rail dust" from around the SLK rear emblems as I did on the side panels and hood -- they dripped with purple after my IronX application and I know from MBZ forums those emblems are just stuck on the the MBZ and have no metal in them -- unfortunately I don't know if that's the case with the one you're having a problem with on the RX.

...I should add, that while this rail dust stuff does not generally effect the metal panel, it does have negative effect on the finish -- aka the clear coat and then paint -- meaning, it's best to get it off of there if it exists, rather than wait it out. It isn't going to magically disappear on it's own.

Good luck.

kitlz

Great information Bert. Two of us had the emblem changed on our 450hs in less than a year But our emblem is sealed. I'd say it's very possible for rail dust or salt to be the culprit. You can test by putting your hand inside a plastic bag and rubbing it across the paint surface after a wash. if it catches, you have paint contamination. On my silver 450h I get orange colored spots. Contact the dealer and see if they'll send you a replacement. A local Toyota dealer or body shop can probably install it for you. Or try CarPro IronX. It really gets rid of surface decontamination and is simple to use. The detailing forum has plenty of information like Bert said. Good luck and keep us updated.