cdene

We have a 2003 SC 430 that we love, however we have had an issue that we noticed since having all 4 tires replaced in May 2014. The original tires were not worn, but since they were 11 years old, we wanted to replace them prior to the summer in Phoenix. We had Michelin Pilot Super Sports installed. Two months later, the tire pressure monitor came on and front driver tire was low. Filled it up and a month later it came back on - same tire. My husband took it to a chain tire store and they looked at the tire and said it was the seal and it was due to corrosion and eventually all 4 wheels would have to be replaced. They fixed the seal, free of charge but said it would happen again in a few months. Well yesterday, same tire for the third time was low.
I took the car in for service a few weeks ago and our trusty service guy said that wheels should last the life of the car and the only way they would corrode is if the car had been driven with lots of salt on the road. Last night we pulled out the Car Fax report and our car had two previous owners, each for 3 years: the first owner was in Florida, second here in Arizona. Everything is clean on report.
Has anyone else had issues with corroded wheels? Or does it sound like the new tires are causing an issue? Thanks in advance

mrblister

There were some issues with wheels flaking . Is there any visible damage to any parts of the wheels. If the bead area is corroding should be able to clean real well and then re-seal with bead cement .

Black31385

Are your wheels chrome?

mrblister

My wheels are chrome I dont know about the original thread maker

texsexlex

iTrader: (3)

...I have a cousin who owns an 04' IS300 & she encountered this issue last year. She is the original owner of the vehicle & after putting another new set of tires on the vehicle,she began to have the slow leak issue. Her wheels are factory chrome & after doing an inspection of all the wheels, Sewell diagnosed it as leakage due to chrome flaking of the wheels.I don't know if it was because she is a repeat customer (3 times & same salesman), but they replaced her rims free of charge....no further issues since

cdene

Hi, yes my wheels are the factory chrome. Thanks everyone for the information on the flaking chrome issues.

mrblister

There are rim specialists that could try and address this issue. With a try before buying new rims.

I had one of my rims sanded in the bead area then bead cement and it has worked fine. My car has never been in the snow or rain rim just had some flaking of the chrome in the bead area

FLYCT

There were issues with factory chrome wheels flaking causing slow leaks. It would be worth it to visit the local Lexus dealer and see if they would bring the issue to the "factory rep" and ask if Lexus would assist as good will. It's not up to the dealer but it's up to the factiry rep.

On my 2008 SC430 the chrome portion of the wheels had flaking and Lexus replaced them as good will. The dealer can tell from build records if the chrome was factory or not.

Good luck.

MDames2

iTrader: (1)

My wife's SC430 also has factory chrome wheels. After 7 years a slow leak developed. Same issue with corroding chrome at lip. It was sanded and repaired. It's been good now for about 3 months. I live in So Cal. So no snow or rust issues.

ShawnOk

iTrader: (1)

I had a problem with chrome flaking on one of my 2002 Lexus SC430 with the TRD Chrome OEM Rims. Even after multiple letters from Lexus Service Techs in multiple cities admitting that the defect was from improper chroming technique, Lexus did nothing at all the help me.I was pretty angry, and vented on this forum to which I was told "after 12 years you can't expect Lexus to warranty wheels." So I wish you good luck.

kjcole

Bead leaks due to corrosion of alloy wheels are pretty common in older vehicles here in the midwest. Never had to replace a wheel - the tire shops clean them up and slather on the bead sealer. Have to be pretty badly corroded for that not to work.

cdene

Thank you all so much! We appreciate it very much.