Ok, so just recently, our 2001 es300 had a bubble start forming on the rear panel over the wheel, near where the black plastic strip meets the metal, should I be worried and do you guys think it will get worse?. Also if we get it fixed, will they just sand it down then repaint it, because there is also rust forming right below the L on the trunk lid, it started forming from the plastic black piece where the lights that light up the license plate is. Does anyone else have rust forming on there es, and this should be easily fixed right? I'M REALLY WORRIED haha, and it's not like we neglect the car, it started when we parked the car outside during the winter for the first time stupid us. And i wsn't sure if i was putting this in the right section because i want to here from all if not some lexus owners dealing with rust, not just es owner's

 

Once started, rust will only grow and get worse. You could halt it with some rustoleum type paint, but that won't look that pretty, but better than rust.

Or yes, you'd have to have it sanded, filled, and re-painted (expensive).

 

por15 ftw! member "Ubernoob" had good success after he used it, but his was on a rock chip. but yea u have to sand it down, put rust preventive paint on it then u can repaint/touch up it.

 

I notice you have a NY address. Winters there, especially in the northern and western parts of the state can be brutal, with unbelievable amounts of snow and salt/sand on the roads. The abrasives and gravel tend to damage and remove paint on cars, while the salt, if not washed off, tends to corrode and cause rust on steel body panels...especially on cars without Galvanizing or other protective layers.

Do you drive regularly in winter conditions that cause this.....which, in NY state, can run from October to April? If so, you need to hose and flush off the underside of the car and in cracks/hidden areas as much as possible, whenever it is warm enough so the hose water doesn't freeze (which is not often).

But back to the problem at hand....rust that has already formed. Bitkahuna and LiCelsior gave good responses. You will probably have to have some body work done.....either stopgap measures you can do at home, or more professional, thorough body work. But, before you commit to any kind of repairs, self-done or otherwise, I'd get the car up on a lift and inspect everything underneath to make sure that you don't have more extensive problems underneath. Rust is not only unsightly, but can be dangerous if it affects and weakens critical suspension, driveline, steering, or chassis parts underneath.

This one reason why many car owners in the Great Lakes Snow Belt keep their nicer vehicles inside for the winter and have an old beater (often an AWD Subaru) for the winter months. Come the nice days of April, then the open-top RWD sports car comes out of the garage and hits the road.

 

Maybe see if you can get Lexus to cover it? The rust warranty on Lexus vehicles is 72 months which you might be a year or two over at this point.

Rust is pretty unacceptable on ANY late model car at that age, much less a Lexus. This plus the rotted/rusted frames on the Tacomas has me wondering about Toyota's precautions to prevent rust on their vehicles. You almost never hear of that sort of stuff in this day and age.

 

+1

i just used it recently too and it worked great but of course u need to sand down the area first

if u arent a DIYer, then send it to a reputable shop and have it done professionally
depends on how deep and wide the rusted area is, it may need filler

 

I thought of that, but I wasn't sure of what the rust warranty was on Lexus vehicles back in 2003....that's why I didn't mention it. Rust warranties also usually have both a mileage limit and a rust-through disclaimer, beaning that there has to be an actual hole in the sheet metal, not just a couple of bubbles like jmd93 has.



The bed-rust problem on smaller Toyota trucks went out after 1990 or so. The chronic rust on 80s-vintage Toyota pickups was due to defective welds at the West Coast center. Those trucks were shipped from Japan, minus the beds, to get around the 25% import-truck tariffs back then, and the beds were welded on when the trucks reached American shores. They used s**tty, defective welds, and rust started from the inside out no matter what you did.

 

I'm referring to the 95-01 Tacomas... huge recall with tens of thousands of Tacomas brought back for perforated rotted out and rusted through frames (though Toyota doesn't like to call it a recall, they call it a 'commitment to quality').

 

As the former owner of an International Travelall, I became an expert on rust. Not that that's a good thing - but it came with the vehicle, and was especially bad because the truck was an International company vehicle, belonging to a Canadian VP, so it had been liberally salted up in snow country well before its migration to Texas. I purchased it two years old and showing no signs of use from a local IH dealer. After about three years, tiny blisters began to appear at the bottom of the doors and body panels, rocker panels, and at the bottom of fixed windows, including the windshield. I carefully ground these areas down to bare metal, acid washed, primed, filled, and painted them - and was pretty proud of my handiwork.

Two years later the corrodamonster reared its ugly head again, this time turning several panels to Swiss cheese. Time for professional help. A local shop that did some beautiful work on restoring classic cars went in an cut away ALL of the corroded areas, welding in new sheet metal. The truck was literally re-skinned for the bottom 10 inches all the way around and the windshield was re-framed. The truck was then undercoated, new drain ports drilled in the bottoms of the doors, and the whole thing primed and given a good coat of paint. The fix lasted about two years.

I had a neighbor who had always admired the growling beast. I'd used it for towing a pretty heavy boat, and the torquemonster AMC 401 engine could really put down the tractive power when needed. I suppose my neighbor's testosterone got the better of him as he offered to paint my house in exchange for the truck. I decided since he was a certified welder, he would have the requisite skills and a nice project that would carry him well into retirement, so I made the deal.

I learned the truth of the old saying, "Rust never sleeps." They don't call it "body cancer" for nothing. Once begun, you have a limited opportunity to control rust, but you are going to be engaging in a downward-spiralling game of "Whack-a-Mole". You fix the problem here and it crops up again over there . . . Something is trapping water behind the offending panel, a clogged drain, poor design, or a poor seal; and unless you can drain the water and keep the area dry, rust will be your constant foe. You are fortunate that you are having the problem on a fairly new Lexus, because of all manufacturers, Lexus has a good reputation for being nearly impervious to rust, so perhaps the problem is just localized to that area above the wheel arches where dirt and road salt can accumulate.

Attack the problem immediately by having a good body shop evaluate the damage and give you an estimate. DIY fixes probably won't be too effective, but then, my experiences with professional body shops haven't been a whole lot better. Your best course of action is immediate and thorough treatment of the problem area. Putting a little touch-up paint on the surface ultimately won't help because the problem is likely coming from the backside of the panel.

Good luck and keep us informed of your progress!

 

In had a 1980 international Scout purchased new that started rusting after a few years. But Scouts were known for that. In Long Island a lot of people like to go 4 wheeling on the beach but I never did because I was afraid it would cause the car to rust, it turned out that I could have gone on the beach because rusted anyhow.

I don't know if they still have the same name for it but when I was younger we called it cancer because once you get it, it spreads and there is nothing you can do to stop it

 

oops i meant to say you UBERNOOB lol..dunno why i said Jewcano..sorry lol.