So I've had this happen on wife's RX-350 (3 out of 4 rims). To me it looked like some sort of clear coat failure. See pics. Car was actually covered by Lexus Platinum warranty but apparently the warranty does not extend to wheel finish. Went to 2 dealers and first one diagnosed the issues as normal-weather exposure which was total BS. Took the car to dealer I bought it from and in their opinion this was caused by some sort of chemical exposure under previous owner. Car was purchased as a CPO.

Contacted Lexus corp and they confirmed that this sort of thing is not covered by warranty but decided to do a good faith adjustment by allocating an allowance that in their opinion was enough for dealer refinish of 2 rims. In actuality, it was enough to refinish 3 and I had to out of pocket the 4th.

Dealer sent the rims out and gave me a new RX350 loaner for a week. Whoever did the refinish did a beautiful job. Wheels look as good as new.

All around very happy with Lexus and their response to this unfortunate situation.

 

It looks to me like the wheels have been repainted and the paint or the clearcoat did not adhere correctly because the surface was either not prepared properly or the base coat was not ready when the clearcoat was applied.

 

 

I'll have to get pics of mine. I have a ton of peeling...

 

Post it up! Let’s see.. have you found any solutions? Lol

 

I'm fairly sure I had zero issues before destroying my tire in a pothole. But as I look at tires, I have several tires showing these signs of peeling. I blame some of issues with my wheels on car wash places, which I *know* I need to stop using and do myself.

 

Most of it is clear coat failure, my dad had it on one rim inhis Acura. It looks thicker because the wheels are normally powder coated or they use a special coating to put over bare metal. If the wheels are bare metal you can use a paint stripper to get rid of the rest of the clear and wash it and apply a sealant and see how it holds up to corrosion, you can not just spray regular clear over bare metal, it won't adhere properly. There are some products like POR15 and a product by Eastwood that can be applied to bare metal.

https://www.eastwood.com/exoarmour.html

 

So just a little update, my other side tires are peeling as well, and the guy you did my brake calipers pointed out those 2 wheels are black underneath the grey. He thinks 2 wheels were replaced, then all 4 painted to be matching grey, which is why I'm seeing so much peeling...

 

I'd say he's spot on. That peeling does not look like the factory wheel paint.

Got a bit of nasty curb rash going on there...

 

That's what I get for letting wife drive. Plus I hit a massive pot hole and made it worse. But the other side is crazy, which just started peeling, damn wheel is black where it's peeling.

 

I have the clear coat peeling on my 2015 CPO. I know per service history they refinished all the wheels before it was sold to me two years ago and I noticed it after 6 months. I was supposed to take it in to get it looked at last year but can never find the time. Plus I only see them when looking closely.

 

looks like a good opportunity to get them refinished in a new color

 

Figured I might just get new ones. Idea on a cost to refinish?

 

Most decent places will charge around $80-$160 per wheel to refinish depending on what you're doing (fixing deep curb rash, new color, maybe the place is good and they recommend fixing a wheel that is out of round). I had two of mine refinished and trued (non F sport 18" 'superchrome' finish). I knew the guy through a connection and he gave me a discount - paid around $100 per wheel to refinish to factory look and fix out of round.

 

Interesting. RNR had bunch of wheels for around 250 a piece, but I didn't get as far as pricing ones I liked, that was just average price as I looked around while getting brakes done.