I've just developed quite the crush on these trucks and have looked at a couple in the last few days; both 2004s, one ash blue mica, one silver. I looked at the silver one first and it looked amazing. Checked out the blue one tonight, overall, it was clear that it had not been maintained, lots of bumps, scratches, worn leather etc. What really took me by surprise was the seriously bubbling body where the badge is in the drivers doorwell (interior top of rocker)

I thought these were pretty solid and were not particularly prone to rust.What is the overall reputation of these? Any places in particular I should be looking?

 

When I bought my 05 I looked/test drove around 5 GXs and I would have to say the rust problem is the under side and not the bod panels. The rims on the wheels is also a common place for the finish/paint to bubble.

 

These trucks have a great reputation. I see 2-3 of these come into my dealership every month with 100-250k miles on them. That being said, it's usually easy to find the ones that have been taken care of. They usually don't end up in the middle of the road, it's one extreme or the other. Either very clean, run like new, and no body issues, or they show their age in every aspect of their condition. My GSM always told me "If you see a Lexus with rust, 99% chance It's had bodywork done to it. Our cars do have a galvanized coating that prevents them from rusting (yes even in crappy MI or NE winters). Only way that coating gets pierced is very heavy repeated trauma to one spot on the body, or sanding down to bare metal for bodywork. I would never buy one that shows any paintwork being done on the carfax report.

 

Some of these trucks are owned by "socker moms". Not to offend anyone. Don't get much exterior washing and waxing. If I didn't wash my wife's car in winter, it would never get done.

However, as others have stated, rust on the painted surfaces is rare. Most of the rust is surface rust on some of the cast components and frame underneath. I would keep looking for one that was well serviced and taken care of. Worth the wait, if you really want one.

 

Our '08 has spent its entire life in the deserts of Nevada and western Colorado--where salt isn't used on roads--so our's may be a special case. The highway dept uses magnesium chloride, but not salt. It's also hot & dry much of the year, so there's no moisture build-up on the underside.

I have crawled underneath our GX several times and haven't seen any signs of rust--not a bit. Also, nothing visible on the body panels. There were a few paint chips, but I touched those up and there was no rust visible.

We also run our truck through a great, new car wash in town that has high-pressure sprayers that clean the underside as well as the topside, which I'm sure helps.

 

I take extremely good care of my truck. It gets washed once a week on average and waxed routinely. I have driven in the snow/salt covered roads here in the mid Atlantic, on the beach in NC and my truck only has some very minor surface corrosion/rust along some of the cross members along the underside. I hit them with Rustoleum every now and again and I spray Boeshield T-9 liberally underneath around axles, hubs etc.

 

I have an 04 and live in the Boston area, Winters are harsh and my truck originally came from upstate New York where salt is used a lot. I have lots of rust on the undercarriage. It was there when I bought it and I had the dealership spray the black rubber coating in areas of concern. The topside of my truck is in prestine condition minus a few hood chips. After searching this forum I felt comfortable enough with the rust underneath the truck.