Hey guys, have you removed your rear license plate recently? If so, did you find some rust bubbling?

Most cars have a small padded portion that the lower part of the plate sits on so the plate doesnt make contact with the paintwork. Its a bit too late in my case now. I'll post a pic tomm when there's daylight, but this is pretty *****ty for those of us who are car enthusiasts and own our cars, and quite frankly, Im a tad disappointed in Lexus of all OEMs for not addressing this detail. One rust starts, its never good, so I'm going to ask the dealer about this on my next service visit.

Check yours. I did snap a pic in the dark which is not very good, but I'll post a pic tomm w daylight. I'm gonna have to clean and wax the area this week, and then apply a strip of my professional double sided tape so the license plate wont make contact w the paintwork anymore.

 

See the bottom portion. There's a few spots there and I'm pretty peeved right now. I'll post my solution tomm to stop further damage.

 

I kept my dealer plate frame for this exact reason. When I got the car, I removed it and noticed the plate would scrape in that area, so I put it back on right away. Did you have a license plate frame at one point? Because that actually prevents this from happening.

 

Bonjour George, I use those plate covers that stealerships give. I think what I'll do is apply some of my Suntek paint protection film this coming wkd, and then re install the plate.

Is Lexus popular in Montreal and surrounding regions, or is Geeman luxury still the preferred among the 35-50 age set?

 

I think I'll pull mine off this week, clean behind it, throw or of those rubber bumpers you used on cabinets on thee back of the plate and remount it. I do recall the whole affair being rather sketchy when I pulled the plate to clay and seal the car new from thee dealership.

 

I do detailing for a living and we always joke at my work how all of these manufacturers can build these amazing machines that cost an arm and a leg, yet most completely disregard the license plate area. If it makes you feel any better, alot of other very expensive automakers have this issue as well.

Audi has a plastic license plate mount that is both screwed into the trunk with two torqx screws AND held on with several long strips of double sided tape so the plate never touches the paint.
Mercedes typically has a stainless steel plate frame bolted down with two allen screws....also to prevent plate from hitting.
BMW is almost the same concept as Mercedes but their plate mount is plastic and alot lighter, but same concept.

Lexus uses nothing, but neither do alot of other companies that cost 5x the amount of Lexus.

 

You can always just stick on a small strip of clear bra on that area and forget about the rust bubble ever getting worse since clearbra is completely water proof. Rust can't expand without an air or water source. Your rust is from the outside (from rubbing) not from the inside of the trunk. If it was rust from the inside, than it's game over and the section would need to be cut out etc.

 

I applied self adhesive weatherstripping on the back of my plate to prevent this (and rattling).

 

That Audi "Bracket" breaks all the time and ends up costing the customer $200-$300 each time.

- Audi Service Advisor.

 

Hi all, so here is a before and after pic where you can see the breaches caused due to no plate nor some nubs for the bottom part of the plate to sit on, and the sheet of Suntek clear film I applied to protect that area moving forward.

This is an oversight I expect from Chrysler or Ford, not from Toyota/Lexus. :@ Hopefully this post gives long-term owners an early heads-up so you don't get rust after a few years. Ppl who lease and don't intend to buy out don't need to worry about this.


Before
Protected w some clear film

 

First thing I do with every car i buy (that's not intended to be a beater) is to add rubber spacer rings around to make sure the bottom of the plate doesn't bounce around (specially for cars with only 2 top holes for mounting plate.

In your case you're a bit late, if the paint is bubbling, chances are the rust is bigger under the paint and getting deep into the metal... if you really intend to do something about it, i would try buffing off the bubbled areas (since they do look smallish) and see if the rust is only surface and not very large in area... And once you got all the rust spots out, cover with touch up paint, but if the spots start to get to 2-3 mm in diameter, chances are you would need to get the trunk lid sanded and repainted.