msingh

Hi all,
Have a quick question. Anyone have any rust on the underside of the tailgate?
My 1999 LX 470 seems to be be getting surface (?) rust on the underside of the tailgate, dripping onto the bumper. I have Pearl White-so its kinda obvious.

Just took it to the dealer-and they say they have never seen such a thing and are escalating to
Division manager etc,

Just curious if anyone else has come across this kind of issue.

Thanks
M.

zanth

My 2000 LX470 also has rust. In my case it is all across the bottom of the glass on the upper half of the rear lift gate. It is really starting to take off and I'm going to call the dealership and see what it would cost to fix. I doubt it is covered by the corrosion perforation warranty, as it isn't yet perforated. Maybe if I give it a few more months I'll have perforation and make a warranty claim.

What did you do about the rust on your bumber?

blacksc400

iTrader: (4)

I live in Vegas and no rusting here

idsrvit

I live in PA and have a 99 lx 470 (pearl white) with no rust...but what I have just discovered and am curious if anyone else has....

my stock rims have been pitting on the outside and i just took my car into the dealer for tire rotations etc. after leaving, i noticed a noise sort of sounding like a sprinkler so i went back into the dealer to see if it had something to do with the tire rotation. turns out the pitting is happening on the inside of the rims as well, only at a much larger scale and forming a huge bubble that is rubbing against the drums. the dealer sanded it down for me, but said it will most likely return in time. i guess it is time for new rims...however i cannot afford the group buy.

Josh83

Guys with the older (LX450 style) Land Cruisers are having the rust issues also. Generally, if it gets to the point that you can see it around the glass on those trucks, count on a new hatch. I think for the 80 series most guys are spending north of $2K to fix it. My 00 Land Cruiser has rust around the liscense plate lights, but it's not perforated yet. Once I get my 97 put back together I am putting the 00 in the shop.

Conforte

99 LX470... and yes I do... and Lexus repaired it for me, free of charge in 2005

white_lx

Had the same thing on my '00 LX470. The rust came from the studs holding the molding on the tailgate. The rust would fall through the holes in the bottom of the molding onto the bumper.

chiro

I have been using a bathroom product to remove rust streams that stained my 1999 at the corners of all of the doors and down the rear bumper from the tailgate. It appears that it is rusting from the inside of the doors and hatch out. I took it to my Lexus dealer today and the factory rep happened to be there. First thing she asked was when it started I told her last year. Then the servie manager who was also there was saying all kinds of stuff like, hmmm that;s just rust color (what's that supposed to mean?) He also said that water comes out of the weep holes and is laying on the body under the doors causing it to rust. I said then it's a design flaw and he said it wasn't. The facotry rep told me to keep the car really waxed and the rust wouldn't stick (it would roll off the wax and you no one would notice it.) I told her that that is just treating the symptom since the doors appear to be rusitng from the inside out and leaving rust rivers on my bumper and running boards. Anyway, I missed the rust warranty by 6 months (bought it in July of 1999) so I asked that sine I notied it last year if they would honor it. The best they could do she said was to detail my car.

Wondering if I should jsut sell it before it rusts out.

Btw, it has been garaged kept but obviously driven in the elements.

1loudLX

the only spot i have rust is that spot at the bottom of the upper tailgate where the licence plate lights are. Its not much but its where the seam weld is and you can feel it when you go to open the tailgate and miss the latch handle...your fingertips touch the rust and you can feel it.

V8_Fan

They salt the roads where you guys live, so why would one NOT expect rust? If it makes you feel better (or worse), when I lived in Upstate NY for 6 yrs and drove a 84 Toyota extracab pickup (had the bottom coated at Ziebarts when I moved there), the rear tailgate seriously rusted from the inside out, yet there was no rust on the body otherwise, including the stock steel front fender and valence (and I washed it maybe 3x/year). I think the tailgate is the weak spot for rust, as the paint is much thinner than elsewhere on the body. A friend in San Diego parked his LC outside for 2 yrs (this is about 50 ft from the ocean), his tailgate developed a few rust spots.

No rust over here in So. AZ.:-) Bolts underneath my rig are still shiny after 3 yrs. I see a lot of license plates from the Upper Midwest and New England. :-)

1loudLX

it doesnt make me feel better your tailgate rusted out on your old toyota pickup What would make me feel better is if you bought me the 2003+ tailgate, upper and lower, and changed my windows out to the black tint instead of the bronze.

V8_Fan

:-) I ended up buying touch-up paint from paintscratch.com. The color match is very good (I got a tricoat, so base and mid coat plus clear). When I touched up the tailgate, I noticed how thin the paint was compared to in front of the vehicle. We're talking paint just thick enough to keep the primer from bleeding through!

chiro

I don't undersatnd what salt on roads has to do with the doors rusting from the inside out? If it were the salt on the roads wouldn't it be more of an undecarriage problem? The doors are so high off the road and the rust is coming from the weep holes. No other rust is on the car.

1loudLX

doors rusting out has to do with moisture more than salty roads. However i will have to admit ive found road salt in some preeeetty weird places on my LX

V8_Fan

Doors/tailgates also have drain holes on the bottom so rain entering between the window and metal can escape. The salt water gets kicked up in a mist, and the mist goes up into the drain holes and hits the windows and seeps down into the door and out the drain holes.