I noticed some bubbling on both the passenger side front & rear rims. Anyone else have this problem? My old Toyota mechanic told me to claim warranty on them & have them replaced. Wonder why it's even happening.. I think i'll take some pictures & post 'em up

Is it bubbling near where the rim is bent? If so, then no, I wouldn't think it's a warrentee issue, as the bend in the rim is the cause, and not a factory finish issue.

I'm thinking you just need to get another set of rims. I see used sets for sale all the time. Have you thought about that? or maybe get a nice after market set?

My driver's side front is the rim that's slightly bent, the 2 that are bubbling are not. Completely unrelated. I'll take some pics after work & post 'em. Wonder what's causing this

I have noticed this on my rims also. I have an '06 IS. I never thought that it would be covered on the warranty. The bubbling is on the inside portions of the spokes on the wheels. I'm not sure the technical terminology, sorry. It certainly would be nice to replace them. Thanks for any insight.

Joe

So I brought up the issue at the Lex dealer this morning. At first the service advisor notified that they would change both the rear rims but advised they would not change the front rims because there was a considerable amount of scratches along the outer edge of the rims from the previous owner hitting curbs. Which they claim caused the bubbling ?? I pushed them to replace all 4 so the service manager took some pictures and are waiting to hear back from Lex Canada as to whether or not they will replace all 4 rims. Thank G*d I bought this car with some bumper to bumper warranty left on it

My IS250 has approximately 60k on it, is just over three years old, and I am also seeing this same bubbling on all of my rims. It started small, and has progressed rapidly through the winter. I live in Indiana, so we did have snow, ice, etc. but would not expect to see this happening.

Look forward to hearing what Lexus Canada has to say. If you need some additional info, or Lexus would like to contact me, please let me know.

1 dealer I went to blamed the excessive scratches on the outer portion of the rim (from the previous owner hitting to many curbs) causing the inner bubbling. The 2nd Lex dealer I went to blamed the salt on the roads during the winter causing the bubbling. I think the salt caused the bubbling.

The 1st dealer offered to replace my 2 rear rims with brand new ones. When I pushed them to cover all 4 they advised Lexus Canada will not replace all 4 rims with brand news ones, rather they will provide refurbished rims. I'm gonna go with getting all 4 replaced. I'm just worried the same thing is gonna happen to the rims come next winter

By the way they are well aware this is a problem with these rims, they had a set of 6 refurbished rims on hand! I just need to find the time to go in & get 'em swapped.

Interesting. I never heard of refurbished rims! What year is your IS? Do we all have to worry about faulty rims?

I've got an '06. I was skeptical about getting refurb rims so I asked the service manager if I could see the rims spinning before the tech mounts the tires, just to make sure none of the rims are bent, he said no prob. Most likely going in next week to have all my rims swapped out. It'll look alot nicer too, couldn't tell the diff. between the refurb rims & the new ones & mine are pretty badly scratched on the outer edges.

I also have the same thing happening with mine. I had planned on asking about it during my next service, 80k. I am glad I am not the only one! If they replace them I will provide an update.

My appointment to have all 4 rims replaced with refurbished ones is tomorrow morning @ 7am. Will let you know how it goes Service Manager is letting me see the rims balanced/mounted to tires so I can check for any imperfections before installation

So do all of us with this same issue live in areas with alot of snow in the winter? Really trying to pin down whether it's is in fact the salted winter roads that is causing this bubbling

All 4 of my rims were replaced this past Friday. The refurbs look as good as new. Not a single imperfection noticable - in the ride & cosmetically. More than happy, love this dealership (Lexus on the Park, Toronto).

What do you mean by bubbling? Is the chrome coming off?

Really should've taken a few pics of the old rims before I had 'em replaced. Looked something like this

Just an update on this. The dealership offered to cover half of the cost to refurbish the rims. They blamed it on the salt. I am not happy, and I have never seen this happen on any other wheel I have owned. And by the way the wheels are not "covered" on the "corrosion" policy that was so generously pointed out to me as a selling point, conveniently only the body of the car is covered when there is a corrosion problem. I am sure when my body starts to rust the wheels will be the only thing covered.

I have an 07 is350 and the same thing started happening a couple months ago. I live in Miami, Fl so im pretty sure that salt didn't cause it. My dealer covered all the costs to repaint/refurbish the rims. I got my car back a couple weeks ago and they look great. It only took like 3 days. I hope they can do they same for you. You shouldn't have to pay half the costs. These rims seem to have that problem no matter where you live....good luck !!!

Have some minor scratches on my refurb rims now from lightly hitting curbs while parking. No bubbling (yet anyways). But I remember the dealer blaming the bubbling I had before on the fact that my rims were all slightly scratched all around the edges from the previous owners driving.

Do all of you that have experienced this problem with bubbling also have scratches on the outer edges of your rims? Want to know if it is truly related

I scuffed one stock 18" rim. I've never seen any bubbling. I sanded it a little and put some aluminum paint on the scuff to that may have protected it.

I'm going bring my car into Erin Mills Lexus (in Toronto area too) and see what they say. This will give me an idea what the service is like. Otherwise I'mm off to Lexus on the Park in Toronto too.

An update on this.....I can't believe the variability in responses from dealer to dealer.
Dealer 1 - scuffs on the passenger side wheels caused the bubbling so they are not covered. However the two on the driver side is covered. I said that makes no sense. They're all bubbling
Dealer 2 - It's the salt in Canada. There was an issue where some of the wheels were not coated with a special protectant before painting the rims. These cars go to the south US where there is no snow. Somehow I got as set of those rims. He can refurbish and will charge me his "cost" price. $250 wheel. New rims are $1100 each so he says he's doing this for me because of goodwill.
Dealer 3 - These guys are awesome. "He can't comment on the special coating, news to him". Regardles the salt is making the wheels bubble. He asks me "If it's ok with me he would like to fix them for me. These wheels are under warrantee and this should not happen". I have an appointment for next week where he will remove my summer rims and put on my winter rims. He'll recondition the summers back as good as new, all under wantantee. He also says there are two other warrantee items he will fix for me that day too. Very politely, "If you're in agreement with this"?
Dealer 3 has my service for ever....

It's worth it to call around to get a quote from other dealers.

You were bang on... Lexus on the Park has my service on-going. I don't care how out of the way he is.
Thanks for the tip.