Factory Wheel Corrosion

[oneal47]

I just replaced the tires on my 97 SC400 with BF Goodrich G force TAs. While they were putting the tires on my factory wheels, the guy says to me that the inside lip of all four wheels is corroded and the wheels will need to be replaced soon. He said the wheel and the tire won't have a good seal and the tire will leak. Although the old tires never leaked, he said the new will start to leak soon. He said Lexus factory wheels are notorious for this. I looked at the wheels and the inside lip was not smooth. Has anybody heard of this before?

Being a skeptical person, I think he was just trying to sell me some new wheels.

[Marty Witt]

Funny you should bring this up. After owning my 95 SC400 for about a year and a half, all of the sudden I had three slow leaks from three different tires within a two week period. All of the leaks were due to the chrome peeling off of the lip of the rims. I brought them in for repair and they were able to polish the lips of the rim and then coat the edge of the tire with sealant stuff. Four weeks later all is OK. I am also in need of new tires and am waffling over whether to spend the extra big bucks for new rims or not!!!

[oneal47]

So I am not the only one. Well it sounds like you are a little ahead of me. What kind of sealant did they use?

[UCF3]

Interesting. The guy who installed your tires, did he apply a tire seal by any chance?

[Marty Witt]

I don't know if the guy that installed the tires used a sealant or not. I would estimate that the tires had been on the car for at least 25k miles before any problems cropped up. In regards to the type of sealant, all I know is that it is black in color and pretty standard stuff. I've seen it at many tire stores.