Chrome Wheels

[John Y]

I have a 2009 gs 350, 3 of the 4 chrome wheels have the same problem, they leak around the valve stem. Lexus tells me that the chrome is pealing on the inside of the wheel and that is causing the leak, also the car is under warranty but this is not covered. Does anyone know if there is a fix for this or do I need to buy new wheels?

[1990LS400]

Why is this not covered under warranty? All four chrome wheels that came on my 2000 LS400 were replaced in 2003 under warranty due to deterioration of the chrome finish. How is this different?

[John Y]

Were the wheels replaced by Lexus or the dealership? Lexus tells me this is a dealer option and not covered under the Lexus warranty.

[boB_2006_GS300]

I have a 2006 Lexus that has factory wheels that were chrome exchanged after I bought the car. A few months ago my low tire pressure light came on. My front left tire was about 5 LB low. After adding air, continued to happening about every 2 weeks. I assumed a slow leak from a nail or something. The local tire store didn't find a leak, but said there is some oxidation on the rim surface where the tire meets. He said they see this all the time and that it probably only looses air when I am driving. He put a brush tool on his power tool and removed the oxidation. It's been several months and the problem is gone.

[1990LS400]

Were the wheels replaced by Lexus or the dealership? Lexus tells me this is a dealer option and not covered under the Lexus warranty.

The wheels were/are aftermarket chrome on OEM wheels and were on the car when it was delivered to the original owner(lessee). I don't know if Lexus corporate was involved in replacing my wheels. Lexus offered chrome standard wheels as an official option for the 2000 LS400 but mine is a Platinum Series which came from the factory with the same non-chrome 16" wheels that were standard the following year on the LS430. Chrome LS430/Platinum Series wheels were a common dealer option on the 2000 LS400 Platinum Series.

The dealer did not provide a separate warranty on the aftermarket chromed OEM LS430 style wheels and covered the wheels for the same duration as the car's 4 year/50,000 mile warranty.

So ... it would appear that your situation is the same as mine. The key questions are: Did the dealer provide a separate limited warranty on your chrome wheels. Were the chrome wheels on the car at the moment of delivery to the original owner? If your wheels came with a separate warranty are there exclusions?

If the answers are No, Yes and No, then it would appear that your dealer owes you replacement wheels. A reasonable man would assume that everything on a car is covered for the same warranty duration unless components are specifically excluded in a document provided to the customer. In fact, many/most car manufacturers specifically state that accessories are covered by the same warranty as the car if the accessories are on the car at the time of delivery. What the dealer many have meant to do when the car was originally sold doesn't count.

One more thing ... my replacement chrome wheels are nine years old, still look like new and don't leak air a bit - but they have never been used in winter or seen even a flake of snow. The original chrome wheels were trashed at three years by the lessee using them year round in midwest winters.

[steward147]

Nice post.........................,

[JB GS Owner]

I have looked back through other complaints with similiar problems over the past few years. I have seen no closure from a Lexus service representative posted. My GS300 (2006) also has corrosion between the substrait and the top coat appearing in the form of "bubbles." My wheel are not chrome, they are painted/coated silver; I am not sure of the process, paint or epoxy. It seems like a common problem not associated with the region the vehicle is located. The wheel supplier may have a cleaning issue prior to the coating process, a substrait/material issue, or a coating process issue. I hope to provide Lexus with enough information so that the concern may be noted on the supplier concern board and address during thier asaichi meetings; so that this issue can be addressed for future models as an SE manual launch review issue.

If there is a Lexus warranty enginering team member reviewing this site, please review the attached photos. I would love to provide the actual wheels for analysis with the supplier. My email address is attached to my log-in ID if you wish to contact me.

JB