Trailhunter bedsides chipping

Just bought a 2025 Tacoma Trailhunter love it so far! I have encountered a problem however.

I drove my new truck from Oregon to my home in Colorado and it seems just highway miles and standard dirt and rocks from the highway have chipped my bed sides BAD!

I went through the Toyota branding rather than the dealer and they were awesome and super helpful until the had me go to the dealer. The Service Manager Dan Moran at Toyota of Colorado Springs was great. And assured me that Toyota has covered this issue in the past. When he reached out to the district parts and service however, they were less than helpful. They told him that while Toyota has taken care of this issue previously that it has become common and thus has determined the issue to be from “outside influences” and as such Toyota will no longer cover these issues going forward… this truck has 2000 miles on it and I get it it’s a truck. But if I take this thing on a gravel road my bedsides are going to be wrecked. I cannot believe the poor design. To add insult to injury I cannot put PPF over the affected areas due to how rough they are. Truly bummed.

Any advise is welcome.

 

That’s a bummer. So many people have been affected by this poor rear fender design. Depending if you want to throw money at it I’d either get it repainted or see if they’ll cover anything to have it repainted then PPF it. If not and you don’t want to spend the money I’d look into I think it’s Rokblokz mudguards that extend a little further out of the wheel well. Sucks that we even have to do something like this to stop it from happening

 

Does this truck have mudflaps?

 

Thanks,

I will look into those!

I actually ordered these yesterday to see if they help at all
https://arksplashguards.com/product...-trixpoly-micro-flares?variant=44203574034597

 

no but regardless shouldn’t be an issue for freeway driving dry roads for the first 2000 miles.

 

Shouldn’t be an issue for dirt roads, either. Damn.

 

Anything is better than nothing. I see you have rock sliders are they from Toyota or aftermarket? Another thing you could try is getting rock sliders with the kick out and top plate. Should stop the majority hopefully.

 

Any salt on the roads can easily cause that ,also what did you expect without having mud flaps.

 

Big mistake. It was my first mod. Hindsight being 20/20, should have installed good flaps at the dealer before road tripping.

 

OP probably didn’t know this would happen. If you aren’t lurking on forums you wouldn’t know there are a few people on here and Tacoma4g that have the same issue.

 

It’s weird that every Tacoma that rolls off the line doesn’t have flaps automatically. First thing I did with mine was drive it 300 miles straight to the PPF shop

 

Its a design flaw with the A$$ end of the truck being too flared. Toyota should work with you on this.

 

I had my flaps sitting in my garage waiting for install two weeks before I bought my truck.

 

From so many complaints here in the forums recently I’ve purchased some 3M ppf from Amazon to apply on my trd off-road. So far mine with 300 miles I don’t see any chips yet but I’ll be proactive and apply the film myself for that added protection.

 

Welcome to the club...



I have mud flaps and do no offroading in my SR5. This is all damage from rock salt. Even the factory PPF is screwed. Initially set up an appointment at Toyota to get it looked at, but life got in the way and couldn't get it in. Will let them look at it in a couple weeks when I go in for an oil change. Fully expect them to tell me "too bad, so sad" so I plan to order a Dr Color Chip kit and some 3M PPF.

 

Good mudflaps…never leave home without them

 

Get better mudflaps. Add more PPF.

 

The trucks still fit in standard garages, the fenders look great, and OEM mud flap sales are up 1000%, so if I’m Toyota, I see absolutely nothing wrong here.

It always sucks to learn the hard way, and we may very well see subtle factory solutions slipped in on later model years. But for now, order your flaps before you get home from the dealer, and life is good.

 

Flaps ceased to be standard with 3rd gen (for US models anyway) in late 2015. That was because Toyota added the rock guard in the rocker panel paint. The rock guard seemed to have been sufficient for the majority of owners until 4th gen.

 

This. I love the mudflap excuse, even the guys with the stock mudflaps are seeing this on stock OR wheels and tires, cowboy guy on youtube made a point of it, fb group posts, etc. Guessing Toyota didnt do much testing with the final body panels and missed this.