2011 TRD Sport--Wheel Clearcoat Problem (Moved from Suspension)

Posted in wrong forum first time. Sorry.

Road rash/pitting on my wife's new Sport. No blistering...yet. The truck is three months old with about 6,000 miles on it. Wheels were perfect (even though the truck is driven on about eight miles of gravel daily) until our first major snow complete with icy roads, sand and chemicals on the highways. Now the surface of all four wheels is chipped/pitted. I have a Dodge Ram that is over four years old with 90,000 miles on it. No pitting or chipping of the alloy wheels. In the past 20 years I have driven trucks with clearcoated alloy wheels and have had no problems like this. All of the trucks were full-size American built. Our previous Tacomas had steel wheels. This is our first "fancy" Tacoma.

I've taken the truck to the dealers service department. Pics were taken of the wheels. Both the service manager and the regional rep said it was a rock chip issue. (Duh) The regional rep wants to take a "wait and see" position before acting on replacement or whatever. OK by me for now. The problem is documented early on.

My position is that the wheels have a pretty "iffy" clearcoat to chip like they did. They should be replaced and I'll stick to that.

Anyone else have a similar problem? I have the feeling that "down the road". I am going to need a bit of "ammunition" as I deal with Toyota.

Tom

 

Unfortunately, it's quite a common problem on the TRD sport wheels. The dealer should replace them for you since you are obviously still under warranty.

 

Yup. Mine had this problem. Dealer took a look and ordered 4 new ones on the spot. It was covered under warranty.

 

Was the damage to the wheels on your Tacoma just pitting/chipping on the flat surfaces or did "blisters" form at the edges?

Tom

 

I just noticed the same thing happening on mine. I have 50,000 miles on my 07 Sport. Does anyone know if I have any options with the local dealer? I'm thinking of having them sandblasted and powdercoated anyway but thought I would check. If sandblasted will that cure the blistering?

 

The edges blistered.

 

Just got a call from the dealer. Toyota will replace all four wheels...a one time "good will thing". OK, how do I keep this from happening again? Maybe I'll just get lucky with this set. I am always sure to keep a good coat of wax on the wheels (as well as the rest of the truck).

A question for those of you who have a TRD Sport and drive it on gravel or off road a lot, but not in winter conditions. Do you have trouble with road rash on these wheels?

blacksandtaco, You might give the dealer a try, but 50,000 miles is way over warranty. When I was searching for information on these wheels, I came across a pic of the Sport wheels that had been powder coated. They looked pretty good. I'll see if I can find the post.

Here you go: http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/1st-gen-tacomas/137361-my-powdercoated-2nd-gen-wheels.html

Tom

 

Update: New Sport wheels installed today under "one time goodwill" warranty. Had new Michelin LTX M/S2's mounted on new wheels. Hope I have no more problems...at least until next winter.

Tom