Alloy wheel bubbling

[benfromwigan]

I've had my car from September 22. Cleaned the car today and noticed on the front drivers side wheel some bubbling. I initially thought maybe my wife had curbed the car and neglected to tell me at first but the marks deffo protrude and it's not curbage. It's on the polished stainless steel looking part. 

With it happening so soon after getting the car could this issue be rectified under warranty? I've never had this issue with any other car so it's be really disappointed if not. I have this car on lease and am worried if this can't be rectified that I will get a bill for the rectification when my lease is over and I hand it back.

[Cyker]

Best thing to do is report it as soon as possible so that it's on the record; Some earlier Toyotas had a real problem with alloy quality - Almost every Mk1 Yaris I looked at had horrendous alloy wheel paint peeling way back when.

Not really seen it so much in modern cars but you may have just gotten a bad one, but it has been a couple years so not sure if they'll just try and get out of it or if it'd still be covered under the manufacturer warranty.

 

[benfromwigan]

Just a little update:

I contacted my local dealership who has booked my car in to inspect the wheel.  If no damage caused by myself is detected he will contact toyota to claim for a new wheel.....so fingers crossed I could have a positive outcome. :)

[2badmice]

On 3/31/2024 at 3:41 PM, benfromwigan said:

I've had my car from September 22. Cleaned the car today and noticed on the front drivers side wheel some bubbling. I initially thought maybe my wife had curbed the car and neglected to tell me at first but the marks deffo protrude and it's not curbage. It's on the polished stainless steel looking part. 

With it happening so soon after getting the car could this issue be rectified under warranty? I've never had this issue with any other car so it's be really disappointed if not. I have this car on lease and am worried if this can't be rectified that I will get a bill for the rectification when my lease is over and I hand it back.

Tyres usually aren't covered under warranty.

 

Tyre bulge is usually caused by driving the car and hitting the wheel.  The alloy will have been missed if there is no alloy damage.

Your lease company will expect a like-for-like tyre to be replaced.  Check the T&C's.

[FROSTYBALLS]

13 minutes ago, 2badmice said:

Tyres usually aren't covered under warranty.

Tyres are usually covered by the tyre manufacturer.

[2badmice]

1 minute ago, FROSTYBALLS said:

Tyres are usually covered by the tyre manufacturer.

Assume the OP meant Toyota warranty.

[benfromwigan]

13 hours ago, 2badmice said:

Tyres usually aren't covered under warranty.

 

Tyre bulge is usually caused by driving the car and hitting the wheel.  The alloy will have been missed if there is no alloy damage.

Your lease company will expect a like-for-like tyre to be replaced.  Check the T&C's.

There is no issue with the tyre.....the alloy wheel is the issue.

[benfromwigan]

**UPDATE**

 

I took my car in for the wheel to be examined and they agreed to request a new alloy from Toyota which has been approved.  I'm booked in to have my new wheel fitted in the 1st week in may. 😄 

[Cyker]

Wow, great result  

I guess they've accepted the bubbling was caused by a a manufacturing fault then. A bit surprising as I thought they learned their lesson from the state of the Mk1 Yaris rims!

Be interesting to see if anyone else has this or whether this was just a rare unlucky slip of QA.

[Xanadu_999]

On 4/4/2024 at 6:40 PM, 2badmice said:

Tyres usually aren't covered under warranty.

Should have gone to Specsavers.

😄

[Rhymes with Paris]

The first owner of my 2003 Yaris had the wheels replaced under warranty about a year into ownership.

The replacement wheels are still fine now, so I don't know what the difference was between the originals and the replacements.

My old 2001 lexus had terrible wheel corrosion, but well out of warranty when I owned it.

I'm guessing that Toyota/lexus had a supplier problem, maybe still does from the sound of it.

But overall, I think as long as the engine starts and takes me there and back reliably, I can put up with a bit of wheel trouble,as long as it doesn't stop the car.

So I still have faith in Toyota engineering, especially from the late 90s early 2000s.

 

[Cyker]

Could be... I don't actualIy know who makes the Toyota alloys...!

[Rhymes with Paris]

12 minutes ago, Cyker said:

Could be... I don't actualIy know who makes the Toyota alloys...!

Maybe the ding dong wing ding wheel company.

But I would be surprised if no proper diligence was carried out with such an important component.

Something has obviously gone wrong in the past, and not addressed even now.

[Cyker]

One theory was they were manufactured to japanese specs and weren't made for our apparently more corrosive little isle; One of the problems was they weren't sealed properly at the back, especially around the hub, so corrosion would get in from the back and submarine under the paint until it just flaked of in chunks.

[TonyHSD]

Most of the alloy wheels for all Toyota cars around the world are made in Turkey 🇹🇷. Those include Japanese, Americans or Russian and all English made cars. 
Here some information The JIL standard is a small logo placed in the design of automotive alloy wheels during the casting process to certify that they have been passed by Japanese Authorities to approve them for sale in the Japanese market. the letters JIL mean Japan Institute of Labour.

 

[Rhymes with Paris]

8 minutes ago, Cyker said:

One theory was they were manufactured to japanese specs and weren't made for our apparently more corrosive little isle; One of the problems was they weren't sealed properly at the back, especially around the hub, so corrosion would get in from the back and submarine under the paint until it just flaked of in chunks.

One of the reasons I decided to stop attending the Sunday night car meet on Cleethorpes promenade was the salt.

That, and the speed humps and youths in their 40s doing burn outs.

But yeah, you have a good point, it's a shame that steelies like you have, although for a different reason, are a good idea,at least they can be rubbed down and painted with hammerite, instead of an expensive refurb.

I think the alloys have a better look, even going back to minilites and rostyles of 50 years ago, but there is a price to pay.

I can only imagine the dismay when having spent a few hundred on a refurb hearing the crunch and scrape on a kerb soon afterwards.

 

[Cyker]

To be fair it was only really something I saw with the 14" alloys on the Mk1 Yaris - The 15" ones on e.g. the Corolla at the time seemed much more robust, and to my knowledge the Mk2 and Mk3 never suffered from similar issues so they had learned their lesson (Or so I thought!).

I would have gotten 15" alloys but they aren't an option with the Yaris, unlike on the Mazda 2 hybrid, so would have to get them as parts after the fact, and at standard Toyota part rates OE alloys would have cost literally 10x more than the steelies!  

But this helps save on insurance too as they are smaller and steel and it foxes most insurance companies as their system only has larger and alloy on their list, so most of them can't apply it as a chargeable modification