So I am washing the salt off my wifes rig this morning and I noticed rust on the rear hatch at the lower corners of the "chrome" emblem. Not real bad rust, but the paint is discolored enough that I know this will be a potential problem. Our 3rd gen also had similar issues, repaired under warranty. Needless to say we will have this addressed by our dealer. This is just a heads -up for others hear to pay close attention to this particular location as I feel it will be a widespread problem. Just to clarify, this is the garnishment above the license plate.

Unfortunately, I've noticed this too. Particularly on the rear hatch near the 4Runner emblem. I've even had a couple grain-sized chunks of paint fall off. I assumed it was from the auto car wash, but maybe not? I'll be keeping a close eye on it.

why does everyone call their 4runner their "rig". I could see if it were a dedicated off road machine or some speciallized setup. But it just seems odd when you're talking about your wifes daily driver... That is all

Do they not learn? The 4th Gens had the same issue to the extent there was a TSB on it in the end.

I have noticed some rust spots on my RIG aswell.

Yeah, Toyota never seem to get away from rust issues. I don't have any on the body of mine, but the frame/chassis is a different story.

From what I remember, the 4th gen issue was only on 4Runners that had the chrome (or is it polished) piece about the rear plate, right? I don't remember anyone complaining of rust on the body-colored ones.

I don't have any signs of rust on my body, but the inside of the rear axle coil buckets/mounts and elsewhere on the rear axle are already rusting.

I wonder if Toyota doesn't do everything that most other manufacturers do to prevent frame/chassis rust from forming. I have plenty of rust on my undercarriage, although most of it seems to be just surface rust. I still don't understand why a 2-year-old 4Runner's frame tends to look more rusty than a 10-year-old Jeep/Ford/Chevy frame.

Rust on a vehicle that is a year old is unacceptable. They should not have those problems, at least not this early.

Hope they take care of it for you.

Rust on a 14 year old rig is unacceptable. And BTW Welcome to the club.

Wow, talk about high expectations. I don't think I've ever seen a 14-year-old vehicle without rust on it somewhere, unless it was never driven in snow/rain/salty roads.

Without seeing your truck, it's hard to tell, but many times, especially in winter, what looks like rusting on the paint is actually not the fault of the paint on the RIG.

All roads are littered with very small metal flakes, mostly from brake discs, that get splashed onto and stuck or embedded into the paint on a vehicle's body. Then, when it rains, or gets exposed to road salt, those metal flakes rust, turn orange, and leave what looks like tiny rust spots on the vehicle. Often it takes more than a wash to get them off, a good wax or clay bar being the most recognized cure.

Blizzard pearl will show these spots more than any other colour, but it can be easily seen on silver and blue too.

Perhaps you have something different going on, in which case a picture would be helpful to everyone; but if it's these small specks, just wait for the first warm overcast day and spend the day washing, waxing, polishing your truck.

^^It's called Industrial Fallout.

I had a bunch of specs (thousands of specs) of rust in my roofs paint from the back door to the plastic spoiler. Then I also had a bunch inside the rear hatch compartment where the hinges mount. I also had some on the rear hatch and on the plastic spoiler itself.

I really thought my truck had a bad paint job and was rusting through but on the plastic also? I knew it had to be something else then actual rust. I did a ton of research and learned all about this "industrial fallout."

I used a clay bar and literally clayed my whole 4Runner top to bottom. The roof took some extra elbow grease, but I got rid of all the rust specs.

I spent about 4 hours using the clay bar, but the paint was happy and very very very smooth afterwards.

^^ and what a great way to spend the day.....

^^ HAHA, not really! But was way cheaper than having an actual detail shop do the work.