Hi Friends,

I am nearing the decision to purchase an 08 runner, V8 Sport from a toyota dealership (trade-in). Everything checks out very well aside from one cosmetic issue that I'd like some input on.

I've seen the car before it went in for safety inspection and detailing, and its clear that it was being parked outside, probably in the owners driveway due to dirt/rain grime on the exterior.

On the front of the hood only, there are maybe 20-30 very tiny (think tip of a pen) bubbles that opened, some showing a single small dot of rust in the center. Some are too small to even see into the crack.

1- what could have caused this?

2- what would a repair entail? Dealership isn't touching anything cosmetic for the sale.

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I’m going to bet that car has been towed behind a motor home. The little specs are debris bouncing off the paint creating a void for contaminants to fill which corrodes the metal and then the paint bubbles as the metal fails.

The amount of little specs leads me to believe it was a tow behind. Or driven behind a lot of trucks flinging debris all over the road.

To fix it you gotta get that hood down to metal and re-spray.

Dang that thing is dirty!

Chips and rust and a crappy repaint, or a cheap paint job on a aftermarket hood.

I have tons of chips on my 4th gen and none are bubbled like that


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I don't believe its repaint or aftermarket hood because the truck has extremely low miles (53k) and 1 owner with clean and maintenanced carfax. That's why I thought it was odd. Not sure its quite a dealbreaker for me though.

if i were the salesman it certainly could correlate to being a 'mostly highway miles' hood

maybe the tow behind RV trailer makes the most since if it has 53k.

beware: i bought a 2005 WRX, stock, in like 2012 with 38k miles from a dealer...within a year the waterpump siezed and the belt dragged over it until it burned off, $3k in damage for me. the theory of 'if you dont use it you lose it' came into play...

good luck nonetheless

Something to keep in mind, straight from the user manual:
Your vehicle is not designed to be dinghy towed (with four wheels on the ground) behind a motorhome.
Do not tow your vehicle with four wheels on the ground. This may cause serious damage to your vehicle.

good point with the v8 full time awd...to really freak them out about the purchase, wonder if they dingy towed it!?...my bad

A decent re-spray for the hood is only a few hundred bucks, if the deal is good enough I wouldn’t let that stop me. But make sure as others pointed out that it has to be stripped to bare metal and the rust blasted off.

Easy way to tell if it’s been dingy towed is if it has mounting holes on the front end from where the tow bracket was bolted on. Good luck.

Can you clarify what you mean by mounting holes? What would I be looking for?

Something doesn’t add up here. That’s the first time in 5 years on this board I can recall seeing rust bubbles like that on a hood. The back hatch, yes indeed, and that’s where it’s rusting from inside b/c Toyota inexplicably applied sound deadener before painting or coating the inside & surprise, water got underneath. My truck is a silver ‘07 that had 96K when I bought it in 2014 & 168K today and the hood paint is a couple of hairline cracks in the clear coat away from pristine.

The possibilities bouncing around inside my (cynical) mind range from this being a flood vehicle to a turned-back odometer. In any case, that hood is a red flag, and imo it’s up at the top of the pole snapping in the breeze.

Get on your knees on each corner WITH THE HOOD POPPED OPEN and look at bottom for signs of rust.

I would never buy anything driven through salt. Thats just me. Saw a 2017 tundra for sale perfect body condition on a ford dealership on those car dealership ramps. That thing was a piece of junk corroding inside out. Suspension, frame, exhaust , everything rusted. Must of been towing boats at the beach here in SAN DIEGO all its life or must have been from a states that purposely wants to destroy vehicles by salting roads.


CHECK FOR RUST !!!!

I was sure to look underneath:

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the car fax are very straightforward with routine services every 5,000 miles. Nothing out of the ordinary (perhaps in the opposite way of being over-cautious for a vehicle that wasnt used much), and the owner serviced and now traded in to the very dealership he is buying his new runner from, so the truck has stayed local here in SoCal

the underside looks damn fresh