I live in Wisconsin which uses a lot of salt. My Toyota wheels started to flake and peel after a few years and now routinely leak. I have 17" 5 spoke wheels. I don’t see this level of problem with 10 year old Hondas, BMWs or Jeeps.
I am planning to purchase replacements and wonder if Toyota has fixed this problem?

Resurrecting this thread rather than creating a new one. I just bought some Sequoia wheels for my 4R and a couple of them have this bubbling as shown in the image below. I understand how this problem can be fixed (refinishing, etc.) and that it will eventually need to be addressed. My immediate question is whether this is a cosmetic problem only or does it affect the integrity of the wheel? I'm getting new tires next week and am trying to decide whether to get the wheels fixed now or if I can wait a while. Not too worried about the appearance part of it but obviously want to be sure there's no compromise on safety.

TIA for any insight.

My OEM limited wheels had the same issue and, due to corrosion on the lip, several of them constantly leaked air. As long as the rim of the wheel is clean and non-corroded, you should be fine.

That said, much easier to fix now than later. Several have refinished them as a DIY projects and I remember calling around to get powdercoating quotes in the $300 range for the set.

You could do as I did before I had them all refinished, described in the other thread I linked above, scrape the bubbled areas off and paint with this: Professional Ready Mix Flat Aluminum Enamel Interior/Exterior Paint (Actual Net Contents: 32-fl oz) https://www.lowes.com/pd/Rust-Oleum-...-fl-oz/3068165

Not answering your question about safety, but my issues were Discount Tire not being able to get a good seal when mounting tires and they slowly leaked. That could be a safety issue if you aren’t paying attention to tire pressures.


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I don't believe it's a Toyota problem, here in the rust belt LOTS of wheel do this b/c of poor maintenance. My 5 spoke Limited wheels are becoming crusty,but I do plan on getting them refinished. Someone mentioned $300 for a set.HA!!!! I was quoted $320 PER WHEEL. Yes, I've looked around (in the philly area). There is a place in Bath, PA where they supposedly do a good job and it comes with a warranty. Anyway, I've given up looking for pristine rims that are cheap, may as well get them renewed.

I've had 93,96,97 Grand Cherokees (complete crap) and ALL of them exhibited the finish crusting away, thus bubbling up. I truly believe this is the result of how they are taken care off, of course, it also depends on how robust the factory finish it, but there is only so much they can/will do.

My 07’ Limited with the 18” rims still look great after 110,000 miles in Chicago climate. However, the spare tire/rim has not faired well at all being tucked up under the chassis. Severe bubbling, but I can understand why since there is no way to adequately wash the salt off the rim during winter months.

The only way is to bring the spare down (I dunno, 2x a year), clean it real good, wax the rim, shine the tire (to protect it as well), lube the chain and stow it away for the next time you need to use it or to maintain it again. However, most will NEVER do this.

My 08 Sport 17s got bubbling but it still seals well..the roads are salted from Nov to April some years.