Lexus GX 550 owners are discovering a fun new feature: paint and plastic pieces melt in the sun!
Paul Yelton, a Lexus GX 550 owner in Arizona, took to Facebook after he saw something troubling about his new luxury off-roader’s mirrors. The shiny black paint on the large driver’s side mirror melted, leaving it disfigured.
“I knew it happened over four days and the truck was parked in my driveway,” he told The Drive.
Yelton assumed it must have been an issue with the heating element in the mirror that helps melt snow, ice, and prevent condensation from forming. But a trip to the dealership determined that wasn’t the case.
“It’s currently at the dealership [and] they’re saying that the heating element in the mirror is not to blame and that everything is working properly so it’s some form of external heat,” he said. However, without a technical issue to blame, the dealership won’t replace it for free.
A dealership technician says the paint’s issue likely comes from the person who installed the paint protection fill, or PPF.
“They first suggested that perhaps the PPF installer overheated it when he applied the film,” Yelton explained. “Problem is that was done when the vehicle had 100 miles on it and now it has 2,000.”
Yelton says he’ll keep his beloved Lexus, but he’s floored – his older truck never experienced paint melting in the sun.
Yelton isn’t the only Lexus owner with melting paint
Mark, a Lexus owner from Charlotte, South Carolina, posted several pictures on Yelton’s Facebook thread of the same issue. The Lexus’s entire chassis suffers from heat scars.
“People come up and ask me, ‘What’s wrong with your GX?'” Mark told the outlet. His roof rack covers, several pieces of body trimming, and door trimming on the b-pillars. His series of photos show varying degrees of melting, from being difficult to see at certain angles, to others being serious eye sores.
He bought the truck in July, and it started melting in August. He says he nearly burned his hand touching the hot plastic on the door on a 54-degree day.
Like Yelton, he’s happy with his Lexus – and he just wants the paint to be fixed. After all, the two spent a pretty penny on the luxury off-roader, so it would make sense they’re looking to Lexus to fix it.