Plastic trim rubbing off paint

mine not touching the paint

 

What are you going to do to prevent future rubbing?

that hood scoop is the dumbest fucking shit Toyota has ever designed.. who the f cuts a hole in the hood for a plastic fake scoop? I had assumed they glued it on

 

Just checked my hood scoop thankfully I see nothing. I had xpel put on and tucked in when new though.

Now I just need to get garnish addressed on rear hatch.

 

It has 3 clips and 4 bolts holding it on. I'm hoping the added thickness of the paint protection film makes it sit tighter to the hood and also protects against future rubbing.

Yes, pretty dumb. Should have at least made it functional

 

Agreed I traded mine for a SR5 hood.

 

I'm thinking of buying a carbon fiber hood eventually

 

Gotta be expensive

 

Current hood scoop is supposed to have gasket material all the way around. Video can't be embedded here but if you click on it there is a video on YouTube showing how to install the gasket parts (5) all the way around.

https://youtu.be/sZ5DhnA2CU0?t=332

Mine has it so I don't need to worry about that at least.

 

My scoop head the gaskets from the factory but it still rubbed through the paint. My theory is the gaskets were applied incorrectly at the time of build.

 

Is anyone able to confirm if the 2024's suffer the same issues with the rear tailgate trim or hood scoop? Trying to decide if I take this head on before it rears its head,..does that make sense?? I'd rather not make any unnecessary repairs that could potentially scratch up my tailgate.

 

I've been watching this topic for a while. It seems to me that whether or not we'll experience the problem is kind of a hit-or-miss proposition. Looks like a lot depends on how well the weatherstrip was applied at the factory - if it's off (out of position) slightly - the problem can occur, if it's properly placed, we're ~probably~ safe. The rest depends on how we approach risk - low risk tolerance = take them off and "fix" them so the issue doesn't happen in the future. At least - that's what I've gleaned from reading and watching various YouTube videos when people replace them...

I've wondered if it would be worthwhile to take these off and simply apply another layer of foam (or a wider strip) on top of the existing "gasket".

 

My hood scoop does not touch all the way around, so the gasket must be working as intended. One video shows someone putting the plastic washers behind the rear garnish to space it out from the paint, but a decent layer of foam as you suggest seems like a good option so long as it will last for the life of the truck and does not trap water. It either has to be sealed watertight or open to breathe. Mine is mostly open, except at the tips where the gasket touches and the top where the round plastic is touching the paint. When I remove it, I'll see if raising it up a few millimeters might be the answer as suggested by another member. I'll also have a second set of gaskets on hand in case I need to replace or reinforce them. I also put a silicone license plate frame on the plate immediately, so that problem is solved before it had a chance to start.

 

Interesting, I was thinking a layer of clear 3m protective tape on top of the paint and then I assume the gasket and then the name plate? I've only just gotten this vehicle but having a 2020 Rubicon before this and dealing with corrosion on every panel I can say for me that "rust" is a 4 letter word that I'm so tired of hearing.

 

I can confirm the hood scoop is still a problem. Haven't done the tailgate yet

 

Taligate garnish yes, at least at the top on mine, but the hood scoop seems to vary. My scoop does not touch anywhere.

 

any way to confirm our truck is free from this issue? I went outside and checked it out and can’t tell if the spacing is adequate. I don’t see any touching that I can tell.

 

Not for me. 250 miles on 2024. My rear garnish touches the paint at the top of the round part. I suspect it will cause a problem. There is some sort of gasket material behind it, but it still touches at the top. I can slide a piece of paper around most of it, but the top touches, and the ends have some sort of rubber behind them as I feel the paper dragging on it. Only way for me to tell for sure is to remove it. Since I will at some point be replacing the tailgate speakers, I plan to take it off. I'll have it mostly apart at that point anyway so I might as well do it right.

 

Not to threadjack as this rust issue is important. I plan on upgrading the speakers eventually and may expedite this on the hatch at least (if taking offfor this issue). Which speakers are you going with? I see Oem Plus and Kicker has a kit for the 5th gen.. We have the non-jbl setup and want to upgrade eventually . Appreciate all your info on the hatch rust issue.

 

Damn. It would be so nice if a person could bring it in under warranty and say hey, can you take a look and maybe replace a 5$ gasket before it requires a whole new hood or tailgate.

 

Not to assist with a thread jacking but I had focal speakers, a Kenwood Amp, JL audio 10w6v3 in a sealed box with an audio DSP and the sound was amazing on the stock unit. The TRD pro comes with the "premium" JBL setup, in my opinion JBL is a best buy quality brand at best. I would have much rather no speakers or subwoofer and gotten a discount on the vehicle and then had the same system put in. I did keep my sub from the trade in, I assume it's a maximum 8" subwoofer in the tailgate, very little bass. My advice, go to a proper speaker shop and test them out. It'll cost ya, but you won't be disappointed. Stay away from anything stock though, even it's labeled a "plus". Kicker is good if you want loud. If you want accurate and want to feel like your in a concert hall when you close your eyes, go for focal or JL. My two cents,..errr nickels.

 

Which is fine. I'll start a thread on the speakers later. I have not gotten very far yet. I have researched the 2024 non-JBL head end unit, and there is a thread in the audio section for that.

And my two cents:

If you are keeping the Toyota non-JBL head end unit, like me, with no added amp, like me, no DSP, etc., like me:

Front: It has some very odd frequency response curves similar to a built-in loudness control in the front. At low volume, the bass and treble are boosted, and it flattens out as you turn it up. There is a weird peak in the midrange at 630Hz, that I can take out with a proper passive crossover. I just ordered some 3.5" grilles that I will use on the dashboard. The speaker brackets for 3-1/2" speakers on Etsy do not line up with the openings in the Toyota grilles, and also the openings are far too small. A 3.5" grille will not be ideal in appearance, but it will let the sound through and I can live with the aftermarket appearance. I see no point in spending a fortune on dash speakers if using the Toyota grilles. A 1" dome or 2" cone tweeter in there will work, but it's not ideal, and there is the weird peak at 630Hz that you can't take out if using just a tweeter in the dash.

However, you didn't ask that ...

Rear: In the rear, the Toyota unit's output is almost useless unless we deliberately try to combat what it is doing. This is the rear channel output taken directly from the head end unit:




Why? I assume because the speakers in the tailgate blast into the back of the rear seats. If you fade all the way to the rear and listen with the seat folded down, they truly are horrible. They are wired in series with the rear door speakers, which are useless. I will bypass those and not use that location at all.

In the tailgate, all we need is some rear fill, so any 5-1/4" or 6" mid-bass driver should do fine. Due to the massive treble boost from the head end unit as shown above, I suspect that even without a tweeter, a plain 5-1/4" or 6" driver would be fine. I might buy an inexpensive component set, mount the tweeters on the interior tailgate panel above the lights where they would angle up slightly, and use series resistors to reduce the level of the tweeters by about 12 dB db, or until they sound right. This set is only $80, has separate tweeters, and Crutchfield will supply the adapters and harness for free: https://www.crutchfield.com/p_777P65CB/Sound-Ordnance-P-65CB.html?tp=105

If you don't want separates in the rear, these coaxials might work but Crutchfield claims they won't fit for some odd reason. They should fit but may require adapters of some sort: https://www.crutchfield.com/p_575P152/Rockford-Fosgate-P152.html

Yes, I like Rockford Fosgate Punch speakers. They are a quality product, have high efficiency so you don't need an amplifier for normal volumes and they are not harsh in the treble like the high-end brands.

Note: I see no point in spending a whole lot of money on any speaker upgrades with the Toyota head end unit, unless adding a lot more complication like line-out conversion, DSP, an amplifier, etc. I will not be doing that. I am an audiophile and have been for 40 years, but it simply isn't worth it to me. I spoke with both "OEM Audio" and Kicker, and they had no idea that the frequency response was so bad without DSP and an amplifier, which I refuse to install. They said they would need to research it. Nevermind. I already did. Even with DSP and an amp you still can't control the automatic loudness contouring. It's fixed and non-adjustable. I will work around it. When designing a system, it is possible.

Back to the front: I will be using the same setup that I installed in my FJ Cruiser 13 years ago and enjoyed a lot. It starts with Rockford Fosgate P132 3.5" coaxial in the dash. This time though I have to do a 3.5" cutout and add 3.5" grilles. I will seal the odd opening around the speakers with Dynamat and gaffer tape to get an airtight speaker seal, which I don't see anyone doing. I made templates already. I will cross them in the midrange at the odd 630Hz peak to kill that and use a suitable series resistor to drop their volume about 5dB compared to the bass drivers. The bass drivers will be Rockford Fosgate P1692 6x9's in the front doors with the wires to their tweeters clipped to disable them. I did this in my FJ Cruiser, and it worked great. We don't want or need that tweeter on the floor. The coaxial drivers in the dash will handle that.

It's not too hard to install the P132 in the dash, but it did require a Dremel to trim a small amount of excess sheet metal away on the passenger side. I have not done the driver side yet, but it is supposed to be easier. The speaker adapters on Etsy will not fit the large P132.




Related to this thread: today I did some critical rustproofing underneath. I'll post later. There is a thread for it. I'm really tired after being underneath for the past couple of hours. https://www.4runners.com/threads/corrosion-protection-inside-the-frame.37761/page-2#post-581533

And now ... back to the plastic trim.

 

Non-JBL stock unit (like mine). There is a thread in the audio/video forum devoted to the 2024 head end unit. I have been engineering audio for 40 years, and I think I can manage this. It will take a few months. I started in February before I even owned a 4R.

The JBL system is even more packed with EQ and nonsense.

 

This is an important thread, especially for 4Runner owners who are under warranty. Please don't highjack..PM or start a separate thread please.

Does anyone know how TSB start? Seems like this is a chronic issue that spans many years.

 

The problem now seems to be that Toyota's solution of adding gaskets doesn't seem to work for everyone. For example, my 2024 rear garnish that touches the paint at the top.

 

It spans a lot of years but the interesting thing is my brother in-laws 2015 4Runner doesn't have the issue, neither does my brother's 2012. I feel that as sales numbers increased, Toyota wasn't as careful with small details like this trim as they tried to keep up with demand.

This is a picture of the corner of his unmodified 2015 with zero rust. On my 2021 this corner was rubbing and rusting.

 

I took mine in today and they were going to replace the garnish as apparently some bad batches of garnishes were known to cause the issue. The new garnish had sharp ends at each corner worse than my original. There were sharp plastic edges protruding at the corners where have we are having issues.

The suggested fix was putting a clear door edge tape on the back of the garnish and then also the same tape along the perimeter where the garnish runs. The thought being that will avoid friction against the tape.

Sadly for me my dealer accidentally knicked the paint with the tabs of the garnish while taking out. They were respectfu, brought it to my attention, apologized and have offered to repaint my entire hatch. My 4R is 2021 ORP and I only have 1,000 miles on it. Sadly after I bought the new 4R in 2021 I had to start helping my Mom with dementia and then last year got sick myself. So my plans to use the 4R to get to go boating never came to fruition.

The nick I had I identified early on thanks to this forum and did not rust. It was minor and now sadly I have more Knicks.

I am not sure what to do now to be honest. I feel defeated in life in general helping my Mom, then my health, and the 4Runner. I bought it with hopes of keeping 20 plus years into retirement and only using in summer.

I wish Toyota would officially rectify this issue but hold little hope especially as they waive us off as the 6th gen comes.

I spent a lot of time on this website as many of you researching, getting excited to my first new ride, and then all these events. It’s a real bummer. If anyone does hear of an official fix please let me know.

Sorry for my lengthy post and being a downer. I try to keep things in perspective with health and God’s blessings. Its just been a very rough day.

 

Take care. The other two items must be your priority as they are the most important. Even if a little rust forms, it can be corrected. It is a disappointment, but it can be fixed.

 

And another note on this issue: If it weren't for the Toyota paint just flaking off if you even so much as look at it sideways, this wouldn't be such an issue. I removed the rear bumper very, very carefully at 100 miles to install black fascia, and boom! Instant chip/flake where the bumper touched up against one of the tail lights. Fortunately, it's plastic so it will not rust, but the flakiness of the Toyota paint is amazing. I don't recall it being this bad on my 2011 FJ Cruiser. The 2021 I looked at didn't exhibit rubbing around the rear garnish. It showed severe chipping and flaking with jagged edges. For now, I am closing my tailgate by hand instead of slamming it hoping to not aggravate the problem before I can take care of it.

 

Does anyone know how or who we could ask a moderator or staff member to consider making this thread a sticky?

This is an important topic impacting so many people and 4R owners.