Paint Cracking On Rear Door....

[Best-Gear]

Folks

Having just been out and looked at around 20 used Rav's (2001-2005MY) I was very surprised to see the old problem with the paint cracking through the flexing of the rear door. Of all the models viewed, 7 had cracks or signs that they were about to start!

Mileage or age does not seem to be a factor either as one model with 12k miles had already started...

If you have not seen this, check just below the rear window glass at the top right hand side of the spare wheel - the damage is typically about 1.5 - 2" long.

My wifes old 4.1 Rav suffered from this and I really did think Toyota would have sorted this by adding extra panels inside the tailgate to prevent the flexing that causes the cracking. It is obviously down to the weight of the spare wheel flexing the panel when you close the tailgate.

Thoughts? Any TSB's for this? I dont believe it still goes on unanswered!!

DJ

[fieldinsb]

hmm, interesting. i have just checked ours - a 2001 NRG 3 door model - and there are no signs of the paint cracking anywhere on the rear door. ours has 155000 miles on the clock too, so would have seen a few bumps in it's time.

i wonder if anyone else has suffered from this or seen it.......??

[chatman]

hmm, interesting. i have just checked ours - a 2001 NRG 3 door model - and there are no signs of the paint cracking anywhere on the rear door. ours has 155000 miles on the clock too, so would have seen a few bumps in it's time.

i wonder if anyone else has suffered from this or seen it.......??

Put some pictures up BestGear of where this is happening ...As mine too has no cracks on the rear paint.....

[Best-Gear]

Hi Both

Yes, I will put up a photo soon.

I wish I had taken pictures of all the others I saw too.... I was very surprised to see that it was not a well known issue.

DJ

[Parts-King]

Folks

Having just been out and looked at around 20 used Rav's (2001-2005MY) I was very surprised to see the old problem with the paint cracking through the flexing of the rear door. Of all the models viewed, 7 had cracks or signs that they were about to start!

DJ

You will find the majority of this is down to the owner reversing into something. The wheel takes the brunt of the damage and you think you have got away without any damage, remove the spare and check the spare wheel mounting bracket, you will find it has partially collapsed by absorbing the original bump, I've seen dozens of them, you don't notice the damage until rust starts showing! Kingo

[Best-Gear]

Hi...

Yes, it could be down to that - one of the cars I did see defo had been reversed (nudged...it does not seem to take much!) into something (hence I walked away..)

I will take a few photos if I can...

DJ