I had read about this potential issue a while ago and decided to have a look for myself. I was surprised to find that even in my mild climate, minimal off-roading, no spills, no rains with the windows down that my T4R has a developing issue. The factory weather-strip seems to trap water along the bottom edge and sets the body up for some rust development.




Rather than hassle with Toyota I decided to proactively address the issue. I may have shot myself in the foot but I promise, it won’t be the first time.

Below is more text and some annotated pics showing what I found and did about it.




I wiped/cleaned this entire edge and treated it (top & bottom) with the rust product shown below.



Some of you may have noted the antenna for my wireless back-up and wonder if that isn't causing me problems. I don't think so as both sides were pretty equally messed up.

 

After swabbing out the nasty stuff I cut a little hole in the bottom of the strip to function as a drain. There was a substantial amout of water along the strip. With the OEM setup there's no place for the water to get out. Based on where this strip is and the bumper etc the only way that my hole let water in is to swamp the whole vehicle. I guess a 2nd way would be to lower the spare and aim a pressure washer at the top, underside of the bumper and I'm not sure that would do it...




I hope this helps somebody else...

 

CJ, I didn't know you were also on here.

I'm gizmopt2002 on T4R.org.

I'll be checking this out when I do some maintenance before we go to Vegas.