Hi! I'm finally a Toyota owner & I love it! I bought a 2006 4Runner in May of this year with 39K miles on it. The dealership put new tires on it as the previous owner still had the originals on it when he traded it in. Anyway, about a month or so ago I noticed that the right front bumper/wheel well area (sorry, don't know what this is called) looked as if the plastic was shredding away (between bumper area/tire). Someone mentioned that the tires might be the wrong size & I am now noticing the same thing happening on the left front area. I have noticed when I'm driving in really wet weather that it's extremely noisy from all of the water being moved about, I suppose. I don't know if the excessive noise is from the tires or the damaged underside/plastic, etc. The tires that the dealership put on it are a Fuzion (?) P265/65R17. I've put about 4K miles on it since I got it & I'm afraid to drive it much further for fear it will really mess things up. Is this a common problem? Is the tire that's on it the culprit? I sure would appreciate any help diagnosing this as I'd like to rectify the situation as soon as possible. Thanks!

 

It definitely sounds like the tires are rubbing, I can't think of anything else that would damage that area. The stock tire size should be listed on the label on the driver size door pillar, or in the owner's manual, if you have one.

It's possible the previous owner has aftermarket wheels and wasn't using stock tires, and the dealer just put on what the book said. And even if the dealer used the same size as before some brands of tires are slightly bigger than other.

I would take it back to the dealer and see if they can fi the problem.