diff --git a/test/e2e/autoscaling/custom_metrics_stackdriver_autoscaling.go b/test/e2e/autoscaling/custom_metrics_stackdriver_autoscaling.go
index f587fbe2825..1e321a3f314 100644
--- a/test/e2e/autoscaling/custom_metrics_stackdriver_autoscaling.go
+++ b/test/e2e/autoscaling/custom_metrics_stackdriver_autoscaling.go
@@ -420,6 +420,9 @@ func (tc *CustomMetricTestCase) Run(ctx context.Context) {
 	// Set up a cluster: create a custom metric and set up k8s-sd adapter
 	err = monitoring.CreateDescriptors(gcmService, projectID)
 	if err != nil {
+		if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "Request throttled") {
+			e2eskipper.Skipf("Skipping...hitting rate limits on creating and updating metrics/labels")
+		}
 		framework.Failf("Failed to create metric descriptor: %v", err)
 	}
 	defer monitoring.CleanupDescriptors(gcmService, projectID)
diff --git a/test/e2e/instrumentation/monitoring/custom_metrics_stackdriver.go b/test/e2e/instrumentation/monitoring/custom_metrics_stackdriver.go
index 4f460e24e27..15c440c2cad 100644
--- a/test/e2e/instrumentation/monitoring/custom_metrics_stackdriver.go
+++ b/test/e2e/instrumentation/monitoring/custom_metrics_stackdriver.go
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ package monitoring
 
 import (
 	"context"
+	"strings"
 	"time"
 
 	gcm "google.golang.org/api/monitoring/v3"
@@ -112,6 +113,9 @@ func testCustomMetrics(ctx context.Context, f *framework.Framework, kubeClient c
 	// Set up a cluster: create a custom metric and set up k8s-sd adapter
 	err = CreateDescriptors(gcmService, projectID)
 	if err != nil {
+		if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "Request throttled") {
+			e2eskipper.Skipf("Skipping...hitting rate limits on creating and updating metrics/labels")
+		}
 		framework.Failf("Failed to create metric descriptor: %s", err)
 	}
 	ginkgo.DeferCleanup(CleanupDescriptors, gcmService, projectID)
@@ -158,6 +162,9 @@ func testExternalMetrics(ctx context.Context, f *framework.Framework, kubeClient
 	// Set up a cluster: create a custom metric and set up k8s-sd adapter
 	err = CreateDescriptors(gcmService, projectID)
 	if err != nil {
+		if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "Request throttled") {
+			e2eskipper.Skipf("Skipping...hitting rate limits on creating and updating metrics/labels")
+		}
 		framework.Failf("Failed to create metric descriptor: %s", err)
 	}
 	ginkgo.DeferCleanup(CleanupDescriptors, gcmService, projectID)