Club Lexus Forums - View Single Post - LS460 Wind Noise Fix (continued discussion)

topgun04 · 01-01-09, 01:26 PM

"Top - did you notice the noise before you purchased your car (on test drive etc...)? I ask because I drove many during my pre-purchase stage and noise was something that I was listening for."

No, I did not test drove the particular car that I leased before. I figured after reading this for the last year (and many TSB from Lexus), it is a problem that I can live with (especially I like listening to music when I drive). Our previous car is a Mercede CLK 55 covertible which is pretty noisy. The year end rebate from Lexus is pretty amazing and there is only one with the color and equipment combo within 400 mi of where we live (white/ivory/ML/NA), so I jumped. But I am very glad we apply the fix and it works for us. I don't know if I agree with my wife's assesment that the LS460 now is as quiet as the 02 LS430 that we owned before (LS430 is the quietest car we ever own) but it is certainly quieter than the 07 G35 and 04 Accord that we own now. And it is very ejoyable to listen to the music and drive the car on the freeway all the way to 95 mph (heh heh).

The real surprise is that Lexus is on the same path in trying to fix this problem (the foam discussion with my Lexus technican, the gasket behind the triangle piece, the bush like material behind the triangel piece.).. I could understand why they want to have an engineered fix rather than apply bucket of adhesive sealant like I did. But given the time and cost to apply the triangle fix ($3.5 or so getting the sealant, 15 minutes of so to apply it and 1 day of drying), it is one of the best handyman thing I did in 2008... Will see how it hold up..

"I was disappointed with the service approach to this issue"

I think Lexus triangle piece (at least the one in my car which was builded in Jun 08) already incorporate JMcarney's idea. It is just that it may not work well enough in some situation (may depend on the installation). Before I applied triangle fix, the wind noise issue is pretty noticable on the driver side but not much on the passenger side. My wife can hear the noise from the driver side while she sat in the passenger seat. And I cannot hear anything from the passenger door while I am sitting in the passenger seat.. So my guess is that their triangle piece work if they line up the gap witht he bush like material and the silcon gasket behind the triangle piece align well in manufacturing. However if they misalign it then we will hear various level of noise depend how off they are.. This is just speculation on my part.. But I would encourage you to try the fix. It is relatively easy to apply and at a minimum won't make your situation any worse and it has potential to fix your problem (or at least reduce it substantially. I read through the whole thread and it looks like we have 14-15 people applied the fix and only 1 that didn't fix the problem and a couple that has greatly dimished noise but not completely eliminate it. So it is a very high percentage kind of fix and worthwhile to try.

01-01-09, 01:26 PM	#428
topgun04 Rookie Trader Score: (0) Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Arizona Posts: 76	"Top - did you notice the noise before you purchased your car (on test drive etc...)? I ask because I drove many during my pre-purchase stage and noise was something that I was listening for." No, I did not test drove the particular car that I leased before. I figured after reading this for the last year (and many TSB from Lexus), it is a problem that I can live with (especially I like listening to music when I drive). Our previous car is a Mercede CLK 55 covertible which is pretty noisy. The year end rebate from Lexus is pretty amazing and there is only one with the color and equipment combo within 400 mi of where we live (white/ivory/ML/NA), so I jumped. But I am very glad we apply the fix and it works for us. I don't know if I agree with my wife's assesment that the LS460 now is as quiet as the 02 LS430 that we owned before (LS430 is the quietest car we ever own) but it is certainly quieter than the 07 G35 and 04 Accord that we own now. And it is very ejoyable to listen to the music and drive the car on the freeway all the way to 95 mph (heh heh). The real surprise is that Lexus is on the same path in trying to fix this problem (the foam discussion with my Lexus technican, the gasket behind the triangle piece, the bush like material behind the triangel piece.).. I could understand why they want to have an engineered fix rather than apply bucket of adhesive sealant like I did. But given the time and cost to apply the triangle fix ($3.5 or so getting the sealant, 15 minutes of so to apply it and 1 day of drying), it is one of the best handyman thing I did in 2008... Will see how it hold up.. "I was disappointed with the service approach to this issue" I think Lexus triangle piece (at least the one in my car which was builded in Jun 08) already incorporate JMcarney's idea. It is just that it may not work well enough in some situation (may depend on the installation). Before I applied triangle fix, the wind noise issue is pretty noticable on the driver side but not much on the passenger side. My wife can hear the noise from the driver side while she sat in the passenger seat. And I cannot hear anything from the passenger door while I am sitting in the passenger seat.. So my guess is that their triangle piece work if they line up the gap witht he bush like material and the silcon gasket behind the triangle piece align well in manufacturing. However if they misalign it then we will hear various level of noise depend how off they are.. This is just speculation on my part.. But I would encourage you to try the fix. It is relatively easy to apply and at a minimum won't make your situation any worse and it has potential to fix your problem (or at least reduce it substantially. I read through the whole thread and it looks like we have 14-15 people applied the fix and only 1 that didn't fix the problem and a couple that has greatly dimished noise but not completely eliminate it. So it is a very high percentage kind of fix and worthwhile to try. Last edited by topgun04; 01-01-09 at 01:39 PM.