thegov3

Did the JMCraney wind noise project in my 2009 AWD. Easy, quick and painless. Worked great. Thanks for the write up and template.

williakz

Fhobbs,

You're missing the point. Re-read jmcraney's post just above. All else contributes little if anything to addressing the fundamental problem - the failure to isolate the outside from the inside. As he suggested, get some friends to ride and point to the noise source. Also, I would recommend having a friend walk around the car with a point source of noise so you can see where you hear it most from inside the car.

The isolation failure primarily occurs through the infamous triangle trim piece. Thus, see if Lexus will replace yours with the new one. While they are doing so, get them to put in isolation materials just as jmcraney has described in the DIY fix. Good luck.

Fhobbs

Just to be clear, I did the DIY triangle isolation jmcraney fix the very first thing after reading all of the posts on this forum. May have done it wrong, but don't think so. Followed the instruction to a tee, and the end result looks great.

Wind noise reduced, but still present at speeds over 40mph. Under that speed, quiet as a mouse. Thanks again.

williakz

Oh, sorry. I had you confused with a new owner of a used 2007 LS. You are, of course, then correct to pursue other sources of noise. Best of luck correcting your problem. Be sure to post what helps/doesn't and to what extent.

Fhobbs

It was me that recently bought the used 2007, but that was several months ago and I did a lot of research before posting here. I will post any results I might have. I guess there maybe will a wave of new 2007 buyers as the original owners trade them in-it's about that time.

Fhobbs

Picked up my car from the dealer today. I originally took it in to have the window seals,foam,etc replaced on the front doors, but service manger drove it and suggested that since it was in the slot indicated on the TSB for window replacement, he thought I would be best replacing the glass.

The seals/foam was quoted at $975 and the glass was quoted at $1250. I went with the glass.

Wouldn't you know it the North wind was blowing so hard here in San Antonio today, half of Oklahoma blew across the Red River. Hard to gauge the results but when I was driving downwind, the car was so quiet, I could hear the dust settling on the dashboard. Into the wind was a different story.

So, for my recently purchased 2007 LS460 (52k miles) with lots of wind noise I have:
1) done the triangle trim fix (DIY)
2) plugged up holes under the car (by dealer)
3) replaced front door windows

Each item helped a little bit and I am anxious to see how the recent work performs on a calm day. Overall, I am happy and I really like the look and feel of my red Lexus with cashmere interior. It is as cherry as the red color. Btw, I bought an aftermarket warranty for $2,100 that takes it through and extra 36k miles or 36 months.

Now I am ready for some other mods, I think it has the original tires on it.

pmiller

I did the JMCraney fix on my 2010. Easy and reduced the noise drastically. I get some wind noise above 40 or so. I barely hear cars going by. Before it sounded like the window wasn't quite closed. So, glad I did this. It was the first thing I did.
Thanks.

RandyV

The best and easiest fix is to push the window down button for a micro-second.

This unloads the window bowing at full up, and significantly reduces wind noise.

Give it a try, you'll see.

Fhobbs

I will definately try it. Thanks,

Fhobbs

BTW, RandyV, looks like you have the same year and color as mine.

Fhobbs

Tried the window on the way home from the office. Does work for sure! Even with how quiet it is now, the little touch done is a difference for the better. My first impulse is to continually pull the switch up to tighten the window. A little counter intuitive to take it down a scooth but it sure does work.

Thanks,

RandyV

Clearly you are a gentleman of exquisite taste and refinement.

Silverpaws

This works! In the past, I have previously used this fix on 2 other vehicles and now, I realize a noticeable improvement when using it on my LS.

jmcraney

We have seen the phenomenon of lowering the window to reduce the wind noise discussed many times. Of course I can’t speak to what is happening with any individual car and the owners may know more about that than I could, but for most of the cars this is caused by the gap under the trim being increased by pressure from the window gasket when the window is fully up. When the window “tops out” it puts some outward pressure on the window gasket where the trim saddles it and that increases the gap under the trim, allowing noise to enter the cabin. You can feel this and see this when the window is operated. This is the root cause of the trim problem on these cars – the design that saddles the trim on the window gasket. On some of the cars, when the trim is applied during manufacturing it can’t be depressed enough for the adhesive to make contact completely and that causes the defect from the beginning. On other cars, with enough pressure, the adhesive can be fully contacted, but that may require compression of the window gasket and the resulting tension will cause the seal to eventually fail. On other cars the outward movement of the gasket contacting the trim when the window is operated it will eventually cause the trim seal to fail.

What you are trying to accomplish with the DIY wind noise repair is to stop any contact between the trim and the window gasket where the trim saddles the gasket. The farthest outward travel of the gasket seems to be when the window is fully up, so you need to do your repair with this in mind if you want the best results.

Here are some rules to help get the best results:

You will want to do all steps of your repair with the window fully closed.

You should use a sealant/adhesive that cures slowly and has very little curing shrinkage. The GE280 seems to work very well for this.

You will have to do a two-step repair, sealing the area completely and letting it cure completely as the first step. A metal patch like I suggested is a good way to do it but other ways would work too.

You must not apply any pressure or clamping to the trim when you apply it. Just sort of touch it on and position for good appearance. It is possible, but unlikely, that some cars might require a removable spacer between the aft edge of the trim and the window gasket during curing. A spacer of .030”, or something like that, would probably be adequate and you would remove it after the adhesive/sealant under the trim cures.

Here is a picture to help you understand.

Fhobbs

I did my repair mostly that way, however, I did put pressure on the trim to place it. I also sealed the gap between the trim and the gasket all the way around the trim, as mentioned in a previous post. I now believe, based upon your post above, that I should not have done that. I think I am going to take the trim off again and clean up, then place it back on with no pressure. I have looked at newer models and notice that the trim is not completely, perfectly flush against the gasket on the window side. I suppose that is, as you say, room for the window to push out slightly when the full up position. Thanks for the info.