CJITTY

Wow, I remember Tee and I discussing this during the LS unveil back in the day and whether or no we would try it..looks like a winner for now, but my car is pretty quiet. I'm on 22s too, so i may not even notice lol

Tee

Yep I remember the convo at the 2013 unavailing at the dealer, looks like our theory works.

wjg18

Thanks Devh. I'm going to give it a try. I found them at OEM Lexus Parts for $18 and change. I tried Sewell but their site wouldn't give me the club discount for some reason.

flsc300

Installed part today. Works great!!!!!! Best wind noise fix I have tried.

jmcraney

Congratulations on your repair. One of the most difficult problems about the "wind noise" has been knowing what to repair. You have obviously discovered the right spot to concentrate your efforts. The improvement you realized is likely due to the new part adhering better than the old part. I have suggested many times in this discussion that people who are reluctant to use the metal plate and silicone-seal DIY to try just replacing the trim with a new (old part) trim piece. And I also cautioned that this approach would likely not be durable and would probably develop the wind noise problem in a few days, weeks or months. If your repair turns out to last, good for you. If it fails again then stay after it until you attain success - it can be fixed in a manner that will last.

Devh

I can see how the wind will breach the older piece and cause the adhesion to lose contact over time.
Please compare both pieces as I have done and you can see how the redesigned part fits the contours of the chrome trim more precisely which locks it in tight with no sharp edging.
I would think if this part suffers the same fate then we should see 2013 wind noise complaints.

jmcraney

What about the thousands of 2007, 2008,2009 2010, 2011 and 2012s that have never had a wind noise problem?

Devh

It could very well be that the part was installed on a Monday. I know what you are getting at as far as the chrome trim possibly being warped adding tension to the piece or the use of the window motion over time might cause the piece to loose adhesion.

One thing I did notice when removing my stock pieces for the first time is the adhesion points were not broken and neither were the clips that hold in the trim.

I think your fix with sealing up the gaps with sealant is probably what made the biggest difference. It's possible the some are not as susceptible in this area and that could account for the thousands of those that may have varying degrees of wind noise or none at all.
I think further reduction in sound was due to the thickness of the new trim piece and the gradual curvature to smooth the turbulence. I believe the fin probably had nothing to do with it.
I actually thought about adding some dynamat in the area if it didn't solve the wind nose completely but since I got a great result I will wait and watch.

Fhobbs

Received my new triangle pieces today, with fins. Now I have the delima as to whether to install as intended and remove the triangular cover piece previously installed with the jmcraney fix, or break the prongs off the new pieces and install over the cover piece. My thought: install first as intended (remove the triangular fix piece) and snap in place with seals furnished on the new pieces and try. If I don't get the isolation the trianglular fix piece had, then install back in and break the prongs on the new pieces.

jmcraney

I think you have the right idea - remove everything and try the new piece as it was intended. You might get excellent results and that may not provide answers but you just need good results. The clips don't provide a retention function and are intended just to provide perfect registration before the contact tape makes contact. You need that good registration if you are using a contact attachment as you have only one shot to get it right. If you get an improvement with the new piece I think that would be an indication that your repair job was inadequate. If you get perfect results then keep you fingers crossed and be mindful that any return of wind noise would mean that the new piece has separated. If the results with the new piece are worse than the previous repair then you can always redo the repair.

Fhobbs

Good advice. Thanks.

ATCMIL1

Firstly Merry Christmas to everyone here. I'm about to pick up a late 2008 (would be a USA 2009 model) LS460. My first Lexus after years of Mercedes and BMW

Having driven a few of these cars for comparison, the one I'm buying has the wind noise problem so well described in this forum.

Thank you for putting the discussion up here.

I hope I might be able to secure the parts here as well to eliminate the noise I hear that appears to come from around the mirrors or the leading edge of the front door seals.

Mate of mine in Florida just bought a brand new 2014 LS460 - $70,000 drive away.

Here in Australia - well over $200,000.00 Our taxes on cars are a joke!

Cheers and thanks again. I look forward to keeping up with all things LS460!

Gordon
(ex Air Force Captain)

jmcraney

We've understood for a long time that the "wind noise" problem is an international problem but not too many reports from Down Under. Welcome to the CL discussions.

If you are unable to secure the new parts, here is something you can try with the parts that you have now: https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls4...noise-fix.html

Fhobbs

I just installed my new "fin" parts and there is no noticeable improvement over the jmcraney "fix". Not any worse either. I may try for a few days and go to plan "b" combination new part and jmcraney triangular piece with silicone adhesive.

Fhobbs

Having tried the new fin part for several weeks now under varying conditions, I still conclude that for now I am going to leave my "fix" with the new part in place as intended. There was no noticeable improvement over the jmcraney "fix". I still hear what I believe is a wind noise over the left ear at top of window, albeit occurring at a higher speed than before, maybe around 50 instead of 40.

The slight "bump" down on the window (from a full up position) works well and quiets the noise to maybe 65-70. However, at slower speeds, I hear occasional "creaks" like a window not fully in position, which it isn't.

City street driving is great and quiet. Get up on the freeway though and the wind noise is similar to any "regular" car.