2thfixr

I don't know how long this will last but there is no wind noise! I had reseated the window gasket a few weeks ago and made an appointment to take the car in because of driver's side window wind noise. It sounded like the window was slightly open so I took matters into my own hands and experimented. Immediately afterwards, I test drove the car and it was gone. That was a few weeks ago and like I said, I had made an appointment anyways. Today I was driving it to the dealership to get it looked at and it was still GONE! I even took it up to 100mph to really test it and it was fine. BTW, I am not completely insane, this was on a deserted road where there was at least 1/2 mile of visibility 360 degrees around me. There was some faint wind noise but I was 99% certain that it was the side view mirror and a little aerodynamic drag around the B-pillar. I turned the side view mirror 45 degrees to test it and it was totally silent! Cold temps might be a variable but I have my fingers crossed.

The car is once again perfect and I expect no less.

ES350Bob

Congrats, now please spell out in detail what you did to rid yourself of that annoyance.

Pheonix

Well great for you man! Yeah, tell these guys how you reseat the new windows, or point it out in the factory service manual so they know.
I've always been lucky my old one has no wind noise/leaks. God the Maxima did. I had too goop both rear window pillars together to stop it & seal a leaking front windshield gasket with poly!


Aslong as you don't hit anything, cause anyone else too / or scare the **** out of people; most of us don't particularly care how fast you drive. Just no street racing posts. That's the rules! It's not like alot of us have never posted about doing 120-130-140mph for years at this point. LoL!
Just be weary the faster you go. **** happens faster. Along time ago there was a couple of GS's that had the sunroofs sucked off the top of the car. I have no comment on that, but you know... **** happens, so if something happens be man enough to assume the responcibility!

2thfixr

Bob, I didn't do anything special. I ended up basically reseating the gasket. I noticed something unusual when I looked at the gasket closely. Just above the triangle where the side view mirror is attached the gasket goes straight up and then turns to go up the window. At that angular turn, there was a tiny part of the gasket protruding out because it was deformed a little bit. Figuring that may be the culprit, I tried shimming the window with very thin black foam tape. It compressed the gasket a little more against the window but it distorted the outside edge of the gasket even more so the wind noise was worse. It wasn't the sound of air coming in but it was actually wind noise caused by turbulence from the edge of the gasket protruding a tiny bit. I swear that it sounded exactly like a window was left 1/4" open. Basically the car is so aerodynamic that slight changes on the leading edge of the window frame causes all kinds of noise. If you guys recall, one of the forum members actually taped the gasket and said that the wind noise was gone. So taking all of the above into consideration, I pulled out the gasket and seated it so I could minimize the distorted area. Voila.... no more noise. I don't suggest trying it unless you are brave but my next step would have been to cut and remove some of the gasket material that sits inside the window frame to minimize the distortion. Hope it works for the long term and maybe this info will help some of you out there. I'm sure that the source of everybody's wind noise is a little different or a combination of factors but this is just one more piece of the puzzle IMO.

LexFather

THanks for sharing the good news

ES350Bob

True, yet it indicates that something as simple as reseating the gaskets affords some remedy. Your's was A pillar oriented yet that helped you, my former ES350 and present are B pillar area oriented and yet that simple exercise knocks it back a notch though doesn't remove it completely as seems it does for A pillar oriented wind noise.

When my Dad did it on my former I thought he had no idea what he was doing and that he was just livid the dealer had said it was normal, yet it did improve it.

There will be a TSIB on this at some point and hopefully it will completely remove it from every possible area source currently involved.

tnedator

Why do you think there will eventually be a TSIB to address it, if the dealers are claiming it is just the way the cars sound?

ES350Bob

Because too many people are complaining about it. The dealers may be saying it is normal or it is buffeting but service record data tracking will indicate so many complaints about it regardless of story given currently.

That and sites like this are used to make determinations at times as well.

tnedator

Ok, I hope your right since I am picking mine up next week. Based on what you guys have said about Lexus not caring about Lexus quality and service no longer being any good that a problem like this would not receive a TSIB.

ES350Bob

The question remains as to when one will be issued. Amf said this wind noise has been going on for years unresolved.

The transmissions are more worrisome to one thinking of buying one though the wind noise or diesel engine clatter can be viewed by some to equate same aversion response as finger nails on a blackboard, wind noise especially to those who do highway travel every day.

ES350Bob

Robert,

Both you and Twister have indicated the GS is quieter inside than the ES.

Since you have both, and if not too much trouble at some point, can you look and see if you notice a sig difference in type of, or thickness at glass contact point, or other, of window gasket material between your GS and ES?

amf1932

In NO way is the GS quieter or smooth riding as my ES350!! I also drive an '06GS300 AWD with under 3K miles as my comparison. This car is plagued with dashboard rattles and creaks, which at this point hasn't been addressed by Lexus dealer service. Also, the run flat tires don't seem to help matters! Maybe the GS350's are better.....but I don't know.
When I get back into my totally quiet, smooth riding ES350 it surely makes me feel much happier, and relaxed.

twister

@Bob: I probably will not be much of a help with your request since I can't do A/B comparison between two cars. Robert probably the best candidate for that, beside he knows more where/what to look for anyway.

@Alan: OK, that's it! I'm getting into my car and driving to Brooklyn right now! Your '06 GS rattles/creaks is the biggest problem they had with the last year model of GS. You can read on 3GS forum this being a "normal" complain. GS450h got some dashboard rattles as well, and even Robert with his '07 GS350 just had to go to his dealer to fix dashboard rattle. My car, knock on wood, is just rattle-less. A lot of other '07 owners also confirmed that. I believe in some cases during the cold weather it happens, and that infamous all-Lexus TSIB has been updated with addition of '07 GS350 to it with fixes for rattles. In my case the '07 GS350 is quieter than my previous '07 ES350. Yesterday during the lunch one of my friends at work (he drives last year's Camry) made a comment that getting into the car felt like putting a pair of noise-canceling headphones. I also heard a similar comment from another friend who drives '06 G35x. You do hear engine tapping when cold (perfectly normal), a little bit of low buffeting noise, and some tire noise (probably due to those runflats), but other than that car is very quet. The ride is NOT as smooth as ES350, that is given by GS being more of a luxury-performance car. But outside noise level is definitely more under control.

ES350Bob

Sorry to read of your unresolved GS rattles and creaks Alan but I was asking specific to lack of wind noise complaints associated with the GS compared to ES, and I guess wishful thinking it might be due to more robust or different material used in gaskets that may utlimately be used to address the wind noise in ES.

toneman

I guess what you did must have really fixed it good--when the service tech and I went on a drive so that he could hear the wind noise, one of the things he "tested" was to fold the side mirror housing completely inward to see if it had any effect on wind noise; with the mirror folded inward, the wind noise noticeably increased in volume, relative to how loud the wind noise was with the mirror in its normal position. I find it somewhat interesting that when you folded the side mirror inward on your car, it was still apparently devoid of any wind noise...given that I would think the folded-in mirror would disrupt the airflow/aerodynamics of any wind/air flowing by that particular area.

Not saying I don't believe you...just hoping that what you did for your ES might do wonders for my car as well...