This was exactly the circumstance in which I was forced to take a pano roof on my '22 UL after ordering it and waiting five months. The factory advised the dealership they were simply refusing to build a UL to my specs without the pano roof and decklid spoiler. If I turned it down, I'd simply be kicked back to the end of the queue, restarting the clock and waiting another five months for probably the same outcome.

 

Just bumping this up with a quick update. I have an appointment with my dealer next week to look at the roof.

I get pops from the back roof area when turning onto my driveway--steeper angle and somewhat sharp incline both at once. However, what prompted me to make an appointment now is today I heard two pops while just engaging in normal driving on a flat road.

I'm actually wondering if it's possible it's the plastic housing for the rear passenger overhead lights. That would be preferable to having to replace a pano roof. Fingers crossed. I'll update here, which might be a couple weeks.

'25 UL 350.

 

I don't hear any noise since I got rid of the car and switched to a mazda!

 

Does it have a pano roof?

 

Good luck, keep us posted!

Apparently Honda/Acura had a similar issue at some point...they released a TSB for it and the fix was to remove the bolts holding the frame (20 of them) then reinstall the frame. Have a feeling thats what needs to be done for our Lexuses (Lexii?) as well. EDIT: for reference - https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/20...40776-0001.pdf

Kinda wonder if its a case where the roof is installed with the car on the assembly line, but once it actually touches the ground the roof ends up "under load" and slightly twisted. At least in my case, the noise is definitely coming from just above and to the rear of my head...Im thinking its the cross bar area of the pano roof. The plastic trim pieces are all flexible and when pushed do not re-create the noise so Im thinking its the actual frame and/or glass.

 

Just some info while tooling around the internet:

Mercedes and other brands have had similar noise issues, and most of the fixes involved loosening and re-tightening (or even tightening already loose..) fasteners that hold the pano assembly(ies) in place.

Per the 7th gen service manual: https://www.lexguide.net/installation-6270.html and https://www.lexguide.net/components-6266.html

20 bolts seem to hold the roof panel itself, then there are some that hold the rail/frame assembly in place, and some that hold brackets in place (brackets are at the front, center and rear of each side of the roof). In my own case, the noise seems to be coming from the center bracket area.

There are also brackets for "room lights", which I think someone mentioned earlier as a possible location of their noise, so that could technically be a source of issues as well. Problem being you still need to drop the headliner to get to them, so at that point Id hope a dealer would take the time to do it right and check *all* bolts.

Note that there is an expected order of tightening the bolts, and the factory torque spec isnt very tight. Not sure if the bolts come with thread locker already applied, or if maybe its something that should be done if mucking with them (not sure a dealer would take the time, but maybe)

 

Very good post. However, having dealt with Lexus dealers too much now, they are not allowed to do anything of their own choice. If they hear a noise from a specific bolt, they'd be allowed to tighten that specific bolt and not touch anything else. They'd be allowed to tighten to factory specs, and not any more, and not put on loc-tite or anything similar. Maybe a rogue one will do something hush-hush, but corporate does not allow free thought.

I can understand Toyota/Lexus not wanting the ruffians they employ to inadvertently ruin a car. But from a consumer's perspective, it can be frustrating at times.

 

Yep thats my worry. Does the dealer not do much other than one or two bolts, do they do absolutely nothing, or do they make it worse?

Our car literally has 40 miles on it, but Im seriously considering trying to take a look at it by myself...that's how little trust I have in dealers. Im in CT and there are basically 3 Lexus dealers to choose from, so pickings are slim for sure. The one closest to me recently got bought out by a....less than stellar...owner, so Im down to 2 to choose from.

 

Figured I'd give an update. I dropped my car off at the dealer on Dec 11. Service consultant laughed when I expressed concern about getting the car back in a week before I went out of town for the holidays, "I think a week is plenty of time to fix some roof noises."

Cue ominous music.

They didn't even look at the car until the day I went out of town. There was a flurry of activity in the app (doors open alerts, hood open alerts, odometer going up, etc) over two days and then...nothing. I called and got told the tech wanted to evaluate in colder weather, so was waiting a couple days. Another week after that, right after Christmas (still out of town), I called and got no answer, so left a message. Perhaps coincidentally, the next day there was another flurry of activity in the app and again the next. I got a message, "dropped headliner, torqued some bolts, should be ready to go when you get back." I called and get told, "oh wait, the pops are no longer there, but now there's a squeak." To be fair, this was better than previous treatment where they just gave my car back and let me find out for myself how they'd made it worse. "The tech is sending a message to a Lexus engineer for further ideas. We should hear back soon."

Now it's over a week since then and the car has not been touched since. I can see in the locator in the app that it's parked outside and not inside the shop, and have gotten no alerts and the odometer and range have not changed. But...I did get a message that they're going to try to drop the headliner again and re-torque some bolts again and...hope it works this time?? Sigh. No clue when that will actually happen, of course.

So, all told, it's been 26 days, going on 27. They've done stuff to the car on four of those days. Yes, Christmas and New Year's occurred over that time, but c'mon. It appears they charge $70/day for the loaner, presumably back to Lexus, and from what I've heard warranty work reimburses lower than retail work, so I have a guess as to why things progress as slowly as they do: collect easy free money on the loaner charge and only do the minimum work so corporate doesn't squawk.

I have no clue what condition my car will be in when it is finally returned, or what noises/rattles/etc will now be present. I actually was expecting to get a call with a diagnosis before they tried anything and if I heard, "drop the headliner" was actually probably going to tell them not to bother and just live with some pops while flexing the body turning onto driveways. But, they just barged on ahead.

I go out of town again next week. Any bets on whether my car is returned by then? And how many additional problems it will now have? I'll lay odds .

Further updates will be provided as events warrant.

 

That's kind of a roller coaster, eh? How far away is the dealer? Id ask them if I could test drive it as-is ("squeak" and all). A squeak in place of the snap/crackle/pop might actually be tolerable! Assuming they really did fix the snap/crackle/pop.

Our car has very few miles on it, but I dont remember ours making that noise initially. Got the car in late summer, drove it locally for a bit, then didnt drive it again until mid-fall which is when I started hearing the noise. Looking at service manuals and other brands, I guessed loosening and re-torquing the sunroof frame/mounting bolts could help, or maybe they were loose to begin with. Sounds like thats what they did (or at least claimed to have done).

Im currently up in the air about it because Im not sure I trust any dealer near me to A) actually do the work and B) actually do the work without making a mess of our basically brand new interior.

 

Dealer is 30ish mins away. Car has 2k miles on it. The dealer has had it longer than I have at this point.

It didn't make any noises at first. Then some. Then slightly more frequently. So I brought it in. I'll let them hack away at it and see what I get back.

Might be car shopping yet again, soon. Looking for reliable and quiet. Who knew Lexus would fail at that?

 

I wonder if they installed them incorrectly at the factory and we're seeing the beginning of something that might turn into a service bulletin.

Our 2015 pano roof makes a little noise but nothing like the 2025. Sometimes I wonder if the '25 is at risk of shattering the glass.

 

FYI found this on an ES350 FB group, someone with a 2025 and the creaking pano roof went to a dealer and they fixed it (at least temporarily). Mine makes same noise in same location (but can be heard on passenger side too, I think...my side just happens to be closer to my ear when Im driving). Starting to think loose bolts from factory is the real issue, and the best time to have it "fixed" is when it is cold out because that seems to make the problem much more pronounced (so its easier for dealers to hear...unless they really dont want to)

 

I saw this post last night. I copied the repair order and showed it to my service advisor when I went in for the rear camera recall fix today. He claimed he knew nothing about the issue. He looked on his computer for an official Lexus document about it and said he did not see one. He offered to make another appointment for their shop to check my vehicle. I only hear the noise in cold weather, starting last month, and do not recall hearing it last winter. We are having a heat wave in northern Indiana (56 deg. F today) and I did not hear the noise today. Maybe when it gets cold again and the noise is back, I will let them check it out. I am much more bothered by the wind noise I hear every time I drive it than the little cracking noise when I drive in and out of my driveway. I asked them to fix the wind noise last July for my 12-month service. They heard the noise and did nothing about it.

I was curious about that 08231-00801 noise kit, also called a "rattle kit." I found a good description here, but see it is just generic sound deadening material that depends on the tech knowing how and where to apply it:

Lexus interior noise kit - ClubLexus - Lexus Forum Discussion

 

FYI, in the Panoramic Sunroof Started Leaking thread, STLLEXUS, in post #37, wrote that his dealer fixed his creaky pano roof by removing some bolts and putting Locktite on them. He also mentioned that another ES was in the dealer's shop for the same issue.

I also dimly recall seeing another post on loose panoramic roof bolts in the 2019 or 2020 timeframe, but I can't readily find it to provide a link to it.

Perhaps, the loose or improperly torqued panoramic glass roof assembly bolts problems of a few of the 2019/2020 ESs have cropped up again.