bjw1978

I've had my 2011 IS 350 since April 2011. It's one of the limited edition special builds with the F-Sport package (however, I don't think that has anything to do with my problem).

A few months back I noticed that ONE of the side mirrors, the rear spoiler, and the plastic area around my license plate had all warped. There was not really any crinkling involved (as you might get if you had used a high speed buffer on plastic). It was warped, as if it were 200 degrees outside or something. Granted, I live in Arkansas and the summers are pretty hot, but it's not like the Arizona desert or anything.

Anyway, I brought this to the attention of my local dealer. They checked around and told me they'd never heard of this problem, but that they had notified Lexus about my problem. They covered the replacement of all of the parts. They replaced everything maybe less than a month ago. Tonight I noticed that the same side mirror and the same rear spoiler are warped (and/or warping) again.

Has anyone had this problem? I have done nothing imaginable to cause this problem. I take the car to a touchless car wash from time to time. I thought maybe it could be caused by a hot drier at the end of the car wash, but this car wash doesn't even have a drier at the end. I keep my car in the garage everynight. So I have no idea as to the cause...other than defective parts from Lexus. But this would make a SECOND time that the parts would be defective. Thoughts?

RDIS250AWD

iTrader: (7)

kinda hard to imagine what you are talking about without pics

BernieIS

iTrader: (1)

I second the need for pictures

bjw1978

Side mirror and rear spoiler.

I think you can see from the pics, but the side mirror has almost a pointy little crown that has warped "up."

The spoiler has an indentation from the warping.

bjw1978

And in case you can't see it on the side mirror. It is the crowned part on the left central side of the picture.

will_is250

This might be a stretch, but is there a chance you park anywhere near a building with those energy efficient windows? Since I can't really imagine these parts doing the same thing twice, I would assume it has more to do with something the car is being exposed to. Here's a link to a story about someone's car melting from some type of solar reflecting window http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2012/...-toyota-prius/ . Honestly that's the only possibility I can think of...

RDIS250AWD

iTrader: (7)

I see you're in arizona, I wonder if the sun / heat there played a factor in this. Hopefully another member in your state can chime in on this

cbishop11

He is in Arkansas, but still it doesnt really get THAT hot there. Body panels are made to withstand much higher heat than even what he might see in Arizona. Definitely something strange going on with these parts.

bjw1978

Thanks for the responses, guys. Yes, I'm in Arkansas. But if the plastic on a Dodge Neon doesn't melt, then why is the plastic on a Lexus melting/warping.

The weird part is that it is happening to the same parts as before (passenger side mirror) and rear spoiler. All I can think of is that this batch of parts is faulty AND has to have been made at the same time as my original parts that melted (which were made in early 2011 when I bought the car).

I thought the article about energy efficient windows is very interesting. But I don't live or park near anything that casts a reflected beam of light on my car (much less one that is like the incredibly hot one from an energy efficient window).

I don't know what to do. I have a call in right now to my service rep at the Lexus dealer to tell him it's happening again. I have a feeling they'll try to blame me somehow for it. But I've only had the new parts for less than a month, and I've done nothing to it to cause this. I left it at the airport for about 4 days....that's the only time it's parked outside except for when it's parked outside my office building (where there are no weird windows around to make it hotter).

bjw1978

One other thing, as I said, there's no bubbling or creasing like you would normally associate with too much heat on plastic. The gloss on the paint looks totally normal.