Folks, I am happy to report that you can buy and replace the navigation trim without buying the entire Nav unit which some Lexus dealers claim you need to do. There was a club member that recently bought the trim with buttons off of Ebay. I've been looking for more to pop up on Ebay but they seem to non existent. I was so tired of look at the 3 noticeable cracks around the trim and deep scratches. When people got in my car they would say, "What happen here?" I know it would affect my resale value when time to sell later.

The part number is 55405-50110. I have a 2008 LS460 with Mark Levinson. I am not sure if the trim is the same for non Mark Levinson or 2010-2012 LS460. The total cost was $240 shipped. It took a week to be delivered from California.
You can go on Youtube for instructions to remove the Navigation unit. I moved the radio out of the way and I did not disconnect it. I did not start the car to move the shifter, just press the emergency shift tab for that. While prying on the Navi with plastic trim tool to get it out the old Nav trim disintegrated ! It just crumpled apart !

With the Nav unit out, I quickly found out that it was not just tabs on the side to pop out from the nav monitor. You have to remove about 10 tiny screws, 2 sneaky ones on the bottom. Just look at the new trim to see all the screw holes for reference. Then you have to remove the clock and emergency flasher button and transfer one of the connector wires from the vent from the old trim . You have the be very gentle with removing the climate and Nav buttons from the old trim. I did not disconnect it from the circuit board in fear of damaging the connections. I placed the new trim face down onto a towel on a table to avoid scratches and put all the buttons and monitor in place.

Happy with the results. Took about 1 1/2 -2 hours of careful planning . I could probably do it again in about 30. It bothers me very slightly that the left and right temp control button are not completed flush with the trim at the bottom. Maybe I needed to pop it out more or that's how it's always been. It is only a penny size thickness away from being flush so not a huge deal.

I think it was worth the money spent for a new one vs a used one which may fail again immediately. My car spent most of it time in California then the 2nd owner lived in Texas so the plastic trim was exposed to a lot of heat and ac cold vs the Northeast.

Good luck

 

More pics added
Old trim crumbled apart.
Removal process

 

Good to know... Thanks for the info, just in case it's needed at some point...

It looked like a time consuming project but, MUCH better than paying $800+ for a fulll navi head !

 

The key is patience, not forcing anything, take pics to assist with where things go and avoid causing any damages! Cover your leather seats with towels and don't leave anything on the seats so when you sit on it you end up poking a hole in the leather or scratching it up. Use trim prying tools not a screw driver. I've seem many times mechanics fix something but damage things around the area they were working.

 

Thats great! Worth doing for sure

 

It appears that the 2010-2012 Trim has a different part number 55405-50120 at around $400 shipped. Gees! That would have been way over my threshold spend limit

 

Nice find. I remember every LS I test drove before I bought mine had those vent cracks. I was surprised when I saw that mine didn’t have them then lo and behold less than a year of ownership and the left side cracked. Thanks for finding this.

 

No problem, We'll see how long the new one holds up. I hope at least 2 year when I usually sell. I think I will set the Ac to blow from the window shield vents and floor first on hot days to prevent any wear on the trim. I also use a windshield sunshade when it is out of the garage. .

 

This is a pretty rare occurence. I don't think you'll have any problem with the replacement.

 

Mine just started to break down. Waiting till it gets bigger .

 

Yup it usually occurs in the corner of the vent. I had 2 cracks. It was a daily eyesore and people that sat I the passenger side would ask me "what happened here?"
Initially I thought I had to buy a whole Nav unit for the fix so I bought a wood grain kit to try to cover the cracks. It looked tacky so I returned it. Fixing the crack might have made things worse. Not worth buying used because it could crack again and you may crack it installing it

 

I was able to find new one for 155$ . I am still thinking if I should replace it now or later .

 

 

That's a good deal. Mine was around $220 on Ebay. I waited for the 15% off coupon cause that thing didn't sell at all. It was sitting in my cart for a good 3-4 months.
Only thing I'm afraid of is trying to pull it out again (had to pull it to install Grom VL2) cause the dash lost a few small chunks at the edge from where the pry tool was at. It's been sitting around for a couple of months already. And yes I hate the cracks on my current one. I actually cause a 2nd crack when I pried it out to plug in the VL2.