uae

I tried the fix and it works i come from UAE and seems the new fix works on gulf specification car.

After Applying the fix noise has been totally removed from the sides 0% wind noise But i can still hear noise over my left shoulder.

But at least Mcraney is listening to us.


H-E-L-L-O LEXUS !


=======================================


I applied the fix to my friends car he says:

" I no longer hear any windnoise at 120 km/hr , i can hear windnoise at 160 + km/hr "

topgun04

My mechanics rode with me and confirm the wind noise (very nice guy and seems to be very experience in dealing with all kind of new car noise). He uses a very interesting analogy to describe the noise that he hears. It sound like a washing machine with agitator working for him once the car move over 70+ mph. He is checking to see what TSB is available for my car (produced in Jul 08..). One thing interesting is that apparently there is a TSB for earlier car that will remove the inside front door panel and they will cut out foam like meterial to insert in the front door to cut out the air path around the A pillar. That sound remarkably like JMC idea.. Will see how it go. But it give me confidence that I should try out the triangle fix and see if it will help (since Lexus is on the same path..just more expensive solution)..

topgun04

And I would term it a success story...

It took about about 20 minutes or so following JMCraney's instruction. The interesting part is that there seems to be a gasket made of silicon sealant inside of the triangle piece similar to Jmcarney's pattern and in one of the edge of the triangle piece (inside) there is some bush like material that try to cover one of the crack that JMCraney pointed out (the one label 0.4 gap in Jmcraney's picture). So my guess is that for some LS (my car is builded in June 08), Lexus tried to implement the same idea that Jmcraney has with various degree of success.

Anyway, I let the sealant dried overnight and test drove about 20 minute this morning and drove on the freeway for about 2 hours tonight (speed vary between 70 to 90 mph). The "washing machine" noise that my lexus mechanics described is gone. I still hear some very low and muted wind noise in the background but it does not bother me anymore. And one of the really nice benefit is that I don't hear any engine noise or tire noise from the car in the next lane. When I first picked up my 08 LS a few weeks ago, I was surprised that I could hear a lot of differnt mechanical sound generated by another car when it passed me in the next lane. I don't hear any of those sound anymore and it make for a very quiet ride on the freeway (except my own tire and engine sound, of course).. The clincher is that my wife drove the 2nd leg home tonight and she proclaimed that the LS 460 is as quiet as the 02 LS 430 that we had before (she was the main driver for the 430, so she know the car a lot more than I did) and I can turn on the music with a lot lower volume and still hear them clearly.

Thanks for the triangle idea, I can fully enjoy the LS now..

jwr1942

after reading about wind noise issues on cl i had the fix performed in march.they replaced the front windows with laminated glass. the noise was still there and verified by the service man who rode with me on a test drive.he said he would order windshield moldings in an attempt to cure the problem,but further stated some cars still will have noise.after numerous attempts inquiring when the fix would be made,i was told lexus corporate was aware of my problem,and the dealership was awaiting the ok to implement the fix.a month later i called again and was told they were still waiting for lexus to approve the fix. sensing my frustration,they suggested i call lexus corporate which i did. i was told they are working on a solution to fix the wind noise,but had no knowledge as to the proceedure in implementing it. they stated my case was given to my dealerships service manager and she would contact me. i spoke to her and was told a fix involving windshield molding was being tested and i would be notified when its approved. nine months later and i am still waiting. anyone have similar experience with their ls460.

terrain

Top - did you notice the noise before you purchased your car (on test drive etc...)? I ask because I drove many during my pre-purchase stage and noise was something that I was listening for.

jwr1942

i purchased the car unaware of any wind noise issue until reading the info in this forum. i then listened and discovered i too have the problem.

rone1

I just sucessfully performed this fix. This is after having the 2 repair services performed and living with this issue for the last 1.5 years. I am extremely pleased and greatful for this fix and can now start to truly enjoy my vehicle. I was disappointed with the service approach to this issue, (this is after contacting corporate) but now will start to enjoy the ride. thank you to all who have posted and especially to Jeff for the fix.

topgun04

"Top - did you notice the noise before you purchased your car (on test drive etc...)? I ask because I drove many during my pre-purchase stage and noise was something that I was listening for."


No, I did not test drove the particular car that I leased before. I figured after reading this for the last year (and many TSB from Lexus), it is a problem that I can live with (especially I like listening to music when I drive). Our previous car is a Mercede CLK 55 covertible which is pretty noisy. The year end rebate from Lexus is pretty amazing and there is only one with the color and equipment combo within 400 mi of where we live (white/ivory/ML/NA), so I jumped. But I am very glad we apply the fix and it works for us. I don't know if I agree with my wife's assesment that the LS460 now is as quiet as the 02 LS430 that we owned before (LS430 is the quietest car we ever own) but it is certainly quieter than the 07 G35 and 04 Accord that we own now. And it is very ejoyable to listen to the music and drive the car on the freeway all the way to 95 mph (heh heh).


The real surprise is that Lexus is on the same path in trying to fix this problem (the foam discussion with my Lexus technican, the gasket behind the triangle piece, the bush like material behind the triangel piece.).. I could understand why they want to have an engineered fix rather than apply bucket of adhesive sealant like I did. But given the time and cost to apply the triangle fix ($3.5 or so getting the sealant, 15 minutes of so to apply it and 1 day of drying), it is one of the best handyman thing I did in 2008... Will see how it hold up..

"I was disappointed with the service approach to this issue"


I think Lexus triangle piece (at least the one in my car which was builded in Jun 08) already incorporate JMcarney's idea. It is just that it may not work well enough in some situation (may depend on the installation). Before I applied triangle fix, the wind noise issue is pretty noticable on the driver side but not much on the passenger side. My wife can hear the noise from the driver side while she sat in the passenger seat. And I cannot hear anything from the passenger door while I am sitting in the passenger seat.. So my guess is that their triangle piece work if they line up the gap witht he bush like material and the silcon gasket behind the triangle piece align well in manufacturing. However if they misalign it then we will hear various level of noise depend how off they are.. This is just speculation on my part.. But I would encourage you to try the fix. It is relatively easy to apply and at a minimum won't make your situation any worse and it has potential to fix your problem (or at least reduce it substantially. I read through the whole thread and it looks like we have 14-15 people applied the fix and only 1 that didn't fix the problem and a couple that has greatly dimished noise but not completely eliminate it. So it is a very high percentage kind of fix and worthwhile to try.

Vi-Tuyen

couple weeks ago, there was a group of Techs from Lexus Corp. came and check out my car, after 2 days of working on my car, they said the windnoise came from the windshield molding. and now, they said they are working on it. they will notice all the owners when they're finish the molding.
I think it takes 4ever.

jmcraney

I am curious to know which instructions you used for the "fix."

Did you use the old instructions at Post #9 in this thread?

Or did you use the instructions beginning at Post #406 in this thread?

rone1

For the "Fix" I used your old instructions from post #9. Just curious why you decided to improve your fix. Did you notice additional noise?

topgun04

I also use the old fix since I don't have the sheet metal handy.. I figure if it need any more reinforcement, i can also do it a second time since it is easy enough to do...

jmcraney

I explained at Post #401 why I came up with the second way to do it. If you read both procedures you will see that the goal is to deal with the same trouble spots. I believe that the second way is certain to produce good results while the first way may not work every time if you don't use enough sealant which is sort of hard to judge. topgun04 said he used a "bucket of adhesive sealant" which may have been facetious but is probably a good idea. If you do it the newer way, you could probably do eight to ten cars - both sides - with one tube of sealant. If you think I was joking about using coins for patches, I wasn't. For those of you who prefer the look of the custom fabricated patches, send me a Private Message and I will try to help you.

jmcraney

Anybody want to make a side bet that this problem can be solved in 20 minutes with a dollars worth of sealant?

PatsSoxfan

Hi Jeff! There are tree reasons why I hesitate to try out your new and improved method. First of all, I really have a hard time removing the old sealant from the back of the plastic trim and also from the metal portion (including the gaps) on the triangle. It seems like it takes me forever. Maybe I forgot and I really don't need to remove the old sealant. Is that possible? To me, it makes sense that the old should be removed to get the good results. The second reason I hesitate to try it is because I am quite pleased with the original fix (I actually did the original fix twice. The first time I did not apply enough sealant.). I guess there is a third reason since I fall into the category of not being very handy. I hate to try and secure the sheet metal and then cut it to size. I guess I am "chicken little". .

Just so that everyone knows, you and I have communicated by email. But I thought I would post my thinking here in case I am one of many that have had similar experiences and concerns.