J250 Wind Noise, Upgrading to the GX 550's acoustic front door glass (yes, you can!)

[Truckee]

It’s the same part for all the Toyota and Lexus vehicles that use that kind of clip. I saw it was even listed as a part for the Toyota Probox, which is a rather utilitarian little thing that certainly wouldn’t have any kind of acoustic side glass.

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Yes, do try it and let us know what you think. I suspect it won’t help much—because what I hear is the wind beyond the glass, not the glass itself moving—but it is indeed a cheap experiment.

When you drive a vehicle at high speed with the front window(s) slightly open, they will try and pull away from the vehicle due to vacuum, to the point where you might not be able to close the window until you slow down.

The clips just guide the window back into the window track. If the window was rectangle, it would remain in the track the entire time and the clips would serve no purpose.

 

[kmershly]

I did not, and I wish I had. But it's quite a bit quieter now.
Another difference between the LC and GX with the acoustic package ("NV PACKAGE HIGH GRADE") is a set of seals that go around the leading edges of the front doors, around the hinges. The LC does not have these. They seal up the gap in the forward part of the door when it is closed, and I'm sure that cuts down on wind noise, too.

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Part No.	Part Desc.	Qty.	Price
6786660020	Door Seal, Left Front	1	$62.50
6786560020	Door Seal, Right Front	1	$61.29

I have both of these, for left and right, but they are extremely difficult to install, even after unbolting the door checks to get a little extra room. What's more, the LC's door skins lack the middle two holes for these pieces to clip in, and even I draw the line at drilling holes into a brand-new $70K+ car. I haven't figured out how to finagle them into place with the doors installed, so most likely the doors would need to come off to place them. And they'd have to rely upon double-sided tape in the middle, since the holes for the middle two clips are missing on the LC. The upper and lower holes are there, though, and are covered by rubber grommets in the LC.

I neglected to get on top of the Overtrail+ demonstrator at the Lexus dealership and see which sunroof it has (standard or panoramic), and whether the glass is laminated--which would afford some wind noise mitigation--or (as in the LC) tempered. I'll go by and ask later. I didn't see anything denoting "NV PACKAGE HIGH GRADE" for the GX as far as sunroof glass, just two part numbers for standard and panoramic. Still, it's possible the GX's standard sunroof is a higher grade of glass and if so, that's another potential upgrade.

I have absolutely no idea whether Toyota/LEXUS does the same thing as Mercedes-Benz, but on a neighbors C43AMG, that sort of seal is attached directly to fender and not the door itself.

In the MB C43's case, to replace it, my neighbors cracked, we had to take the fender off, remove the cracked seal and install the new seal, bolt the fender back onto his car and that was that.

Far more difficult than it needed to be imho.

 

[wpage]

Kudos to OP...
Nice write up. We are all looking to solve some of the bugs in these wonderful machines.
Not a fan of driving with my mirrors cocked back, safety first !

 

[AgRN16]

To make a long story short, I was one of the many folks who was pretty disappointed with the LC's noise at highway speeds. So I pored over the GX 550's catalog to see what was different, and the biggest thing was of course the acoustic (aka laminated or double-pane) front door glass on most versions of the GX, in fact all trims other than the Base and Overtrail. The Land Cruiser does not offer acoustic front door glass on any trim. Oddly, the 4Runner does have acoustic front door glass, for Limited and Platinum trims. There are other differences, too, and I'll get to those at a later time, but I was surprised at just what was common between the GX w/acoustic glass and LC, door-wise. I figured, minimally, the window regulator/motor and window seal were different, but no. Those part numbers are identical.

The GX does list multiple glass versions for the front door, for versions with and without the acoustic package. All parts dealing with the acoustic package are listed as being for the "NV PACKAGE HIGH GRADE" in the Lexus catalog, and that was how I figured it out. Again, it's not just the front door glass, as Lexus took other measures with seals and sound deadening, but the front glass is a good start. You can readily identify the acoustic glass because it says "LAMIPANE", instead of "TEMPERLITE" in the bottom right corner, and of course looking at the edge of the glass, you can see it's two panes sandwiched together.

I must also stress that the GX, like most vehicles that aren't the price of a Rolls-Royce, only has acoustic glass on the front doors, windshield and sunroof. Possibly not even the windshield and pano sunroof, which have to be laminated anyway. The rear door, rear quarter panel and liftgate glass is just regular single-pane tempered stuff, identical to what's in the LC in those places other than that the GX's is labeled "Lexus" instead of "Toyota". But even my prior car, a Range Rover Autobiography costing $140K when new, didn't have acoustic glass aft of the front doors. I guess it's not necessary, since the wind isn't hitting those areas as fiercely.

I test drove a used 2024 GX 550 Luxury+ last week and confirmed that it was indeed much quieter at highway speeds. I looked at it and confirmed where it had acoustic versus tempered glass. Here's what I discovered:

View attachment 57883 View attachment 57884 View attachment 57885

So I felt confident getting the glass, for starters. Here's what I got:

Part No.	Part Desc.	Qty	Unit Price
6810260870	Acoustic Door Glass, Left Front	1	$437.73
6810160870	Acoustic Door Glass, Right Front	1	$475.45

I also noticed that versions of the GX 550 with acoustic glass, including the one I test drove, had these small little retention clips on the leading edges of the window seals. According to my cursory research, these are to hold the thicker acoustic glass in lateral tension and stop it from rattling.

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So I ordered one for each side. Those are:

Part No.	Part Desc.	Qty	Unit Price
6236760030	Door Glass Attaching Clips, Left and Right	2	$5.11

Taking the door apart is a pretty simple process (the J250 is dead-simple to disassemble), and the glass transplant was a success. The mechanism isn't behaving any differently with the slightly thicker glass, nor is it binding on the window seals. So, all is good. I haven't figured out how to attach the retention clips, but the car doesn't seem to need them in the short term.

It's not as quiet as the GX 550 Luxury+ I test-drove last week, but it's a ton quieter than it was with just the tempered glass and is already what I would consider acceptable for livability. Like I said, there are some other differences between the GX w/acoustic package and the LC, like some additional seals and sound deadening. I figure the acoustic front door glass combined with tacosupreme___'s comprehensive and amazing sound deadening tutorial would meet or exceed a GX 550 in terms of overall quietness at higher speeds, so I'll pull the panels back apart and try some of those enhancements later. But this is a good start. I will, of course, have to go and get my front windows tinted all over again, though (grr!!)

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I'll post a tutorial on exactly what I did soon, although it's straightforward if you know how to replace front door glass in most cars.

You are literally him!! Legend!

 

[bkral]

Man… once it warms up I may pull the trigger on this and if I do I’ll get some level readings in the cabin at highway speeds.

Sort of bummed I would need to pay to retint, but this would help one of my only gripes about my LC.

 

[Shorty]

What a great report, I am waiting to hear from folks here in Oz who have fitted aftermarket rear vision mirrors for towing to see if the wind noise reduces.

 

[calloyaddy]

Installed lamiplus driver side glass and clips today (removal and install was stupid easy as OP suggests) and am also hearing a noticeable difference. Don’t have before and after measurements but ride to me is much quieter. Wind noise, especially at the higher frequencies that I was hearing from the side mirrors, is much diminished. Very pleased.

 

[ultane]

Installed lamiplus driver side glass and clips today (removal and install was stupid easy as OP suggests) and am also hearing a noticeable difference. Don’t have before and after measurements but ride to me is much quieter. Winds noise, especially at the higher frequencies that I was hearing from the side mirrors, is much diminished. Very pleased.

Welcome to the asylum.

 

[APIOQM]

Installed lamiplus driver side glass and clips today (removal and install was stupid easy as OP suggests) and am also hearing a noticeable difference. Don’t have before and after measurements but ride to me is much quieter. Winds noise, especially at the higher frequencies that I was hearing from the side mirrors, is much diminished. Very pleased.

Level of tint looks the same as the passenger side?

 

[calloyaddy]

Level of tint looks the same as the passenger side?

As far as I can tell, yes. Will look more closely and report back, but at a glance looks the same as the factory one that I replaced.

 

[TakaraLC]

I installed the clips with the regular window we have. I can confirm the it greatly reduces rattles from the window when it it fully up.

 

[Slippers]

It seems really strange they don’t include the clips on every vehicle. Penny pinching?

Also, they’re easy to install, right?

 

[TakaraLC]

It seems really strange they don’t include the clips on every vehicle. Penny pinching?

Also, they’re easy to install, right?

Yeah they are push-in clips. It took me 15 seconds to install, and most of that was getting the clip out of the packaging it came with.

I agree that it is odd they were not installed at the factory. Window rails even have drilled holes to mark where they should be installed.

Each part is like $4, so I don’t think it is direct cost. But I assume they need to be hand installed, so it could be an assembly line efficiency thing.

 

[ERROR504]

I installed the clips with the regular window we have. I can confirm the it greatly reduces rattles from the window when it it fully up.

Mind posting a few shots from the window and a side profile one? I have the Husky window visors on mine and want to see if it would be an issue for me.

 

[TakaraLC]

Mind posting a few shots from the window and a side profile one? I have the Husky window visors on mine and want to see if it would be an issue for me.

 

[ERROR504]

That might be a tight fit

 

[jedyxu]

Is the clip necessary for the glass? Or can we run the glass without the clip?

 

[overtrail887]

If your spending $900 on glass what’s $8 more.

 

[jbtaco2002]

question for those that have purchased this glass, did you buy it online and have it shipped to you, or did you go through a local Lexus dealership parts department? thanks!

 

[eurocarfanatic]

question for those that have purchased this glass, did you buy it online and have it shipped to you, or did you go through a local Lexus dealership parts department? thanks!

OP here. Procedure wise, it’s a distinction without a difference.

I went through a Lexus dealership parts department. In my case, it was Lexus of Tulsa, which isn’t the closest one to me, but is the one that had good discounts. Just as you can’t buy a car directly from the factory, I don’t think you can have parts shipped directly to you from the warehouse. I think they’re always fulfilled by a dealership’s parts department. It’s part of their protection racket.

When you go to parts.lexus.com, the site asks you to select a dealership before it will show you a price other than MSRP, and certainly before it will let you order. Even those third-party sites, like lexus.oempartsonline.com, are just a front for some dealer somewhere to get e-commerce business all over the country…though they are sometimes independent dealers of parts and nothing else. Also, several sellers of new parts on Amazon and eBay are also Lexus dealership operations.

In any event, the parts you select get ordered by the dealer in question and sent to them from whichever warehouse(s) has them, typically within a day or two. And then you either pick them up at the parts counter of the dealership or they get mailed off to you.

The one nice thing about going through a dealership is that it’s much like a car. The individual part has an MSRP, but that’s not the price the dealership pays, and the dealership is allowed to give up some margin sell it for less than MSRP—and typically does. In my case, Lexus of Tulsa had a blanket 15% off MSRP on all their parts if ordered online.

Speaking of which: you can call the dealer and get the info you need on how long it’ll take to get the parts, but you’ll probably get a better price if you actually place the order online, because they know how e-commerce customers are. If you order at the parts counter or over the phone, they’re likely to charge you MSRP. Even when you order online, it still hits the desk of whoever is at the parts counter, and that person has to manually place the order.

The dealership’s parts dept will send a single aggregated batch to the warehouse system once every business day, mid-afternoon, with all the parts they need to order (including customer parts orders, stuff they need in stock, and parts ordered on behalf of sales or service/warranty procedures in the service department). If you miss that cutoff time, it’ll be on the next day’s batch. So try to order in the morning if you want a minimum delay.