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Anyone who has performed this task knows it should be simple. It can be simple if you take the right approach, otherwise one will get frustrated fast.....
Since we bought Lexi the passenger side from wheel well liner has had a hole in it and it's been bothering me so I decided to swap it out.
The most frustrating part of the process is the Toyota/ Lexus square plug prongs... 90189-06065, which is now replaced by 90189-A0002. My dealer wanted $2.25/ea for this simple piece of plastic and that seemed like a major ripoff... Having played with removal of 1 before starting the swap in earnest, I realized the best way to do this task would be to saw/snip of the head of the grommet and just replace with all new grommets when reinstalling. Each liner has 15 grommets.
I found these on Amazon and they are same as OEM and less than half the price:
So moral of the story is if you want to swear a lot and be frustrated you can try to remove the plugs without deforming them, good luck with that.
Step 1, remove tire
Step 2: remove all the screws and cut the heads off all the plastic grommets
Step 3: pull out old liner
Step 4: install new liner with new plugs and install the screws back in the original locations.
Step 5: Done in under 30 minutes.
The OEM fender liner has the white sound absorption pillow adhered to the backside. I added some dynamat material to help try deaden the sound some more. If I can tell the difference then I'll pull the driver side liner and add it to that one as well in the spring.
I can't say I noticed much difference to this mod sitting in the passenger seat vice driver seat, (an app I have on smartphone however was able to measure a 3 db difference between the sides down by the floor near the wheel well at 60 mph though) however it bothered me one side was different from the other, so I pulled the driver side and did the same thing to it, then reinstalled it. Now the smartphone app matches across both sides... so there is some interior noise from the fender liners being transmitted down low in the cabin.... it's not a lot but I'm beginning to think the engineers did this on purpose so I wouldn't hear my steering wheel clicking and tapping and the wind noise from the top driver door gasket sporadically.... haha. Minimizing NVH is a never-ending game.
Trying to make a car "quieter" can really be a frustrating process. One reason I'm loyal to Lexus is they are probably the best at of any of the major brands.
It's incredibly fatiguing to be in a car with a lot of road noise. I tried making a car that had a lot of road noise quieter, ripping apart the interior and applying Dynamat-type material and ensolite, and the gains were very subtle.
But I've never really understood why all the car makers don't put extra sound deadening on the wheel wells, that would seem to me to make a major difference since so much road noise comes from the tires and pavement. My guess is the weight and cost?
The heavier a vehicle is the less fuel efficient it is, the less cargo it can haul or tow. all negatives from a manufacturer's perspective. Most sound deadening is heavy, at least the dynamat style materials are...
At the end of the day I agree with you... it's a never-ending battle, regardless the vehicle... some vehicles are like riding in a wind tunnel, like my parents 2015 chevy equinox... it's alarming the db level inside at highway speeds, damn near dangerous for your hearing health in terms of exposure on long trips... Lexus does a really good job overall in terms of interior noise levels, no vehicle is perfect though, I just try to make small gains where I can as I own the vehicle.... I'm been playing around with the idea of adding some rockwool safe and sound insulation to the rear cargo wheel well voids behind the plastic panels. I think that would help a lot and a package would do it all for $50. It's easily cut with a knife and deadens sound like a champion in house applications.
If you end up going down this rabbit hole, take some before and after db readings. It can really help where to guide someone on what's the best bang for the buck. I'm not sure how accurate the smartphone apps are, but if the fender liner alone made a 3db difference, that's actually really good.
I have a Lexus GX460 and an ES 350, I definitely think the GX does a better job with the road noise.
Will do. Won’t happen until this winter earliest since we’ll be installing it in the new house and I’m sure I’ll have enough left over to experiment with this later this year or early 2022.
I’ve been lurking for a while and bought my 2018 GX 460 last weekend. On the long drive home we realized the fender liners weren’t put back on properly after having lights replaced and the fender liner pads and liner got all torn up. I’ve been trying to figure out the hardware listing so I can get them replaced. The diagrams are confusing to me… does anyone know if this is available anywhere or if I need to involve the dealership? I’d rather not pay an arm for it if I can help it.
When I search for the part numbers in the diagram for hardware they don’t pull up?
I need both fender liners and front pads replaced! Just posted a thread then saw this. Where did you find a listing of all the needed hardware? (I’m not reusing any likely.) I need to order everything for somewhere local to install.
I used oem parts. Ours was also destroyed the day we drove Lexi off the used car lot. not sure what that piece does honestly... perhaps redirects airflow and for NVH reasons. I didn't notice a difference after it was replaced with new piece if that's any help.
I used oem parts. Ours was also destroyed the day we drove Lexi off the used car lot. not sure what that piece does honestly... perhaps redirects airflow and for NVH reasons. I didn't notice a difference after it was replaced with new piece if that's any help.
I contacted Lexus and they gave me a parts list and I just ordered from their website. Probably could have gotten the hardware cheaper somewhere else but I just wanted to make sure I had everything and be done with it. Had a local body shop install it. They have everything on right but it seems like the passenger side has an area that is “flappy” and loose and there’s no missing hardware.. almost like it just needs another bolt or rivet. Anyone else notice this? I’m afraid it’s going to rip off again with wind movement. I’ll try getting a pic or video of the area.
Ok, here’s some video. The fender liner goes around the bumper pad screw, that’s the area it’s all loose. But there’s no other holes to connect anything unless I added my own.
11-14-20, 08:36 AM
Fender Liner Removal and Installation
