Ford Quality: from Nightmare to Dream Come True

[Hulkster]

I love my '24. It's everything and then some for straight stock. Very comfortable, handles great, goes fast, looks sharp. Only downside is that Ford can not paint a black car at the factory. LOL Otherwise, I love it.

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[glenng6]

Hey Glenn - did your right rear window adjustment hold up? I've had the same problem since day 1 and I'm wondering if it's worth trying to address before my car's 3rd birthday in September.

It absolutely has! I can't say it will last forever, but so far, so good! I have also been spraying silicone on a rag and whipping down all the trim for the entire car. I still check it every time I put up my windows. Good luck! Glenn

 

[glenng6]

I love my '24. It's everything and then some for straight stock. Very comfortable, handles great, goes fast, looks sharp. Only downside is that Ford can not paint a black car at the factory. LOL Otherwise, I love it.

I agree 100%! I have seen worse paint jobs, but it certainly could have been better! Glenn

 

[Kaptain75329]

Did you adjust the latch or the hood stops?

Can't believe I missed this - sorry for taking forever and a day to reply.

To your question, had to do both plus a bit more:

1. The hood stops did not help initially and in fact exaggerated the problem. Did some searching on here + Google and learned how to adjust the latch. With some trial and error, I found that I needed to move the latch up about 5/8 inch. This turned into a supreme pain in the ass to adjust solo and I do not recommend for casuals like me who have been out of the wrenching game for 10 years. A second pair of hands attached to your bro who mods his Mustang after breakfast on the regular makes all the difference.
2. Once we got the latch dialed in, the hood stops came into play and again more trial and error to get this right. Both were too far out at first and the solution to getting an even look on the hood line in my case meant the stops had to be set at independant lengths.
3. Adjusting the latch and the stops improved the look immensely, but still not good enough for me to let it go. I did some more digging and found the round clips on the radiator cover appeared to be the wrong size, but only on the passenger side. (Which was, of course, on-brand for Ford in 2025.) That was causing the bumper to rise above the hood on one side because the clips could not hold the bumper in place correctly. Had to take a trip to the dealer and the service department ordered the correct clips under warranty. They arrived about a week later and I was planning to replace them myself, but the Service Department at my dealer in Colorado is awesome (shoutout to Groove/AutoNation Ford) and they took care of the fix for me while I signing the papers to confirm receipt of requested parts.

After all this, the final result still doesn't have the hood line exactly lined up point-for-point with the bumper. But it's night & day better and the flaw doesn't draw attention anymore.. you have to nitpick to see where it's not right. Even then, I've never seen any make get this perfect, even on the best Japanese examples. Simply not possible when you're dealing with two very different materials on mass produced cars (metal vs plastic) and where one of those materials will flex more as temperature and humidity vary through the year.

All the same, the photos speak for themselves and the hood looks correct now. Happy with the end result and very thankful for the support from my dealer and my bro.

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