Hood Misalignment

[WhiteDream26]

Hi everyone. I posted this issue over a month ago and I'm still having an issue with it. I just can't let it go especially spending the money that I did. I feel like I bought a used car. It's the hood misalignment on my white '26 GT. I brought it to the dealer 3 times and all they did was adjust the knobs under the hood to level it out which is what I also tried. It's still off. I don't know what else to do. If it matters, I am leasing this car. So my questions are, what would you do? Does anybody else have this issue? And if you do, haver you had to turn the knobs under the hood to get it to line up? Also if anybody knows, do those knobs come completely out if you loosen them all the way or are they locked in somehow. This isn't sitting well with me and I'm having a hard time living with it. Any suggestions would be very helpful. Thanks in advance!

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[slater]

Does that dealer have a body shop attached to it?
If not youre going to the wrong dealer....

Im curious to see if other comment that their cars are similar.
I had alignment issues on my 25 f150, hood, panel above front bumper to driver side fender.
Dealer I worked at for 32 years has a bodyshop attached to the dealer & they took care of it under warranty.

Do you plan on buying out the lease, or just turning it in?

Looks like the driver side middle area of the front clip is what may need adjustment & not the hood.

But these are mass produced cars, it aint a Ferrari...

 

[slater]

Browsing cars online where I worked..

 

[slater]

Go look at other mustangs on the lot & compare the gap.
It may be a case of, it is what it is....

 

[LouG]

It's hard to tell from the photos, but it looks like the hood stops are adjusted too far out and are holding the outer sides of the hood up.

 

[Ewags81]

body seams probably show more since its white. I don't think its horrible. IMO, its a lease. you won't see the gaps while you're wringing it out

 

[DarkHorsePremium]

I don't think that looks right. Take it to another dealer. If they can't resolve it, take it to a body shop. Things should definitely line up better than that, and it shouldn't be that hard for somebody who knows what they're doing.

 

[D/\rK•650]

Hi everyone. I posted this issue over a month ago and I'm still having an issue with it. I just can't let it go especially spending the money that I did. I feel like I bought a used car. It's the hood misalignment on my white '26 GT. I brought it to the dealer 3 times and all they did was adjust the knobs under the hood to level it out which is what I also tried. It's still off. I don't know what else to do. If it matters, I am leasing this car. So my questions are, what would you do? Does anybody else have this issue? And if you do, haver you had to turn the knobs under the hood to get it to line up? Also if anybody knows, do those knobs come completely out if you loosen them all the way or are they locked in somehow. This isn't sitting well with me and I'm having a hard time living with it. Any suggestions would be very helpful. Thanks in advance!

Do you think you will buy it after your lease is up? Because if not then it looks just fine. Honestly it doesn't look like it's any worse than my darkhorse. They all look very similarly. It's mass produced. Cheers

 

[DeeDub SC]

Hi everyone. I posted this issue over a month ago and I'm still having an issue with it. I just can't let it go especially spending the money that I did. I feel like I bought a used car. It's the hood misalignment on my white '26 GT. I brought it to the dealer 3 times and all they did was adjust the knobs under the hood to level it out which is what I also tried. It's still off. I don't know what else to do. If it matters, I am leasing this car. So my questions are, what would you do? Does anybody else have this issue? And if you do, haver you had to turn the knobs under the hood to get it to line up? Also if anybody knows, do those knobs come completely out if you loosen them all the way or are they locked in somehow. This isn't sitting well with me and I'm having a hard time living with it. Any suggestions would be very helpful. Thanks in advance!

Just my two cents, but it appears the two edges right above both headlights match up very well with their respective fender and front fascia edges. But I agree the middle of the hood has a dissimilar looking gap to the fascia. I would think all this means the relative convex curvature of the hood and fascia don't match up. So, perhaps one of them is not "correct" and that gives you the disparate gap look? That fascia is one BIG molded part, so some variance might not be unusual.

 

[sl8anic]

Yeah, I think that unfortunately it's just a fairly common "feature" of the design pecularity and color choice. I've observed similar gaps in other mustangs of this model, some worse, some better, but the color was the most obvious giveaway. Because the rubber seal is black it tends to highlight the gap irregularities. My car has a similar gap but it's grey, so it's harder to see. One thing to possibly try is a Ferrari approach with spacers. If you take off the top plastic cover that hides the hood latch you will see how the front is attached to the body. Might be able to insert a spacer or two under that particular attachment bolt to raise that section a bit?

Or go nuts and stick some white tape over the rubber seal, then close the hood to see if it makes it less visible. If it does - maybe get creative with some sort of painted rubber approach?

 

[DHGOOD]

If the corners are at the right height, adjust the hood latch up. It looks like the hood is pulled down(deflected) too much at the latch.

I had to move the latch up on my superduty because I had slam the shit out of it to get it to close(latch) but it was at the right height with the fenders. That fixed it.

 

[Sofa King]

The hood stops will screw out if screwed too far... they can be screwed back in. The adjustment may need to be made with the stops and the hood latch as well. As others have said, it could also be the plastic part of the front end. It can be loosened up and manipulated as well. Body alignment is a lost art... old cars had shims at many locations to adjust panel alignment... new cars have eliminated that as it takes too long to build the cars that way. They are designed to fit without needing any adjustment (yeah right) so that can make a perfect fit nearly impossible. My 24 has an even gap at the front... even after adjusting hood stops up to get hood even with fenders. My 25 has a bit of an uneven gap along the front edge much like yours. Just picked the 25 up two weeks ago but haven't tried to get it better yet. I may loosen the screws on the front edge of the plastic bumper cover and add shims as needed.

 

[slater]

As stated, it is a lost art...
Ive been a ford tech for 32 years.
If theres no bodyshop at this dealer, its a lost cause....

The guys doing the adjustments would be the AC electrical interior guys & they just dont have it in them.....

 

[WhiteDream26]

The hood stops will screw out if screwed too far... they can be screwed back in. The adjustment may need to be made with the stops and the hood latch as well. As others have said, it could also be the plastic part of the front end. It can be loosened up and manipulated as well. Body alignment is a lost art... old cars had shims at many locations to adjust panel alignment... new cars have eliminated that as it takes too long to build the cars that way. They are designed to fit without needing any adjustment (yeah right) so that can make a perfect fit nearly impossible. My 24 has an even gap at the front... even after adjusting hood stops up to get hood even with fenders. My 25 has a bit of an uneven gap along the front edge much like yours. Just picked the 25 up two weeks ago but haven't tried to get it better yet. I may loosen the screws on the front edge of the plastic bumper cover and add shims as needed.

Thank you! That was very helpful.

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