Engeljizzle

Hello,

So my problem is that the gap that is supposed to be between where the hood and the bumper are doesn't have a gap like all the other cars I've seen. Its basically pressed together with a paper thing gap (Please see the first picture).

I've had it in the shop twice regarding this issue the last few months and they can't fix it and are saying its my fault because I must have bottomed out and I bent something. My front lip had minor scratches, I have the front axle lift system which I have used religiously in the 3500 miles I've driven the car. I've maybe bottomed out two or three times but nothing crazy that would have bent anything. My old 997 GT3 had bottomed out badly at like 35/40mph and I still didn't have this problem. As long as I can remember the gap has been non-existent and the only reason I noticed it was because my detail guy pointed it out to me and now it drives me insane!!

One thing I did notice is that the hood doesn't look it has been lined up correctly with the fender and I am starting to believe this somehow slipped through quality control and because the hood was put on incorrectly the bumper and hood touch each other(please see the second photo). I mentioned this to the dealer and they still won't do anything about it. They said I need a new bumper which will cost almost 5k installed and that if I moved the hood it would screw up the white paint that is on the bolts holding the hood to the arms that open and close it and this may affect the resale of the car if someone notices.

What should I do?!? This is driving me NUTS! I didn't paid 150k for a car to have problems like this..

Best Regards,

Andrew

redlightrich

Due to the time and mileage that lapsed and the fact that there may be some sort of scratches on the underside from the minor "bottoming out" you will have a real hard time getting any warranty attention on this.

I understand the dealer advising you NOT to attempt to adjust the hood, as that would leave a sign of it being moved, and people will believe it was accident damage.

Maybe pay a body shop to remove and replace the front bumper cover. I am not sure of the arrangement under there, but perhaps there is some wiggle room or maybe they can heat and move it.

I went over all my gaps at pick up time, and I found a slight variation on one gap, however, I felt that the cure would probably be worse than what I saw.

Good luck, you are simply at the mercy of the selling dealer

STG

Have a good body shop look at it and figure out the issue.

Hard to tell what's going on from a pic.

denny

Hi Andrew,

Was great to meet you at HPR on Sunday. I had a blast! Re your bumper issue, take your car to Stuttgart Auto Body here in Denver. Ask for Dale. I had them remove the license bracket holes from my car's front bumper that the factory placed during ED, and it looks perfect.

denny

fastmd

Have you talked to the service manager or regional rep?

Jimmy-D

This is a tough on - It is not your hood but your bumper. Look at the gaps on the side of the hood and they look fine. To me it is a bumper issue. Bring it to a body shop and see if they can manipulate it a little. If not; call your insurance company and let the know you might have been dinged while shopping - maybe scratch that idea

MileHigh911

Hey Denny,
I missed meeting you at HPR, but I have a lot video of your car. I haven't passed break in and short shifted at 7 k in the SB GT3 that was out there in the morning. We need to get the GT3 crowd together on the track this year!!
Jason

MileHigh911

Someone else had hood gaping issues on here too. Not sure who it was. I now want to go check mine

MileHigh911

And the under side scratches on a GT3...... Laughable.

MileHigh911

Andrew,
You got me thinking. So I went out and measured mine (I have bottomed out a couple times). My R/L hood to fender gap is 3/16 of an in (hard to exactly measure), and my bumper to hood gap is 2/16, while my bumper to R/L fender (under the lights) is 1/16 or less. There has to be a way to adjust it. If they move the hood toward the windshield, the hood/fender gap will increase. But if they are smaller than my 3/16, then maybe the hood is out of alignment. Why would anyone be afraid to adjust the hood? I don't get that. A little white touch up to cover the lost paint. If this truly was a factory adjustment issue, then I would think the new buyer would want it adjusted properly??

Engeljizzle

Denny,

Thanks for the recommendation! I will take it there and see what they say. This weekend was great. Like I said, it was fun going back and forth with identical cars. Our cars look nice going fast.

DES GTS

Another item to check on delivery. I think Bronson is keeping the definitive list.

Engeljizzle

Service manager, yes. Regional manager, no. I will give this a try but doubtful anything would happen after seeing people's responses on the forum.

Thanks!

Engeljizzle

This sounds like a good idea. Hopefully we don't get too much snow tomorrow..


Thanks for taking the time to actually measure. You're right, I can easily just put some touch up paint on the bolts. I am going to take the car to Denny's guy and have him adjust the hood and paint the bolts like new. If anyone notices I can just tell them to get a paint meter because it not like its been wrecked.

Engeljizzle

Call this ghetto rigged but it worked slightly. I just put folded up microfiber towels between the hood and bumper and closed it for an hour and it already made a difference. I'm going to leave it overnight and possibly do it again when its warmer outside and leave it in the sun. Maybe that will help. It might move back though.

Excuse the rubber, haven't cleaned it since the track on Sunday.

Regardless, I think after hearing the few opinions so far I will just take it to the bodyshop.

Thanks for everyones input so far.