The pic below is of a hood latch stud. It's actually an integrated piece that is the latch striker and the retainer unit. Other cars have a latching mechanism, but then have reverse stops that you need to adjust to limit where the body line is when the hood closes. On the Beemer, the hood has spring loaded adjusters. You adjust the striker down to where it latches and holds the right body lines... the springs keep that tension on the hood to hold it in place (with the hood down and latched, you should be able to push down on the hood and feel it slightly 'give'... that is you overcoming the springs). Now if your latch mechanism is tough, and your strikers are adjusted to where you have a nice seamless body line when your hood closes, then the toughness is probably somewhere in the cable system.
