Need Help: Gap between front hood and bumper

polizei · 06-01-2011, 05:30 AM

Hey Guys,

I have a slight gap between my front hood/trunk and the bumper. I replaced the front hood shocks within the past few years, but that didn't affect the gap. Has anyone else run into this? Thanks for your help.

Here are a few pictures capturing this:

nesslar · 06-01-2011, 06:07 AM

I haven't really looked closely at the upper and lower latch pieces, but IF they can be adjusted slightly to the rear, making for more of a "reach" for the connecting pieces (aligned properly so as to "catch" of course), the front of the hood should close down a little more when it's shut. Just the geometry of the setup, maybe....

Targalid · 06-01-2011, 06:12 AM

The front rubber strip pulls out and you can access the fasteners underneath to loosen the bumper to remove it or relocate it. I can't remember but I believe the slots in the bumper mounts allow some movement up or down.

Kemo · 06-01-2011, 06:15 AM

well...you have some bumber stops in there that are adjustable on the left and the right. looks like the passenger side is high. start fiddling with them and see if that helps.

sc_rufctr · 06-01-2011, 06:19 AM

This is mine now... It was about the same as yours when I bought the car.

It took some work to get it to fit like this. I tried moving the lock as far down as it would go but it still had a gap. I didn't move the hinges.
I had to remove the lock and elongate the mounting holes with a round file. From memory about 3 or 4mm.

I'm still not 100% happy but it's much better than what it was.

nesslar · 06-01-2011, 09:32 AM

Well, I looked, and it seems to me the only way to fix that is to lower the bottom receiver and/or "hook" for the upper "ring". There are several points in there that you may be able to address; the hook/arm that catches the upper ring, or maybe the whole assembly.
I didn't tear mine apart, but your hood is simply not closing low enough. Your bumper and smile look tight up against the fenders, so it just has to be the lower latch assy. I'd get in there and lower it and/or (and this is to me a likely suspect) relocate/turn the "hook" slightly downwards. As I said, there are several bolts in there that might be adjustable. Your rubber hood stops ain't gonna do it.

djcdmv · djcdmv's Garage

I had the gap problem after I adjusted the lower latch on the car because the hood was hard to close. I raised the lower latch, which made it much easier to close. Then I ended up with the same gap in your photos. I decided I'd rather push hard to get the hood down then look at the gap, so I lowered the latch again. Any body shop guys out there have a solution as to how to loose the gap AND have the hood close easily.

polizei · 06-01-2011, 10:06 AM

Thanks for all of the responses guys. It sounds like there are a number of items that can be easily manipulated in an attempt to fix this. I'm getting a bunch of suspension work done right now by Mark Burkit of Specialty Cars. I went ahead and asked him to take a look at this too. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't diving into dangerous ($$) territory. A couple thousand dollars ago I would've been less cautious. It's funny how paranoia sets in after a while...

Thanks!