Does anyone have perfect bodywork?

Hi all,

Every time i look over my '17 GT i see another issue with the bodywork. The panel alignment on all panels is dire, there is a mishapen section on the front right corner of the trunk lid and there is sealant rubbed up over the edge at the back of the hood, which has been painted over.. yeah thanks!! The nearside headlight sticks out of the wing whereas the offside is below the wing surface.

As some of you will be aware, my car has already had a new drivers door because the old one was bent!!

Am I just unlucky or are they all pretty bad? My RS body is bloody lovely with great panel fit and no dodgy areas whatsoever.

Nope, not perfect but I'm ok with it...

Recently what drove me absolutely wild was the headlight alignment on the GT, to make it worse, I only noticed after I had removed & re attached the bumper - making me think it was my fault!

My worries soon melted away at the next meet...some worse, some better than mine. The issue is a gap underneath the drivers headlight compared with the other side, and the "point" on the passengers side sticking out over the body work. Apologies because now I'll know you will look at yours!

Interestingly, I think my Ecoboost was probably better aligned. I certainly didn't notice the headlight issue and with the GT, when I look at the edge of the door out of the wing mirror, it doesn't sit as flush as my EB did.

Totally agree with the fact that dropping £30-40k on a car should give you perfectly aligned panels BUT what we have to remember is that this is Ford, they are building exciting, high performance, beautiful cars at a fraction of the cost of the "competition", and yea they slip a little with the build quality. That's fine by me :ford:

Gloucesternige said:

Hi all,

Every time i look over my '17 GT i see another issue with the bodywork. The panel alignment on all panels is dire, there is a mishapen section on the front right corner of the trunk lid and there is sealant rubbed up over the edge at the back of the hood, which has been painted over.. yeah thanks!! The nearside headlight sticks out of the wing whereas the offside is below the wing surface.

As some of you will be aware, my car has already had a new drivers door because the old one was bent!!

Am I just unlucky or are they all pretty bad? My RS body is bloody lovely with great panel fit and no dodgy areas whatsoever.

Click to expand...

i've had the same thoughts comparing our focus to the mustang too while mine overall isn't too bad there are far too many shoddy bits about it. I put it down to american workmanship vs german.

My car was at a detailer shortly after collection for Gtechniq coating and he reckoned the only flaw on it was a small scratch on the splitter. I have noticed other minor flaws since but in general i consider myself fairly fortunate with what I got. Don't suppose it should really be that way however...

I must be lucky, a slight inclusion in the paint on the petrol filler flap is all I've found or the detailer.

Alignment on mine is pretty OK. Certainly not enough faults to make me consider trying to have them adjusted.

Ive plenty of stone chips though, and its already been painted twice due to minor accidents/damage.

To be honest, for me its a daily driven car and I try my best not to get too hung up on such things.

Mine has an iPhone sized shadow in the paint. Took me a month to find it, no one else has spotted it, was I going to give it back to Ford - no. I treat it as a birthmark.

slowhand99 said:

Mine has an iPhone sized shadow in the paint. Took me a month to find it, no one else has spotted it, was I going to give it back to Ford - no. I treat it as a birthmark.

Click to expand...

Same, only found it last weekend!!!
:frusty:

slowhand99 said:

Mine has an iPhone sized shadow in the paint. Took me a month to find it, no one else has spotted it, was I going to give it back to Ford - no. I treat it as a birthmark.

Click to expand...

What do you mean, "shadow" please? Where is it??

Has anyone had experience of adjusting the headlamp vs fender fit?

Gloucesternige said:

Has anyone had experience of adjusting the headlamp vs fender fit?

Click to expand...

Yes... The inside 5.5mm bolts on the hood (Under the weather liner, which is under the rad cover) can be tightened, i actually swapped mine to 7mm bolts with a new clasp and a longer neck on the screw to bring it in tighter to the bumper as I didn't like seeing the headlight alignment prongues.

But it does depend on which bit is out of alignment as the 7mm bolts in the corners or the bumper/fender can bring the bumper up more as well.

I do however have a passanger headlight that sticks out a bit, but will look at fixing that when i do the intercooler and have more of the structural work off and can have a look about, think it's on the lower bolt out by a few MM so will just find a way to bring it in.

Funny that. My n/s sticks out as does Fleetors??

How many more have sticky out n/s lights??

Gloucesternige said:

Funny that. My n/s sticks out as does Fleetors??

How many more have sticky out n/s lights??

Click to expand...

A few do, it's well annoying. I'm going to see about fixing it, i'll report back "How to" if i figure it out.

FWIW I did ask the dealership I got the GT from (Birchwood Ford Hastings) whether they had any similar complaints about the headlight/bumper alignment. They said they had never had to remove a bumper...so I can only guess it's the same for a the majority of the Ford stores. That's as far as I dare go with the warranty approach :lol:

I'm sure if it bugged you that much, someone like Mike @ Modurstang may have some input of have a bash at getting it aligned.

I have roughly a 8-9 mm gap between the bottom of each headlight unit and the bumper. Can see all the clips both sides. At least mine are shit both sides and don't look odd. :lol: