Body Panel Alignment: What to watch out for + Tips (with a happy ending)

My issues:
Hood
The hood is raised on the driver side where it meets the window.

The hood is tight against the front fender on the driver side. Not so on the passenger side. I.e. the hood is not centered between the driver and passenger front fenders.

Front Bumper
The bumper is not properly attached where it connects to the fender, driver side, at the wheel well. An obvious, body issue.

Driver Door
The driver door when closed is not flush with the rear body panel. Sticks out about 1/4". Near the door latch. Same issue with the passenger door but not as bad and not as noticeable.

Trunk
The is trunk not flush with the rear body panels mostly at the back near the rear window.

Interior
There is wind noise near the passenger side of the front windshield. Not all the time. But when it happens it's noticeable.

There is a rattle mostly on the passenger side of the front dash. Not all the time. But when it happens it's noticeable.

Just noticed that there is a squeak on the driver door arm rest. Was driving without the stereo on which I rarely do. Very noticeable. This one is going to drive me crazy now that i know it's there.

As I looked the car over tonight, I am worried that the body issues cannot be fixed without some serious body work. I think they are just fundamental issues with the body. For example, the driver door is flush with the rear body panel in other places. It's mostly near the latch where it sticks out. So if you fix the latch issue, will the other sections of the door be uneven with the rear panel? The wheel well issue needs to be fixed. Next the driver door. The others? I'll ask and maybe they can be fixed with reasonable changes. But I do not want a body shop to tear into the car to fix the issues.

My 2017 GT has 4000 miles. I showed a couple of the issues to the dealer service rep when I took it in for it's first oil change. He said to bring it in and leave it. He'll show the issues to Ford and go from there. He was surprised and said "wow this is a new car..."

I'll upload pictures when I get a chance.

I guess this thread kind of died out...but on my '18 I have an issue with the rear bumper cover fit behind the rear wheel wells. I'm curious if it's common and if it's easily fixed. This issue wasn't there when I took delivery, but the hot summer weather has made the plastic bumper cover "pooch out", for lack of a better term, so the seam is not flush where it meets the metal fender. If I apply firm pressure with my hand I can push it back into shape, but it bulges out again after a day parked in the sun. I've searched online and found some old posts which suggested that the bumper and the alignment clips are poorly designed such that you practically have to invent your own fix. What are the odds a dealer will fix this without making it worse (or breaking something else)? Thanks...

My trunk lid was jacked up rubbing paint off the passenger side. I adjusted it myself. Hood is crooked, gonna bring it in. My car is a 2018 GT built last November. Everything else looks fine.

Zathras said:

I guess this thread kind of died out...but on my '18 I have an issue with the rear bumper cover fit behind the rear wheel wells. I'm curious if it's common and if it's easily fixed. This issue wasn't there when I took delivery, but the hot summer weather has made the plastic bumper cover "pooch out", for lack of a better term, so the seam is not flush where it meets the metal fender. If I apply firm pressure with my hand I can push it back into shape, but it bulges out again after a day parked in the sun. I've searched online and found some old posts which suggested that the bumper and the alignment clips are poorly designed such that you practically have to invent your own fix. What are the odds a dealer will fix this without making it worse (or breaking something else)? Thanks...

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ThatBigSkeptic said:

I just noticed this on my 18 as well

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I had this, too. I just gave it a good push and it clicked right into place.

No, I still have this issue--haven't really felt too confident having the dealer try to remount the bumper. And I've been swamped anyway with work and family stuff so it's not a high priority.

elevenears said:

After 1500 miles, I'm taking my pony in this week to get my panels fixed. I've had the car for about a month and paint is flaking off in 4 separate areas (with rust starting to show)! Does anyone have any idea how they fix it short of detaching the panel and repainting it?

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What did they do to fix this issue?

Best bet would be to replace the hood all together. Most likely the original hood was made from poor quality steel, had some surface rust prior to painting and/or was not treated/prepped correctly. Any of which may lead to further issues if just repainted.

Here’s some factual info regarding S550 body panel gaps. I figured this may benefit the folks who have major OCD and want to make sure every panel is gapped perfectly per factory specs... get out those gapping tools and measuring tapes kiddos!!

That’s great info right there... although the gaps on my car are decent, it’s the flushness that really bugs me. Looking at the tables, it’s probably on spec if up to 1.7mm is allowed at the fender/hood. Now to see what it takes to adjust anything, and see how much I’m willing to tolerate...

I had a discrepancy on my trunk lid and fender to hood gap, took to ford body shop today. They fixed it, didn’t even charge me. Prob took 20 mins and one shim.

Including the “Door Alignment” pdf for those who need it:

Resurrecting an old thread to add my issue. Driver door to front fender alignment:


I picked up my car in November. It has been sitting under a cover in my garage since then. It has 14.5 miles on it. I took the cover off last week and gave it a good inspection and noticed this. (Yes, I know I should have done that right away.) Anyway, I notified the dealer and showed these pictures. They were pretty good about it and said their body shop would "take care of it". This will not be until at least late April, when the snow and salt are gone here in Massachusetts and I take the car out on the road.
I will update then.

Chris

Here’s additional body measurements:

Body Closure info docs (contains how to align X)

Executive said:

Resurrecting an old thread to add my issue. Driver door to front fender alignment:

I picked up my car in November. It has been sitting under a cover in my garage since then. It has 14.5 miles on it. I took the cover off last week and gave it a good inspection and noticed this. (Yes, I know I should have done that right away.) Anyway, I notified the dealer and showed these pictures. They were pretty good about it and said their body shop would "take care of it". This will not be until at least late April, when the snow and salt are gone here in Massachusetts and I take the car out on the road.
I will update then.

Chris

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Update?

IPOGT said:

Update?

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I had no confidence in the dealer's on site body shop. I also had trouble getting a local shop to help me. They were reluctant to fix such a new car. COVID did not help trying to get someone to work on it either. I did it myself. Needed to take the inner fender well off, remove some sound-deadening foam, and loosen 8-10 bolts. I applied some upward pressure on the front fender and greatly improved the panel alignment. It's still not perfect, but at least I can walk by the car without getting that feeling of disappointment in the QC of a $50K new car.

The first pic below shows the start of the project. I did get the final alignment better than shown in the side view picture.

Still a shame that my son's Honda Civic has PERFECT panel gaps and everything lines up precisely and my "American Icon" looks like it was assembled by Ray Charles.

Thanks for following up!

Chris