Are the body gaps on the Camaro as bad as the Mustang?

[young at heart]

Don’t misunderstand me, I love my GT and it’s going nowhere. I think it’s a beautiful car but honestly it’s about a 20-footer. I was washing it this afternoon and thinking about the gaps. I don’t think even Dave Kindig could fix these gaps. And the paint isn’t so slick either. Overall the paint and body work are kinda a throwback to the ’70s.

So just out of curiosity, is the Camaro like this too?

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[Rapid Red]

Go check em out and get back to us ...

 

[Bulldog9]

I keep seeing this, and guess my Bullitt was built on a good day. The body panels, doors, and trunk lid are all spot on. The Front fender/door gaps are spot on as well. The only thing that needed a little 'tweaking' was the front fender to hood, and adjusting was as simple as loosening the front bolt near the headlight on the passenger side. Was a little wider in the front than back.

 

[Brokestang]

Same with mine. Passenger side hood was just a bit low. Tweaked the knob out just a little & was fine. Rest of the gaps all look good.

I keep seeing this, and guess my Bullitt was built on a good day. The body panels, doors, and trunk lid are all spot on. The Front fender/door gaps are spot on as well. The only thing that needed a little 'tweaking' was the front fender to hood, and adjusting was as simple as loosening the front bolt near the headlight on the passenger side. Was a little wider in the front than back.

 

[nustang]

ford and mercedes decided to test their assembly fit. Each put a cat in an S550 (yep mercedes has one). 3 days later the car in the mercedes was dead from lack of oxygen. The cat in the ford was nowhere to be found ... true story ... read it on the internet,

 

[NeedForGreen]

Only gap I have is my a small one where my passenger side headlight is on the bumper. I know some have a lot. My neighbor has a ZL1 Camero and I didn't notice any gaps just the boring interior. lol

 

[Rynoe]

Coming from a 2016 Camaro SS, yes definitely. The trunk lids are notorious for slowly misaligning and scraping the trunk opening edges (didn’t happen to me). The hood and front bumper had large gaps. The side rocker panels were not aligned correctly to the door shape. Hood and a door needed to be repainted under warranty. There’s more but it wasn’t the point of the car to be perfect. Still loved her even with her flaws and wouldn’t change a thing. Same with my Mach 1

 

[BimmerDriver]

Back when I had a C7 Corvette, there were a lot of complaints on the forum about poor panel gaps, rubbing paint off, etc. I know first hand that the paint on those cars is at a microscopic thickness. My wife had a Camaro before we got married, and although the gaps weren't terrible, the paint didn't match on things like gas tank cover, bumper cover, etc. I suppose that it could have been repainted after transit damage, but it had no signs of that (like overspray, etc.).

Yeah, the paint on the Mustang ain't great, but my former coupe had good panel fit except for the trunklid trim, and whenever I'd see a flaw, I'd just try to remember what it cost and justify it that way.

 

[Deleted member 35644]

On the V6, there is no hood adjustment that will bring the hood, header panel, and fenders into perfect alignment. So, I adjusted the hood to match up with the header panel, and live with the fender gap.

 

[Idaho2018GTPremium]

I've had a 2018 Mustang GT and currently have a '21 Camaro ZL1. I owned both at the same time for a few weeks. My Mustang didn't have overtly bad panel gaps or alignment, but there were a number of places where things were just a little off. Rocker panels didn't line up with the fenders front and back on both sides, the metal fenders didn't line up with bumper covers front and back, the hood was off center slightly, causing different gap sizes on each side. The doors were pretty good, but had larger gaps in the front than the back. The trim piece adjacent to the driver side mirror stuck out slightly, and wouldn't seat properly like the passenger side. Again, none of these were deal breakers or overly bad, but it was a number of little things.

The ZL1 is better for sure. None of those small misalignments at the fenders/bumper covers/rocker panels, and the hood is nicely aligned. The door gaps are slightly inconsistent between front and back, but only ever so slightly. Overall, quite a bit better than the Mustang.

Having been a member of both Camaro and Mustang forums for several years, I think there are certainly more complaints about panel gaps and misaligned body panels and other QC issues here on the Mustang forum.

 

[Ecto1]

I looked over the panel gaps on my '15 ragtop before I bought it VERY closely. The previous owner claimed it had been rear ended and repaired. So I was skeptical and very concerned about the panel gaps. Not just at the rear but all over the car. I was very surprised at how tight the panel gaps were all over the car. They're certainly aren't perfect, no mass produced product will be, but they were incredibly good. I used a micrometer to measure the gaps at both ends and the center and they were only a few mils off everywhere on the car. The spacing on both sides of each panel were also within a few mils of each other. I was really surprised and pleased with the condition of the panels and the gaps.

As far as the paint goes it also seems very high quality. There are some light scratches on mine and a few dings here and there but the overall finish and depth of color are quite good. I have no complaints about the fit & finish.

The prematurely corroding aluminum panels are a horse of a different color however...

 

[Vert]

The only gap I have is the one I put on camaros!

 

[Hillsndale]

My 2020 is nearly perfect and better than the 2002 Lexus GS I had. Although it was hard to tell on the Lexus because the gaps were huge in comparison. I was always aware of how big they were, especially the door gaps, but seeing them side by side, the Lexus gaps were comically huge. Made it harder to see the uneveness.

 

[ZeroTX]

My 2020 is nearly perfect and better than the 2002 Lexus GS I had. Although it was hard to tell on the Lexus because the gaps were huge in comparison. I was always aware of how big they were, especially the door gaps, but seeing them side by side, the Lexus gaps were comically huge. Made it harder to see the uneveness.

That's odd. Honestly. Lexus has one of the tightest panel gaps/fitment I've ever seen on a mass produced reasonably affordable car. My wife's Toyota Prius feels like it was put together by a Swiss watchmaker. Tight, perfect alignment everywhere.

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