Body panel alignment issues

[Papaya]

After I took over my EB Mustang on the 12th of December last year, I did wait for a call from the Service of my dealership. As I posted earlier, my doors are out of line. (The driver door is "hanging down", wind noise and "raddle-noise" driving on the HWY at 60 MPH, driving over uneven ground, passenger door is actually sticking out, looks like it isn't closed proper, the hood is sitting to deep so I can actually see the fender edges, rear window known issue, left corner.) Waited now for 2 month with no call from the service guys at Kentwood FORD. Did drove by last week to make an appointment for today. Talking to the service guy there got the usual answer: "We don't know nothing about it.....?" Booked the car in and asked how long it takes them because I live 45 minutes (HWY) away. "You have to drop it at 8 in the morning and we take it for the full day, Sir." I did asked if I could get a ride...? "We don't drive out of town with the shuttles but we can drop you at the mall if you like?" (Opens at 11 AM! No idea what to do 3 hours - freeze to death?) So I asked for a service loaner so I could drive home. "Do you need the car the whole day?" I did asked back: "What question is that?"

I hope my doors fit when I pick up my Mustang in the evening. Luckily my service loaner was ready this morning waiting for me at the door.

BTW: After checking the rear window at some different dealers, I decided that I am OK with my Mustang, seeing some other Mustangs in show rooms with much more twisted rear windows. I did notice that the "clue" they use didn't touch the glass on some points like the lower left corner. Mine is all the way around black with no bubbles at all.

That's my update on the panel issue so far. :cheers:

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[Eco-T]

Just curious if this is the typical hood gap that others are seeing? I don't have to opportunity to visit this car before purchasing and have been told that the price I'm receiving is crazy and that i should be skeptical on the quality. Any input is a huge help! Thank you!

http://www.filedropper.com/screenshot2015-02-17at33423pm

 

[PonyGrrrl]

Just curious if this is the typical hood gap that others are seeing? I don't have to opportunity to visit this car before purchasing and have been told that the price I'm receiving is crazy and that i should be skeptical on the quality. Any input is a huge help! Thank you!

http://www.filedropper.com/screenshot2015-02-17at33423pm

Can you copy and paste or upload the screenshots directly to the forum? I don't want to join file dropper to see it. Thanks.


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[OppoLock]

Just curious if this is the typical hood gap that others are seeing? I don't have to opportunity to visit this car before purchasing and have been told that the price I'm receiving is crazy and that i should be skeptical on the quality. Any input is a huge help! Thank you!

http://www.filedropper.com/screenshot2015-02-17at33423pm

That site is sketchy as hell. Here's the embed.

And no, that looks like a uniform gap, although it does seem raised. You might be able to get away with adjusting the hood to have it shut a little lower.

This is how Ford advertises the car at shows (and how it should be). Notice how the hood and fenders are completely flush and uniform:

This is the problem people seem to have every now and then:

 

[Papaya]

Got already a call from service now:
A) My car would look like bad after inspection (who did the PDI??) - so they need my car for a couple days because they send it to the body shop. :shrug:
B) My navigation display will be changed/checked - what ever that means. There is already a TBD (I think he said).

*when I switched it off for night driving and drove through a bump the monitor switched on at his own.

Yes I know. I should be happy but I am really angry a bit that FORD is giving this cars out of the factory and hoping customers do not complain. Maybe dealers have a note already from Ford to do the PDI a little bit less usual as usual? Makes me mad! addle:

 

[PonyGrrrl]

I dropped my car off at the Collision Center and they repainted my scratched PP wheels, removed the rear bumper and tail lights then reattached the bumper and put the tail lights back in. It's 99% better than before in the rear of the car. The field engineer that looked at my car said everything else is within tolerance, b.s.

When my CSR called today he reiterated the same bullshit, sorry tolerance excuse. I told him Ford should fire their lazy and complacent engineers that feel it's acceptable to sell cars with such visually obvious flaws. I think it's a pretty shitty "oh well" attitude toward customers who spent their hard earned cash on crooked cars. This isn't my first Mustang and my previous one had no panel alignment issues, fortunately the dark color hides these flaws.

They gave me a 3 year 45k mile with 5k mile interval maintenance plan for free for my troubles. I wasn't planning to take my car to any dealerships for service but if their going to do it for free then I will take it to Ford for the 3 years.

I haven't let any of this spoil my enjoyment of the car, it's gorgeous inside and out, no one else has noticed any of the alignment issues. The interior is flawless and I love the premium trim. The transmission and clutch make zero noise and neither does the engine.


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[Clink]

One of the first GT's my dealer got you couldn't slide a sheet of paper through the driver side hood and fender it was that damn tight.

 

[JWS]

Alignment

I would like the "Tolerance Police" to bet me a $1,000 Bill that they can slide their bill across the door into the Front Fender/Rocker Panel/Door interface and not see it disappear under the Fender. If it disappears, it's mine.

This photo shows the alignment of the trunk lid with the fenders, after adjusting the gaps and flushness. If this matches, the creases on the deck lid will not be aligned, although they are close. To have the deck lid creases align, you would have to move the trunk lid aft, which would have the deck lid sticking out past the fenders, and also affect flushness with the fenders.

Also, the angle of the three trunk lid bends (the back, the tuck and the folded under lip) don't match with their counterparts on the fenders. Lots of pounding and bending matched a bit, but still work to do.

To the left of the bath mat on the trunk, you can see the lip of the trunk lid that meets up with the sail panel near the rear window. I had to pound down the right side of the interface, because its slope was different from the quarter panel, due to the whole left side of the car drooping. This might be because of the weld jig, or it's just a stamping issue which leads to the glass drooping up near the roof.

Once the deck lid is aligned, you can mount the tail lights, but the left one interferes with the corner of the fender/trunk well. I bent all these in (which was done after this photo) to allow the light housing to go back as far as possible. All attempts to align the lights with the plastic trunk lid panel have failed. With this design, you really can't do it. Something is gong to have to be sacrificed to give you the most important or pleasant appearance.

Will update later when I have a more temporary/permanent solution.

You can make it look good from 4 to 5 feet away, but will still see problems up close.

 

[Papaya]

Now YOU scare me! Are you saying that we have a car were the alignments have to be fixed with a "hammer"? I thought the back lights have "only" be taken out and then put back in place to align with the trunk lid? Now the back of the car is wrong welded/bad parts used? I am getting depressed right now.

But it explains why the rear part of the car looks so twisted. Window, lit, rear panel and tail lights, trunk lid and so on. I am getting a bad idea that the whole frame of the car is somewhat twisted and someone tried to pull the panels in place to weld it together. (If that makes sense what I am writing.) :faint:

 

[Bay1Stang]

Wait a minute you're telling me if the trunk lid is misaligned it's because the parts on the car don't match? That's some sick joke, right?

 

[valentinoamoro]

I started to post a comment to this thread sharing with the forum that my passenger door was rubbing against the edge of my fender. It caught
my attention when I opened my passenger door earlier today and heard a squeaking sound, like something hard rubbing against
rubber. Initially, it looked as though the top edge of my passenger door was rubbing against the fender when opening it.
But, after further inspection, I could see that it's actually rubbing against some foam rubber insulation inside the fender.

The gap between the passenger door and fender is noticeably smaller than the gap between the driver's side door and fender. The driver's
side door does not scrape against the foam insulation inside the fender. See photos below:

Photo #1 - Passenger door completely shut.
Photo #2 - Another view of the passenger door completely shut.
Photo #3 - View of passenger door open, showing how close the door edge is to the fender.
Photo #4 - Another view of the passenger door open, showing how close the top of the door edge is to the fender.
Photo #5 - Another view of the passenger door open less wide, showing how close the lower door edge is to the fender.
Photo #6 - View of the passenger door edge rubbing against the foam insulation inside the fender. You can see the scuff
marks on the foam insulation.

I think I was "lucky" in that, had the gap between the passenger door and front fender been any closer, it would be
knocking paint off the edges. I'm not sure if it's worth the effort to attempt a panel alignment to widen the gap to
prevent the door edge from rubbing against the foam insulation in the fender.

I knew that there would be first-year issues with the new Mustangs but, with such obvious signs of misalignment, I think
Ford needs to review their Quality Control process. Easily-spotted things like this should never leave the factory
in my opinion.

Lastly, a comment about photos showing panel misalignment. If you look at the top of the door and fender in photo #1,
you'd think the vertical alignment was way off. But, if you look at photo #2, the vertical alignment is fine. Point
is, be careful when looking at photos of panels. The 2015 Mustang has more curves, angles, lines, creases than any car
I've ever seen and it's very hard to photograph accurately.

I have the exact misalignment in the same place. No rubbing but very close. A Ford cert bodyshop is looking at it next week - Will update with status.

 

[Jeffola]

Here is my dilemma, The left (Drivers) side of the car has multiple alignment issues. When the car was a few days old I had it in for them to see it, and program a new 2nd key (which they lost).
1. Drivers hood and fender are misaligned in the center of the hood
2. Drivers Trunk Misaligned against the quarter panel
3. Rear bumper has a gap all along the quarter panel on the drivers side
4. (Its a convertible) the back window is lower on the left than the right, after you look at it for a while, you notice the top is also crooked.

I heard him say on the phone that something isn't right, my confidence level is in the toilet. I contacted the General sales manager, he told me I should have gone to him first and he will get me info on the status. He too, is not pleased.

Its been at the dealer for two days, they DO have a body shop and thats where its been. They have open tickets with ford on the alignment issues as well as a rattle inside to the right of the rear right seat.

Yesterday when I called to see what was going on (they said it would only be there one day) they said they can't release it, ford has to see it and its going to be a few days before we know when.

I love the car, but I am less than pleased.

Trust me, this is not buyers remorse, this is poor quality control, I bought a 50th year car with 50th package to own for the next 50 years, id like it to be straight.

 

[Papaya]

Quality issues

I know what you saying and I am in the same dilemma. I understand that people think sometimes that we can't get 100% aligned cars. But when I read and did see it on my own car, how misaligned the doors and some panels are, I am wondering why FORD isn't stepping in before delivery. I see it coming for the folks going to car shows to show their cars, that audience will see misalignment were maybe there is none. It is a sad story. :cheers:

 

[Blackdog]

Ok, I'm sick of hearing these stories. Can someone from Ford come forward and acknowledge these problems are happening, take responsibility and initiate corrective action? It seems to me that there is a good amount of customers with panel misalignment issues.

I'm pretty concerned being I have a car on order. I'm excited to get the car, but on the the other hand I have a degree of anxiety knowing I could be in the same situation. I won't sign the paperwork if the car is screwy. I want to order aftermarket accessories that I have planned, BUT won't as I don't want to be stuck with a bunch of accessories for a car I may not get.

Rich

 

[Jeffola]

Update from the dealer, the top and back window were crooked as a result of a misaligned component, the rattle and there was a scratch on the glovebox door, that has all been resolved. Its at the body shop now, having all the other misalignment issues looked at.

I should hear back by 3-4pm and I will advise you all whats going on here.

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