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Hood Struts and Uneven Hood

Arknsawchuck

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I had the same issue with my Ford Performance and found it was operator error. You have the bracket installed wrong. I move mine and the hood closes evenly and lines up as it should.
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jimspang

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The hood on my 2018 sits lower than the fenders on both sides. The Service Manager and I took a look at the eight 2018/2019 that were in stock and all had that same issue. This is how they were built!!
 
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Zelek

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So I managed to fix it. It required adjusting the hood hinge bolts and measuring both side gaps evenly as well as the front gap on the left and right side. After that, I adjusted all the fender bolts, front, middle, and rear to make the gap even on both sides. It looks a ton better than it did previously and probably the same work a body shop would have done. Needless to say, the hoods on these cars are just thrown together and some get lucky with them aligned properly and I happened to get one with a misaligned hood. If you spend a few hours toying with it, measuring the gaps on both sides and also adjusting the rubber stoppers up front, you'll get it. I removed the redline struts when I did all of the adjusting then put them back on. I did the fender adjustments after the struts were on with those bolts.

I'll go back in with touch up paint to cover up the moved bolts on the fenders where they left a mark originally and the bolts that got chipped.
 

S550VIN54

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So I managed to fix it. It required adjusting the hood hinge bolts and measuring both side gaps evenly as well as the front gap on the left and right side. After that, I adjusted all the fender bolts, front, middle, and rear to make the gap even on both sides. It looks a ton better than it did previously and probably the same work a body shop would have done. Needless to say, the hoods on these cars are just thrown together and some get lucky with them aligned properly and I happened to get one with a misaligned hood. If you spend a few hours toying with it, measuring the gaps on both sides and also adjusting the rubber stoppers up front, you'll get it. I removed the redline struts when I did all of the adjusting then put them back on. I did the fender adjustments after the struts were on with those bolts.

I'll go back in with touch up paint to cover up the moved bolts on the fenders where they left a mark originally and the bolts that got chipped.
Glad to hear you were able fix your problem. 🍻 It's a damn shame one has to go through the agony.
 

MustangFreak

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My Mustang has the same issue . I took it to a paint and body and they said they would have to remove the hood and a bunch of other items (can’t recall) …. I said hell no!!!! I will be contacting Ford to fix their poor quality control
 

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Zelek

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Update: I ended up removing the Redline Elites due to the strut pulling down the driver's side of the hood for some reason. I've spent at least 8+ hours on different days adjusting my hood, fender bolts, and the rubber stoppers and no matter what happens, the right side (driver's side) continues to dip until I remove the strut. I've reinstalled the struts and brackets on both sides twice. I did not have any issues at all with my 2017 GT when I did this. I'm surprised it's such a headache on this car. It's almost like they didn't test this product with the newer 2018+ models.

My last option would be trying the Steeda kit but I don't know if that's going to fix the issue. It might just be the way my hood is and it may have to live with the prop rod forever.
 

Tshenberg

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I have the Steeda kit. Same exact issue you have
 

Charlemagne

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Do US Mach 1's have active hood like we have in Europe? I read the hood struts need to be different for us from this reason so kinda gave up on replacing prop rod. I know you didn't have it on mustangs before but maybe it changed in 2020/2021?
 

Schwerin

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I installed the Ford Performance struts and the washer hose was pinched. I haven't been able to find a solution to splice the hose. The only option Ford gave me was to buy the complete hose from fluid reservoir all the way under the hood to the washer pieces. Does anyone know of a splice kit or solution. Cost of the full part from Ford is $22.00 and install is a couple of hrs labor about $250.00.
i just adjusted mine to run along side the strut and hasnt been an issue since, it stays out of the way.
 

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I had the same issue with my Ford Performance and found it was operator error. You have the bracket installed wrong. I move mine and the hood closes evenly and lines up as it should.
Can you give more info on how you fixed? Photos maybe how the bracket should look
 

Crowd Hunter

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