Possible Crash Cover Up: SHELBY GT350

[MCarsFan]

I have a feeling you guys are going to mess this up more and make it worse. I would just leave it as is.

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[torque124]

I'd be interested to see if if someone could post pictures of the before/after...

Here are my gaps, I think I can live with this, for now

 

[torque124]

And as a reference, here is a 7 y.o Audi:

 

[Zombo]

I'd be interested to see if if someone could post pictures of the before/after...

Here are my gaps, I think I can live with this, for now

Only have the right side. Before, with Jack and after. Maybe a slight improvement. After picture is a lot closer so it actually looks worse, but it isn't.

 

[Zombo]

Went looking back. These are pics from the day I purchased my car. Gaps appear a lot tighter back then. Can't say it left the factory looking too bad.

 

[8WOOD]

I removed my tail lights in an attempt to fix the problem. I took a lot of pics to document my fix, but my fix didn't work as well as I hoped, so I wont bother.

As I stated earlier, it is a design problem, not an assembly problem. The top of the bumper cover is supported by a tab on the bumper cover sliding into a slot on the black plastic component. Not a very secure connection. I don't think there is much more to be done unless you disassemble the whole back end and try to realign it, in which case other gaps will most likely increase. I'm done and am going to live with it.

My fix:
1) Raised both bumper sides with jacks to get the gap where I wanted it (it looked good - too bad we can't drive around on jacks!)
2) Applied some 3M 2216 2 part Epoxy adhesive to both sides where the tab goes thru the slot. Let it cure overnight with the jacks in place.

Very slight improvement. The Adhesive held fine, but the black plastic piece itself is not stiff enough to support the weight and must have deflected a bit. I suppose what I did will at least stop it from moving further.

Tips on removing the tail lights:
1) The hardest part was removing the 2 button slide in fasteners that hold up the luggage compartment lining. You have to work them out as best you can - Once I got them started, I had a thin open end wrench that I got under the head and pried them off. I did not put them back in after I was finished.
2) Disconnect the gray tail light connector first, before removing the 3 nuts holding on the tail light - a 10mm wrench is required.

Thankyou! It looks like they are not soldered on the clips like mine!

 

[Aurelius]

Apologies for the long wait. So I didn't end up fixing the gap. It's doable but comes with a problem. I went into this trying to find a no drilling no modifying solution. Wasn't able to find that option today. When you take off the bumper you'll find the black tab where the clip attaches. It's a deep tab. That being said the painted clip on our bumpers is very thin but also not cut out so great. This presents a problem since you cannot simply clip it on the tab, without cutting.

Could you cut the tab and clip it on? Yes, however it is extremely thin. Given the weight of our bumpers, and they are heavy, I don't really consider this a good option. I feel as if those tabs break then that's all she wrote anyway. I'll apologize to the QC guy because they must have seen this and someone up top cleared it. You have to modify the bumper clip to fit the tab and I feel as if they would just snap after you do. It's also a bad alignment on the tab and the bumper. They are angled wrong so a true mate doesn't happen.

I almost feel as if someone knew about this and said ok guys, we can connect the tab through force but warranty a bunch of broken bumper tabs or... We can claim that it's natural and just not say anything and save on cost of designing a better bumper or trying to figure out how to lighten the rear diffuser. This is not a conspiracy and I'm not sitting here demanding it be changed. I understand why they did it. This might also explain why they are plastic soldering OPs year of mustang. Makes sense to reinforce that area.

Sorry guys I wish I had better results. I like zombos glue idea. It looks great. My car went back to original gap. It looks a little better but it's not in my opinion what I would call right.

 

[8WOOD]

Aurelius thank you for your efforts in finding a solution. I agree with your theory on why they were produced like this; however, I know Ford is making a huge mistake, there are plenty of other car companies that will be getting my money in the future. I don't think I'll be able to buy another Mustang again because of the QC issue with the GT350: panel alignment issues, oil burning issues, multiple engine failures, boot failures, etc...

I keep telling myself I should have just bought the new Nissan GTR.

 

[Voodooo]

Aurelius thank you for your efforts in finding a solution. I agree with your theory on why they were produced like this; however, I know Ford is making a huge mistake, there are plenty of other car companies that will be getting my money in the future. I don't think I'll be able to buy another Mustang again because of the QC issue with the GT350: panel alignment issues, oil burning issues, multiple engine failures, boot failures, etc...

I keep telling myself I should have just bought the new Nissan GTR.

Like their are no GTR Issues or any other vehicle for that matter?

 

[thehygienist]

Mine is getting corrected this Thursday. I decided to go forward with it at the Ford dealer body shop. They have experience and a large operation. I'm told it will be fixed with adhesive, which is in line with what others concluded. At the very least, if it tightens up a little the adhesive may stop it from getting wider over time. Then there's the front vent that needs a fix. I'll try to get some pics of the process. Mine appears to be much worse than normal, only on the drivers side. A lot of gaps I've seen in this thread I could live with but the tabs show up through the gap and it just looks shoddy.

 

[8WOOD]

Like their are no GTR Issues or any other vehicle for that matter?

My GTR had perfect perfect perfect fit and finish, there was nothing wrong with it. You can go buy a 2015/2016 one for 70,000-75,500 dollars for the premium brand new, some people are paying that much for the GT350.

I met another gt350 owner today, he has a ruby red just like mine, it has 300 miles on his. The leather is falling off his seats, the paint had started coming off his fender, and he has horrible gnaps in his rear feder too.

 

[Chris796]

I'd be interested to see if if someone could post pictures of the before/after...

Here are my gaps, I think I can live with this, for now

Mine are exactlyyyyy the same

 

[lemers]

Think the car is shaking itself apart?

 

[TDC]

Nearly a year of ownership and the rear bumper gap is the same as the day I picked it up.

 

[MCarsFan]

This is coming from me - I have now seen several of these cars in person and they all had the bumper gap, furthermore its really not that bad. Someone has to show you for you to see otherwise you wont notice.

The only real concern is what happens when water, salt, road debris etc gets in that gap, and makes its way to areas where it shouldnt and can cause rust etc? Who knows.

Frankly, I wouldnt bother. Most likely you ll end up causing other issues and gluing the bumper is no good, god forbid it needs to be taken off and repainted? Then what?

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