Both of my front fenders look like the struts are causing minor warps, right side more than left. I notice by staring along the hood lines and also my right door lines aren't lined up exactly. Anyone else have this going on? My ride is silver 06 MT w 5k miles on it, never abused nor potholed! Am I dreaming?
Body sag or Fender Sag anyone?
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Don't think that's the case.
The hood on my car doesn't quote follow the contour of the upper fender. Between having different pieces of metal stamped on different presses, etc., you're probably not going to get those compound curves to line up 100% correctly.
As for the door -- you can always try to adjust it yourself.
That said, the variation you may have noticed is some settling of the body panels. Getting the pieces tightly bolted on in the factory is one thing -- but if a bolt, for example, has uneven levels of torque across the washer, you might have tiny amount of movement before it settles into a permanent seating.
The hood on my car doesn't quote follow the contour of the upper fender. Between having different pieces of metal stamped on different presses, etc., you're probably not going to get those compound curves to line up 100% correctly.
As for the door -- you can always try to adjust it yourself.
That said, the variation you may have noticed is some settling of the body panels. Getting the pieces tightly bolted on in the factory is one thing -- but if a bolt, for example, has uneven levels of torque across the washer, you might have tiny amount of movement before it settles into a permanent seating.
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No, not at all. We're only talking .1 or .2 millimeters here. Anything else is probably panel fit from the plant.
If you wanted to, you could try adjusting the bolts and repositioning the hood, fenders and door yourself. I wasn't happy with how the back bumper was fitting -- and moved it around until it was much better.
In my case, I was dealing with an adjustment of one panel. When you get to moving multiple panels around -- it can become a Rubik's cube kind of a thing.
One way to know if this project would be worth it or not is to eyeball the top of the fender and compare it to the top of the hood. If the curves seem relatively close -- then you can gain something by adjusting. If they're not -- then the curves of the panels are different and you're pretty much stuck.
Any mass produced car is going to have variations in compound curved metal unless it's all stamped at the same time with the same press -- and nobody, not even the Germans, do that -- they'll stamp an entire side of a car -- but not the front clip.
If you wanted to, you could try adjusting the bolts and repositioning the hood, fenders and door yourself. I wasn't happy with how the back bumper was fitting -- and moved it around until it was much better.
In my case, I was dealing with an adjustment of one panel. When you get to moving multiple panels around -- it can become a Rubik's cube kind of a thing.
One way to know if this project would be worth it or not is to eyeball the top of the fender and compare it to the top of the hood. If the curves seem relatively close -- then you can gain something by adjusting. If they're not -- then the curves of the panels are different and you're pretty much stuck.
Any mass produced car is going to have variations in compound curved metal unless it's all stamped at the same time with the same press -- and nobody, not even the Germans, do that -- they'll stamp an entire side of a car -- but not the front clip.
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Door Sag
I have a 2004 and the right door started to sag. I bought the car with 11,000 miles and it has not been wrecked. I first noticed the top of the door was hitting the "B" pillar. I will take it to the dealer body shop to look at it. the door appears to close to tight when you look at the body lines.
I have a 2004 and the right door started to sag. I bought the car with 11,000 miles and it has not been wrecked. I first noticed the top of the door was hitting the "B" pillar. I will take it to the dealer body shop to look at it. the door appears to close to tight when you look at the body lines.
Yeah
Now that you mention it, that's happening in the corner, too. Now that I know, time to ask the dealer about it. What I was referring to originally was that edge of my hood line is now flatter than the curve of my fenders now, just like most cars with struts will experience after years of stress. I will bring it in and complain and keep y'all posted. Why not, ay?
Now that you mention it, that's happening in the corner, too. Now that I know, time to ask the dealer about it. What I was referring to originally was that edge of my hood line is now flatter than the curve of my fenders now, just like most cars with struts will experience after years of stress. I will bring it in and complain and keep y'all posted. Why not, ay?
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That's the stupid plastic clip under the headlights breaking whenever you need to get the front bumper off. Broke mine on the passenger side -- but found the broken piece and was able to repair with contact cement.saturnk1 said:
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31 Posts
not a major deal
Unfortunately, GM is still workng on thier panel fits. We're getting much better every year, but we are not yet at that level of tutonic/kiazan perfection yet.
Many of these panels are adjusted on the fly while rolling down the final line at 55-65 jobs per hour. Rubber mallets and Polypro wedges. The Holden plant that built our rides is a flex factory that also builds the Commodores, Statesman, and I believe the Ute too (not 100% on the Ute) so something could have gotten overlooked if there was a major manufacturing issue with one of the other vehicles that day/night.
The door could have been damaged somewhere between the Body Shop, Paint and Trim Department... Robot crunch, original door dropped from a hoist (the doors are removed after paint and assembled on a seperate line and merged with the car again later.) If this happened the hinges might have loosened due to not being tightened as much as body shop originally torqued them when they installed a new door... etc... Any dealer should be able to tweek the panels without much fanfare.
Unfortunately, GM is still workng on thier panel fits. We're getting much better every year, but we are not yet at that level of tutonic/kiazan perfection yet.
Many of these panels are adjusted on the fly while rolling down the final line at 55-65 jobs per hour. Rubber mallets and Polypro wedges. The Holden plant that built our rides is a flex factory that also builds the Commodores, Statesman, and I believe the Ute too (not 100% on the Ute) so something could have gotten overlooked if there was a major manufacturing issue with one of the other vehicles that day/night.
The door could have been damaged somewhere between the Body Shop, Paint and Trim Department... Robot crunch, original door dropped from a hoist (the doors are removed after paint and assembled on a seperate line and merged with the car again later.) If this happened the hinges might have loosened due to not being tightened as much as body shop originally torqued them when they installed a new door... etc... Any dealer should be able to tweek the panels without much fanfare.
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