Hood Clearances and Adjustments Part 1

[ronmanfredi]

When I bought our 06 model, I noticed the hood was sticking up about 1/4" all the way around, except at the windshield area.  When driving, the entire back side of the hood would bounce around all over the place too when hitting bumps.  In looking at the hood hinge, it was obvious that there was no adjustment to lower the front and sides of the hood to where they would match the fender lines and front end panel.  On the latch mechanism, you can adjust it up and down, but when doing that, you are actually bowing the hood down in that area.  The bump stops at each end of the hood are adjustable, but that doesn't help the area close to the latch.

In looking at the hood, it's obvious that it is bowed downward in the center, from the front to the back.  This means that you will never get all the gaps around the edges to where they are all flush, yet you can get the sides really close to flush with the fenders and the back side by the latch.  

To tackle this, the first thing that I did was to add a bump stop right next to the latch area.  I had an adjustable one from a vehicle that I had, so I modified it as necessary and installed it as shown.  I temporarily loosened the latch and set the hood up correctly using the 3 bump stops that were now along the back side of the hood.  Lastly, I set the latch to where it would lock the hood in place where there was even pressure on all 3 bump stops.  The center bump stop will prevent any more "bowing" of the back side of the hood and help stabilize it.