Hood out of alignment

[FLOSS M]

My fenders don't align the same way with the hood...... I just left it.

[BobsM3Coupe]

It's usually a quick and easy fix to align the gap between the hood and the fenders. Just open the hood, loosen the 4 bolts that hold the top of the fender, and then gently push in or out on the side of the fender (the fender is plastic, so don't strong arm it or it may crack) till gap is even along its length and has the same gap as the other side. Then tighten the bolts. Simple enough. However, it is a major embarrassment that BMW can't get this correct. I think it is probably due to the alignment jigs they use to install the fenders at the factory are old, since 2007, and have enough play in them which causes the alignment gap issues.

[DBH]

Originally Posted by KIS

After reading this thread I'm afraid to go into the garage. I know the first thing that I'll do is check the hood alignment and if it's off..............

I had to do the same thing. Thank goodness everything lines-up perfectly!! I've owned five BMW's (various 3 series) and have never known this to be an issue.

[Frozen Black]

I had an issue with the bonett sitting too high above the grills. I thought it was ment to be like that for aditional air, but when i mentioned it to the service techs, they said it was out of alignment and adjusted it.

looks great now.

I would never had expected so many similar issues with other owners. lol

[Lodaka]

I am not sure whether the alignment was correct when I first picked up the car; I didn't pay attention. After I installed new grilles, I definitely noticed that this is something that needs to be manually done; so I aligned it properly. After my break-in service, it was not aligned again... now that I know to check for it, I re-aligned it...

[half man half amazin]

My 2011 e92 M3 is also uneven on the sides, but whatever, no big deal.

[Leonardo629]

gap dimensions for the E92 hood

[Seattle S65B40]

Holy smokes! My hood is way out of alignment! Anyone else's this bad?

[intenseE90]

I'm having the same problem as above.

My hood 'hangs' like above. It really bothers me.

There really isnt a gap issue, it just hangs over the front.

I've tried pulling the bumper out or forward the most I could with still bolting it in properly but still hangs.

Anyone know?

[a burrito]

My issue is that the right headlight looks like its poking out a little bit more than the left and both side fender gap seems different from all corners. No Accidents or any damages during shipping just a testament to shitty BMW fit and finish. I decided to not touch it and not get it ficed by the dealer. I don't need things worse than it is.

[mot]

My trunk lid is a bit off. I hope the dealer will realign it for me without any hassling.

[Seattle S65B40]

That's such BS that the hood is so far out of alignment on so many cars. I doubt the dealership will fix mine, but I will ask anyway next time im in for service.

[swartzentruber]

I wonder if part of the issue could be in BMW using poor quality latches. I have a 2008 335 coupe, and always had an issue where the drivers side of the hood stuck up a bit more than passenger side. I even asked the dealership to try adjusting, but it didn't seem to help. Finally, several months ago, it just stopped latching on that side (luckily these cars have two latches), and once the latch was replaced, the alignment has been perfect ever since.

[isakhnov]

Found this thread and it saved me a trip to dealership, thanks!

[rdollie]

Wow, that's some serious overbite

OK, I knew my hood was slightly off since I bought the car a year ago but I went out and took a look anyway. Much to my great surprise the hood is now vertically aligned (not sure when/how that happened) and all I have is the larger gap up top near the windshield which according to the specs / graphics shown above is by design (it still looks wrong to me to have a larger gap up there - I'm often tempted to run my pinky down it to see if it will fall in yet thinking the gap is getting bigger but it isn't.)

Hmmm....my car cooled off hours ago and the last time I had checked it was hot and I remember thinking I was actually able to see engine compartment/garage floor at one point looking at hood gap (may be my bad memory.) I'm definitely going to have to check next time I pull back into the garage while the hood is hot.

Originally Posted by Seattle S65B40

Holy smokes! My hood is way out of alignment! Anyone else's this bad?

[nubfilter]

Glad to have discovered this thread... just purchased a used 2012 M3 and I was worried about a possible accident. Looks like it's actually within spec according to the diagram.

Thanks for posting!