2019 - Large hood gap - anyone else notice this?

nds, did you find a fix for your hood gap problem?

I think I have a similar issue. the part of the hood between the chrome grill trim and the headlight on the driver's side protrudes out just enough to show a noticeable gap when viewed from the front.

Kean, that’s a good pt about the picture. I’ve attached a pic of the entire front end.

Is fixing this asymmetry easily done? What are my options?

Yeah, I see it but it's so minor IMO that I (personally) would worry about it. I've seen vehicles that were a lot worse. In fact, having just looked at my wife's car, it's basically the same as yours. ....thanks a lot for bringing my attention to it now.

There are four rubber stops that I can see. I think the two on opposite ends of the front grille inside of the engine bay are adjustable (don't quote me on that). HOWEVER, I would be very careful monkeying with hood adjustments as it can be a frustrating experience causing mis-alignments elsewhere, etc. I'm only saying that because I've seen some struggle with it on other applications. Also, I've see some turning them too far and the hood makes metal to metal contact when it's closed, etc.

Either way, it seems such a small variation could be rectified with a few turns of the adjustable stop(s). Personally, if I were going to start turning these things I would mark them and make note of how many turns I make. .....obviously, you'll want to verify the stops are even adjustable which I think someone might be able to confirm.

TLDR: I would say leave it but if not, mark the bump stops and make small adjustments (checking fitment as you go). ....or just hit up the dealer about it and see if they can adjust it for you.

EDIT: I see FB already covered what I just posted. .....I walked away without hitting the reply button. ....ooops.

Thank you, all. Sorry, Kean! That is one hazard of our preoccupation—you can’t unknow and unsee things once you find out!

The feedback has allowed me to find a possible culprit. It seems the hinge connecting the hood to the body is somehow misaligned (or the hood itself is misshapen—hard to tell). First photo is the hood near the windshield on passenger side and second photo is on the driver side. As you can see, the driver side of the hood is ever-so-slightly off. If the hood isn’t misshapen, then maybe it wasn’t properly installed at the factory.

I did find the adjustable rubber stoppers—the driver side one was higher but it’s too hot right now to be literally screwing around with the stoppers. I haven’t encountered hood chatter so far (but speed limit here is 55 mph anyway) and am wary of metal-to-metal contact if I overdo it, so I’ll leave well enough alone for now.

My plan now is to bring this up with the dealer at my oil change/inspection. I hope it’s not too complicated to fix under warranty.

I hate to suggest you're being too picky, but I think you're being too picky. Seriously though, the gap on the hood I can see being addressed. Hell, now that I've noticed it on my wife's car, I might adjust it as well. Pretty simple since it's not a big variance and will probably resolve with just a minor change in the stop height. ....but it really depends because by lowering the height at the gap, you could be lowering the height between the hood and the fender on that side. I've had cars with similar gaps that once you adjusted the bump stop, the hood was no longer level with the fender. On these cars it's not as big a deal because the gap is on the horizontal side of the fender.

I'm sure there is an allowance and expectation for variances like that in the manufacturing process. I'm sure I could go over your car, my car and even my wife's car and find similar variances in the trim, lights, molding, panels, etc. In fact, I already have on my own and in some cases, made adjustments (the trunk lid and tail lights had similar issues which I corrected). In that case, it required adjusting the stops but also some physical "coaxing" of components to get them more in alignment which is what you sometimes have to do. On the Challengers the taillights didn't always line up with the trunk lid closed. The difference was relatively minor on mine and correctable.

....but the alignment of the hood by the cowl, while being something that may be able to be adjusted might be better left alone. I honestly don't think you want to go down that rabbit hole as that will likely involve the adjustment of the hood at the hinges that may result in variances elsewhere. That can be a lot of fiddling I'm not sure a dealer will be willing to spend time doing for something that is literally just a millimeter or two off.

....but that's just my two cents and I wouldn't want to suggest you accept something you don't feel you should.

btw, I was quite a bit more picky than I am now so believe me when I say that I understand. Even today I still notice things like you describe. I can't tell you how many times I immediately noticed things on other peoples cars that they had no idea were there (e.g. flaws, inconsistencies, past repairs they knew nothing about, etc.). My eyes are simply drawn to them. It wasn't until the last decade or so I learned to tune out some of that stuff when I want to. ....and it's not always easy.

In fact, I had a similar issue with the wife's car on the back bumper. I noticed a small imperfection in the paint from the factory. It appears to be a possible contaminant that splattered in a small area prior to painting. I'm not too worried about since it's plastic, there is no risk of corrosion underneath and it's in an inconspicuous spot. I didn't even catch it until we brought the car home and applied a sealant the next week. ....but I also don't want to address it with the dealer because a repaint will likely cause more irregularities than it corrects and potential issue down the road if it's not done right.

The funny thing is, I debated showing my wife because I know she would probably never, ever notice. ....but I did anyhow. What I'll end up doing is using my past detailing experience, tools and products to try and correct that area as best I can. I'm confident I can improve the appearance of the imperfection a bit. As for my wife, she simply asked me if it would be a problem down the line (paint failure), I said I doubt it and now I doubt she will ever remember it again unless I point it out.

I noticed this thread and wanted to post the awkwardly annoying hood fitment on my 2020. Normal?