Things Ford can't do: Panel Alignment

"Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To" (murdersofa) 04/22/2017 at 23:05 • Filed to: None

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Ask any S550 how well their car is screwed together and they will either say “poorly” or they’ll lie and say it’s fine. This is a pity because Ford makes rather attractive products that fall very, very short when it comes to details. Consider this picture of an S550:

This picture is, I assume, a press photo from Ford that appears on autoguide.com.

The line where the hood meets the bumper is inconsistent as if either the bumper is bowed up in the middle or the hood is sagging. Furthermore, horizontal line made by the top of the headlight doesn’t line up where it goes from fender to hood to bumper. If you were to lay a ruler along the supposed line at the top of headlight you’d see just how bad the alignment is.

This picture, taken from !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! shows another common alignment error I’ve seen on many Mustangs where the hood isn’t just misaligned but it seems as though how amount of adjusting would fix it, more like the shape of the piece is wrong! In the thread it’s speculated that these are issues that get worked out as more and more cars are built but the white mustang pictured above is a 2016 model made well after run 1 and furthermore...

Oh, neat. The 2018 Mustang. Looks pretty goo—

Goddammit.

Nibby > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To 04/22/2017 at 23:08

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Something I noticed on my mom’s ‘16 Fusion, there’s some panel gaps around

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To 04/22/2017 at 23:09

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Yes that S550 build quality is apalling

Dru > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To 04/22/2017 at 23:11

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I’ve been wanting to take a closer look at these as my next car. This and poor quality paint worry me.

FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To 04/22/2017 at 23:11

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If you think those are bad, take a look at the gaps on some of the recent Lincolns. Absolutely appalling for a supposedly premium product.

Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To > Dru 04/22/2017 at 23:18

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Until recently the aluminum hoods on Mustangs had a nasty habit of the paint falling off. Just... coming right off. Ford had no idea how to get paint to reliably stick to aluminum which makes me incredibly interested to see me some aluminum F150s in 6 years.

TheHondaBro > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To 04/22/2017 at 23:20

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That top picture looks familiar...

Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To > TheHondaBro 04/22/2017 at 23:22

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Fuck. spat out my soda.

TheHondaBro > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To 04/22/2017 at 23:23

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If Taylor Lautner were a car.

boxrocket > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To 04/22/2017 at 23:34

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Made in ‘Murica! Huhr!!

In all seriousness, any owners (e.g. JayhackJake) want to chime in? I’m also considering one, and would be interested.

Also, I have the fortune to work with most major brands and models, and panel fitment, paint quality/adhesion, and even stamping consistency are imperfect across the board.

TheHondaBro > Nibby 04/22/2017 at 23:38

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Pretty poor quality for an Aston Martin.

Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To > boxrocket 04/22/2017 at 23:48

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This post was partially inspired by a series of videos JayhawkJake posted in a Messenger chat shortly after getting his car.

Wagon Guy drives a Boostang > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To 04/23/2017 at 00:01

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yes, there are some odd/poor panel gaps on my mustang. My hood is worse than usual, because I’ve added in hood struts to get rid of the stupid prop rod and it’s now pushed forward about a 1/4 inch...

Jayhawk Jake > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To 04/23/2017 at 00:15

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I assumed you took that second picture of mine cause it looks just like that

Jayhawk Jake > Dru 04/23/2017 at 00:22

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I actually think the paint is pretty good. 20000 miles on mine and no more rock chips than reasonable.

The build quality complaints are mostly aesthetic nitpicking. Money clearly went elsewhere otherwise they’d be perfect but $80,000

Jayhawk Jake > boxrocket 04/23/2017 at 00:26

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It’s mostly nitpicky stuff. The hood alignment baffles me but it looks like it’s improving.

For the money these issues are mostly reasonable. I have two noise issues I can’t get remedied but I have a relatively early first year build sooooo *shrug*

At the end of the day it’s a fantastic car, just give the one you plan on buying a close inspection if this stuff matters to you

ranwhenparked > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To 04/23/2017 at 00:28

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That’s exactly why I didn’t replace my Mustang with another Mustang. There’s even more aluminum on the current ones, and I wanted to give it a couple of years to see if Ford has finally figured out what Audi has been doing properly since the ‘90s.

Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To > Jayhawk Jake 04/23/2017 at 01:21

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Totally gonna be scopin’ your pony tomorrow

Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To > ranwhenparked 04/23/2017 at 01:22

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I got super lucky with my ‘05 that was only delaminating in two spots that were, thank god, under the hood. Managed to somehow make a profit on that car.

RallyWrench > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To 04/23/2017 at 01:34

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With that kind of performance for the money, tiny panel fitment errors would not bug me. We’re not buying an S-class, here.

Rust and Dust - Oppositelock Forever > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To 04/23/2017 at 07:48

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That was actually a galvanic corrosion issue, not a paint flaw. Contamination occurred when outer skin was crimped to inner structure, they’d peel from the underside and eventually wrap around to top surface. Late model Exploders have had the same issue. Part of why I gut-laughed when they announced the aluminum F150. If they can’t make one multi-layer aluminum panel clean, how the hell are they making an entire truck?

Nibby > TheHondaBro 04/23/2017 at 09:00

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Exactly!

daender > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To 04/23/2017 at 15:32

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The Ford GT halo taillight conversion makes the rear panel fitment look even worse.

Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To > daender 04/23/2017 at 15:35

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One local guy got those on his V6. It’s tragic in multiple ways.

daender > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To 04/23/2017 at 16:01

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The one in our region is a blue V8, but I’m not sure if that’s better or worse.

NJAnon > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To 04/23/2017 at 18:30

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Well it’ll be almost perfect. The robots in the assembly line won’t always get it right.

They caould Jake, but then the mustang would cost more, no? :P

Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To > NJAnon 04/24/2017 at 00:27

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My $25k Miata is screwed together straight.

awmaster10 > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To 04/24/2017 at 17:30

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well, technically the GT is a v6 so.... lol just kidding those would only look right on a heavily built v8

NJAnon > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To 04/24/2017 at 18:36

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True. different car maker though. :P

PS. Im waiting for a Mazdaspeed Miata return.

Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To > NJAnon 04/24/2017 at 20:03

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Fiat 124 Abarth + tune. BNR can get 196WHP and 259WTQ out of a chevy ecotec 1.4l turbo with nothing but a tune, so I look forward to tuners turning the Fiata into the ripper it deserves to be but Mazda is to pussy to make it themselves.