So remember this photo I posted a few days back?
Not sure how I missed this during inspection, but notice how the right side of the hatch is further up then the left? All the telltale signs that they knew this was off where there. The hatch bump stop on the left side was adjusted all the way out and the one on the right all the way in. The taillight housings that are in the rear quarter panel(not the liftgate) have about 1/4 inch of adjustment vertically. On the left, the taillight is all the way down and on the right all the way up to hide the misalignment as much as possible.
My fear is that the body was somehow twisted rather than the liftgate. Its already perfect at the hinges and there no vertical adjustment on the S like there is on the X.
To verify the frame and rear quarter panels and bumper are all straight and true, I used a self leveling laser plane aimed at the liftgate hinges with the liftgate up. Turns out the car was already level so the plane hit both hinges at exactly the same height. I then measured the vertical distance between the hinges and various spots on the rear quarter panels and bumper. Happy to report they are sub millimeter perfect, which mean it's the liftgate and not the chassis itself.
This is one of those situations where you either have to live with it, or you have to use some real force to bend stuff. With a pillow on the left between the liftgate and the left side of the frame inside the rear, I applied a rather large amount of force to the right side. Had to repeat several times until I got just the right alignment.
Next is to fix undo their taillight alignment and fix them vertically so there's 1/8th inch on the top and bottom of both left and right taillights.
I'll post a photo when it's all done.
Not sure how I missed this during inspection, but notice how the right side of the hatch is further up then the left? All the telltale signs that they knew this was off where there. The hatch bump stop on the left side was adjusted all the way out and the one on the right all the way in. The taillight housings that are in the rear quarter panel(not the liftgate) have about 1/4 inch of adjustment vertically. On the left, the taillight is all the way down and on the right all the way up to hide the misalignment as much as possible.
My fear is that the body was somehow twisted rather than the liftgate. Its already perfect at the hinges and there no vertical adjustment on the S like there is on the X.
To verify the frame and rear quarter panels and bumper are all straight and true, I used a self leveling laser plane aimed at the liftgate hinges with the liftgate up. Turns out the car was already level so the plane hit both hinges at exactly the same height. I then measured the vertical distance between the hinges and various spots on the rear quarter panels and bumper. Happy to report they are sub millimeter perfect, which mean it's the liftgate and not the chassis itself.
This is one of those situations where you either have to live with it, or you have to use some real force to bend stuff. With a pillow on the left between the liftgate and the left side of the frame inside the rear, I applied a rather large amount of force to the right side. Had to repeat several times until I got just the right alignment.
Next is to fix undo their taillight alignment and fix them vertically so there's 1/8th inch on the top and bottom of both left and right taillights.
I'll post a photo when it's all done.
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