Sunk-in hood

[EdisonDrvr]

Update on my red M3 that started this thread about a sunk-in hood. Tesla promised a new hood in one week to ten days. We contacted them for updates after 8 and 12 days. I had to push them for basic delivery update, such as whether the hood had shipped. Turned out it hadn't, but they could get it in two days (probably since I asked).

But it would be delivered in black primer and sent to a local Tesla-certified body shop for painting here in Maryland. This is when you start feel like you have bought a used car and wonder what implications this would have on resale. My retailer (very competent Frontguard near Annapolis who will wrap the front) hasn't come across many competent paint shops and believes risk of other issues is high when bringing a human rather than Tesla's robots into the picture.

Not totally decided yet, but I am inclined to rather keep the faulty hood. This sunk hood is more of an issue than the varying panel gaps that I am tolerant of, so it's poor quality control and a disappointing proposed solution by Tesla. I didn't expect a local paint job being their solution. Views?

No way I’d go for that. The red is a very special and expensive multi coat color. Would want painted hood.

 

[siai47]

to sandrews---The hood is high on the corners because the bumper cover is low. If you follow the instructions I have posted, you will note the bumper cover needs to be shimmed higher in the front. Adjusting the hood position, adjusting the latch position and shimming the bumper cover all but eliminated the bulk of the problems with my hood. This has worked for others and for some they are not satisfied. Best of luck but I think you will be happy if you follow the instructions.

 

[tdwin2000]

I saw a few earlier posts on this thread stating not to adjust the top screws with the springs but rather raise and lower the hard bumpers they close into. On my car, there are no bumpers that raise and lower, only the rubber ones that are in hood when open with the springs around them. The places where these close into are just solid plastic round areas. Wondering if they changed this design or they just forgot to put holes where these bumpers go and didn't install them on my car. My VIN is 47,xxx and I took delivery on August 11th. I did adjust the rubber spring things in the underside of the hood and it is somewhat better. The front gap is perfect but the sides are still a little lower than the cars body. Any thoughts on the fact I don't have these bumpers installed on the bottom front of the frunk?

 

[rainforest]

Can this be fixed? Adjusting the rubber stops have not helped.

 

[siai47]

Try raising (screw out) the passenger side hood bumper and lowering (screw in) the drivers side. Try one turn on each and see what it looks like. The hood is held down in the center near the Tesla "T" and the two bumpers on the hood adjust any twist in the hood. Once you get it even on both sides, you might need to adjust the latch to make the hood close without too much effort. From what I can see in the picture it looks like the hood is a little low on the passenger side so you should be able to get it better if not perfect. The final fit is a combination of the bumpers and the hood latch striker which can be adjusted from inside the frunk if needed.

 

[Matt L]

Can this be fixed? Adjusting the rubber stops have not helped.

View attachment 365332

I’d recommend undoing the work you have done and take it to the SC. Now that they clearly seem to have a fix, let them fix it.

 

[rainforest]

Actually, my body shop unscrewed the hood and adjusted it perfectly. They put touch up paint on the bolts where they torqued it.

 

[gonzii]

Hi siai47,

I had the same issue with my model 3, and for a couple of times I had to have the Tesla SC adjust the hood, but they never got it right. They did however allow the hood to get centered more as I noticed that the hood veered too much to the right. The hood 'striker' is actually bent towards the left because of this!

So once they had it centered I chanced upon your steps and from looking at some other videos online tried it. It turns out that I really only needed to adjust the latch up to prevent the sunken look, but since the striker did look ever so slightly bent I then raised the latch sort of in a an angle to compensate (barely noticeable but kind of helped). So, the sunken hood is fixed but the front edge still looks just a TAD bit raised to the driver side because -- and bear with me for a longer explanation:

Throughout all this I've always noticed that the driver side part of the hood is raised up a little bit more than the passenger side. It seems that the frunk liner isn't quite locked, with one side closer to the fender (the one one the driver side) compared to the passenger side. I mean it kind of even looks like it's probably bent?? It's really hard to tell if the edges that connect to the fender are bent or if the edge hooks are just off in some ways that that causes the slight raise on the driver side.

So, I proceeded to remove the frunk liner to see if I can somehow shift the whole thing to the passenger side once I reattach it. It kind of helped but the driver side is still a little bit raised. Just a little but I can live with it.

------------

Lastly I had to adjust the frunk bumpers to allow for this to work. The passenger side bumper is like three threads exposed while the driver side is like two (OR less). Doesn't look too pretty but it's hardly obvious to anyone that doesn't know what they are for.

So overall - Was wondering do you think the frunk liner itself should be replaced as it might affect how the whole frunk sits??? I never really thought about shimming the bumper cover since I didn't really understand how that would help the hood gap and 'sunkenness' (my actual bumper looks absolutely lined up the fenders so in my mind that's not really something I need to adjust). Unless, I completely misunderstood the whole shimming part.


Kind of feel deflated that I have to deal with this for a 60k car!!!! This is on top of almost 7k worth of paint rework and door adjustments they had to do back in November 2018.

I am going to try upload pictures. So if you look at the pictures in sequence, you can figure out how to remove the liner and install the shims. The first picture shows lifting off the service cover at the rear of the frunk. Start on either side near the rear and pull up. There are several pushpins holding it down. Place the cover aside.

Next remove the air intake on the passenger side of the car. It is held in with four pushpins. Just lift with your hand at each pin location and remove the duct. Be aware that the pins are snapped into the edges of the duct and can pop out of it. Hold the pin with your opposite hand while lifting the duct to prevent the push pin from possibly coming loose and ending up in the bellypan. Place the part aside.

Next remove the cover over the hood latch in the front of the frunk. Put you fingers in the hole that the hood striker goes into and with your other hand lifting at the gap at the bottom of the cover, lift it straight up to release the clips on the top of the cover. Note the position of the wire going to the switch in the cover where it passes between the body and the frunk liner. There is a little slit in the foam it should be in and it needs to be in the same location when you re-install the cover. Remove the connector from the switch and place the part aside.

Next remove the seven bolts that hold the frunk liner in place. They are all the same size 6 mm bolts. You will need a 10 mm socket to do this. There are two bolts in the front near the latch, two bolts at the bottom of the liner (under the carpet), two bolts under the shopping bag holders and most important a final bolt located by the firewall that holds the top of the washer fluid tank to the frunk liner.

Next, starting from the very back of the frunk liner (near the hood hinge) pull up on the rear edge to disengage a push pin. Then run your hand down the edges of the liner between the liner and the fender. There are four clips on each side that need to be disengaged from the fender. Lift the liner at each clip location and give it a little tug. The clips will release. The liner is now free to remove. Lift it by the sides tipping it up from the rear and Finally lift completely off the two guide pins near the latch. Place the liner aside.

Next remove the six bolts that attach the bumper cover to the body of the car if you want to install shims. The two outer bolts on each side also pass through a plastic part that helps index the guide pins for the frunk. The center two bolts attach directly to the body. Using a 3 to 4 mm nylon fender washer, shim the bumper cover at each location. For the outer bolts, you can shim between the body and the plastic adapter or just lay the shim washers on top between the bumper cover and the adapter. In my picture, the outer shim washers are between the plastic part and the body. Once in place, close the hood and see where lines up with the front bumper cover. It should be recessed by about 3 mm. Open the hood and loosen the two bolts that hold the hood latch in place and raise the latch by the same amount you want to raise the hood. There are vertical slots in the latch to do this. trial and error will get it right. You will find that most, if not all, of the sunken hood is gone. At this point the hood bumpers cannot be adjusted as the liner is not in place so this needs to be done after everything is back together.

Reinstall everything in reverse order from how it was removed then set the hood bumpers to just lightly touch the liner. I did some additional work to get rid of some of the panel gaps in the hood. I moved the hood slightly forward to get the gap between the bumper cover and the hood correct. The gaps around the hood on my car are less then 3 mm. The rest of the car is 3 mm or more gap, the largest gaps are on the sides of the car at the doors. If you take you time, you can get this right. I hope this helps. View attachment 287362

 

[siai47]

The only thing that the Frunk liner has to do with hood fit is that the front edge of the liner is used for the rubber hood adjusters to rest against. Make sure the liner is fully pushed into the clips on each fender. Rest the liner on the inserts in the fender and using a flashlight, make sure the tab on the liner is directly on top of the clip and then push the liner into place until it is fully seated. However, as long as you can adjust bumpers to get the fit on the left and right front edge of the hood flush with the fenders then the liner position doesn't make any difference. I would assume that Tesla has now corrected the fit problem as I suspect that there was a part design error in the front bumper cover. My car was an early build (in the 5000's) and there was no way that I could get the sides of the hood to line up with the front fenders without shimming the top edge of the bumper cover up. If the sides of your hood are flush with the fenders (and the bumper cover) then the only thing left is the adjustment of the two rubber bumpers on the hood to get the sides of the hood flush with the fenders.

I know how frustrating fit and finish problems are. Other's may not notice them, but as the vehicle owner, once you find a fault, however small, your eye goes right to it. In the case of the "sunken hood" I've got it close enough that I don't even notice it anymore. Best of luck and I am sure you will get to that point.

 

[timpossible]

I'm not discussing panel gaps, rather referring to the original topic: "Sunk-in hood." I've found a lot of value in this thread.

I've taken my Model 3 to the Kansas City service center 2 times for this. They did better the second time, but time will tell. They made adjustments to some hood/frunk mounts. I still think it's an issue with the stamping mold [shape] of the hood/frunk lid at the factory.

 

[rainforest]

I'm not discussing panel gaps, rather referring to the original topic: "Sunk-in hood." I've found a lot of value in this thread.

I've taken my Model 3 to the Kansas City service center 2 times for this. They did better the second time, but time will tell. They made adjustments to some hood/frunk mounts. I still think it's an issue with the stamping mold [shape] of the hood/frunk lid at the factory.

Photo 4 looks fine. Don’t see a problem.

 

[FrancoNY]

hi all - I was actually logging in to talk about a good experience re: just this thing, then saw this thread on top.

Basically I had a similar issue with the hood -- the left front part of the hood (if you're looking at the car) came up nearly 0.5-1cm and while it wasn't super obvious unless you were looking for it, it was driving me crazy. (Srange thing is I did not really notice it until about 3 months of having the car). So I took it to the Mt.Kisco NY service center and they tried moving it around without any real success. They gave me clearance to go to a tesla-certified body shop (Gabriel SportsCar in Yonkers NY) where it was fixed without any cost to me (covered by Tesla) and is perfect now. In addition I had an annoying dent on the passenger front door where i think a shopping cart hit it -- was right on the body line making it a little more difficult. Gabriel Sportscar fixed that also (and was the lowest bid on it out of 3 bids). Great experience with Gabriel.

If anyone is having an issue with Tesla not covering the repair of the hood issue, you can let them know that at least in my case, it was completely covered.

 

[timpossible]

Photo 4 looks fine. Don’t see a problem.

Rainforest, I should clarify that Photo 4 was after the correction at the service center.

 

[rainforest]

Rainforest, I should clarify that Photo 4 was after the correction at the service center.

Yes, it looks good. You should be happy.

 

[Dakata]

Hey guys/gals,

Just want to say thanks for this post, received my model 3 on 3/19/19 and did notice a sunken hood but thought it was how it was supposed to be. I adjust the 2 feet as recommended on the hood and now it’s perfect. Vin 214,xxx

Thanks,

 

[prettig]

Mine was sunken on the driver side (may 2019 production).

I put plastic 1 mm shims (U-shape plates) under the 2 botls on the hinges that connect to the hood, very easy fix.
Just loosen the bolts (mark the postion with tape first), hood is so light it barely moves (hold with one hand), slide the plates under and fasten by hand, check position (tape) and fasten. 10 minutes.
The factory adjustment bolt is difficult to access and requiers removal of the complete frunk liner.

Then adjust bumper side with the adjustable bumps.

 

[Bill Foster]

Update on my red M3 that started this thread about a sunk-in hood. Tesla promised a new hood in one week to ten days. We contacted them for updates after 8 and 12 days. I had to push them for basic delivery update, such as whether the hood had shipped. Turned out it hadn't, but they could get it in two days (probably since I asked).

But it would be delivered in black primer and sent to a local Tesla-certified body shop for painting here in Maryland. This is when you start feel like you have bought a used car and wonder what implications this would have on resale. My retailer (very competent Frontguard near Annapolis who will wrap the front) hasn't come across many competent paint shops and believes risk of other issues is high when bringing a human rather than Tesla's robots into the picture.

Not totally decided yet, but I am inclined to rather keep the faulty hood. This sunk hood is more of an issue than the varying panel gaps that I am tolerant of, so it's poor quality control and a disappointing proposed solution by Tesla. I didn't expect a local paint job being their solution. Views?

This is how almost all parts come from any manufacturer.

You just have to decide if it’s worth the risk. New one might be more messed up then the current one.

I’d say it’s not

 

[TheLocNar]

Have any of you tried adjusting the rubber grommets attached to the underside of the hood near the front? They just turn left and right for higher or lower. It's easy.

 

[Bill Foster]

Have any of you tried adjusting the rubber grommets attached to the underside of the hood near the front? They just turn left and right for higher or lower. It's easy.

Its far easier to make a post and complain on here TBH

 

[M3FNATIK]

Wow, this is still not fixed. My 2020 had the same issue