Gap size between bumper and hood

[mrcysco]

OK, this is driving me nuts. Am I crazy?

Take a look at this picture. Does it look like that gap between the bumper and the hood is too big? I measured it and it is definitely a couple 16ths larger than the same gap on the passenger side. (see link to 2nd pic below) Does BMW allow for this level of tolerance or should I be concerned?

[VailM3]

its a clamshell hood. All of them are like this look at vipers for example.

[vasmir]

Holy ironly batman - I have the exact opposite problem you have:


To be fair though your gap problem looks worse than mine.
Have you talked to your dealer about it?

[Nezzy33]

That doesn't look right at all. I'd be back to the dealer ASAP with that. All of the gaps on my e89 are the same.

[SchweiZ4]

Same gap (or very close) as Mrcysco on my car.
Does not seem an issue for me. Will try to post picture of mine, however the gap measure will be very likely shown in millimeter unit (1 millimeter = 0.04 inches)

[Bolletta]

Same for me.

That's scandalous.

[Nkc]

same here. I just got use to the gap lol. Plus mine is black so less noticeable.

[ManiacGT]

I don't have that issue, its not normal, but easily sorted with a few adjustments.

[army_men]

it was fairly bad on my car, but after my shop reinstalled the bumper the gap was evened out. OP, your doesn't look normal, you should take it into BMW for a remount.

[mrcysco]

thanks for the feedback everyone. For those that brought it to the dealer, was this something they took care of under warranty?

[army_men]

BMW refused to do anything for me and quoted something like 400 dollars for remounting it and replacing "mounting hooks". They found a scratch on my bumper and said the bumper was shifted in the scrapping. Obvious bullshit is obvious. So i took it to another bodyshop.

Originally Posted by mrcysco

thanks for the feedback everyone. For those that brought it to the dealer, was this something they took care of under warranty?

[VailM3]

judging by the two pics here, is the headlight mounted higher than it should be on the OPs? it seems to be sticking up more compared to the blue z4.

[jparnes1]

Originally Posted by VailM3

judging by the two pics here, is the headlight mounted higher than it should be on the OPs? it seems to be sticking up more compared to the blue z4.

Good catch...you're right.

[nicknaz]

Or does the car in blue have the bumper mounted too high

My car's bumper is also not perfectly aligned in that spot but I've learned to deal....

OP, did you check the underside of the front bumper cover for evidence that it might have gotten snagged on a parking spot curb at some point?

If not, I would say it is a factory install issue and possibly not something to worry about unless it is driving you crazy.

[BlueZ4Arizona]

You can adjust this yourself with the rubber adjustors under the hood. They loosen/tighten accordingly. No need to waste time taking it to the BMW service dept. to do something a monkey could be trained to do if given enough bananas.

[rking117]

that gap is larger than mine.

[mrcysco]

Originally Posted by BlueZ4Arizona

You can adjust this yourself with the rubber adjustors under the hood. They loosen/tighten accordingly. No need to waste time taking it to the BMW service dept. to do something a monkey could be trained to do if given enough bananas.

Thanks Blue! I'll take a look under the hood tonight and see if I can sort it out.

[javol]

My gaps were excessive too and uneven.
I aligned them playing with the bolts that fix the bumper on its sides (below each fenders).
Super easy.
I got a nice "2 mm gaps set up", slightly bending the metal supports were the mentioned bolts go.
You can reach theses supports opening the hood .

[mrcysco]

Well, spent some time mess'n with the bumper this morning and got everything sorted out.

Turns out the clip that holds the bumper by the headlight was loose which was causing that corner to drop down slightly. I think it was something that came from the factory that way. There appears to be three screws that hold the clip in. One of them is totally missing and one of them was loose.

I pulled the bumper out of the clip (just a little tug did it), then re positioned the clip and tightened the screws that hold it in place. Snapped the bumper back into the clip and bigidy bam. Good as new. The gap is now less than half what it used to be and is spot on with the other side. Thanks for the recommendations to just mess with it myself. Super easy fix if anyone needs more details, just ask.

Here's an "after" shot.

[jhentr]

Thanks for all the tips guys. My right side gap is huge. I first tried making sure all the black rubber stopper are at their lowest. That didn't help. I then tried the offsetting of the left side by upping the height of the left side stoppers slighly to lower the right side. That looked like it did the trick, but it was short lived. I'll have to look into the bumper being off and see what I can do with that.

[jhentr]

Just an update (admitting I'm a little embarrased...but hope it might help someone else). I found out my my right side gap is huge because the right side latch wasn't pushed in all the way! I noticed this when I couldn't lift the left side of the hood, but the right side of the hood had a little play in it - where I can slightly lift or push it down. So once I pushed down with enough force (and not babying the hood), I heard a click and the right side is now nice and tight and have no play.

There is still a 1/8" to 3/16" inch gap compared to the left side, but I can live with that. My excuse is that is is a new to me car (have it for 5 days now) and I never had a car with two hood latches :-)

[bigendbob]

Couldn't you get a longer tape measure?

Seriously though be careful winding out the rubber buffers, i did that to stop the bonnet shaking and it temporarily prevented me from opening the bonnet, it was jamned.