Body panel misalignment - would you bother?

[Goose]

Do you guys think the dealer would make this situation worse? I'm not sure if the hinges would need to be adjusted or if the front fender is not installed correctly. I worry about scratched paint, damaged door hinge bolts, or something worse at the hands of a tech inexperienced in these kinds of problems.

As you can see, the driver's door has a distinct gap/misalignment. I've included a similar picture of the passenger side for comparison.
To be honest, I noticed this at delivery and have debated with myself about getting it corrected. In hindsight, I should have simply not taken delivery of the car. Oh well... live and learn.

Regardless of my decision on this issue, it's a sad commentary on Honda's current quality control.

Thoughts?

[rmfa]

My thoughts are to ask the dealer. Thats the person who makes the decision anyways. I would DEFINATELY have gotten this checked out immediately.

I would get another dealer to use a paint gauge, my guess is that your 'new' car was repaired like others on this board....

[Goose]

Originally Posted by rmfa

My thoughts are to ask the dealer. Thats the person who makes the decision anyways. I would DEFINATELY have gotten this checked out immediately.

I would get another dealer to use a paint gauge, my guess is that your 'new' car was repaired like others on this board....

Jeeze, I hope mine wasn't repaired... for the dealer's sake; selling a repaired car as new sounds pretty illegal to me. Since the fender's serial number matched the rest of the car, I didn't really consider a repair job. Thanks for the suggestion - this could become interesting!

[Hondasi15]

Get it fixed...its not your fault and you paid good money for your car

[honda06si]

Originally Posted by Hondasi15

Get it fixed...its not your fault and you paid good money for your car

x2

[Goose]

Thanks again, guys. I'll get this checked out at another dealer (whom I know well) and let you know what I find out. :)

[Ruthless909]

It was probably damaged during transportation and then the dealer fixed it..

[rmfa]

Originally Posted by Goose

Thanks again, guys. I'll get this checked out at another dealer (whom I know well) and let you know what I find out. :)

I'm suprised someone has not suggested that you 'get the HPF kit.'

btw: good luck

[Relentless00]

It's minor and to sane people not a big deal. But to all of us and car junkies its a big deal haha.

I'm in the same boat get it fixed and dont pay a dime, it was like that upon delivery

[xmx250]

My rear bumper on my coupe seems off... i've noticed it on other coupes as well

[kero]

Leave it. Getting if fixed probably will cause more problems than it solves.

[Z1 Performance]

If it bothers you have it fixed. Insist that the dealer sub-out to the body shop they use if they do not have one of their own.

I had the same issue on the reverse side - we took care of it in our shop. We have someone in house who does excellent paint/body work on our own cars.

[hiphopaddict]

My hood doesn't line up correctly. It was like that when I took delivery as well. One side of the hood sticks up a little bit more than the other. I just adjusted the hood stoppers, (not sure what those are called), to make it look more even. I don't think it was damaged in transit, I just think honda has really skimped on the body work and paint on our cars.

If you look at most coupes, (I can't speak for sedans, I don't really pay too much attention to them), you'll see that things don't line up exactly right. Come to think of it. I think my car is similar to yours on the passenger side. It's not as noticeable, but the passenger side has a little bigger gap than the driver's side.

[volvo9]

If you're really picky get the paint thickness checked out, it was more than likely repaired after it left hondas hands, not really the factory's fault, if I back my car into a new dealer car and the fender needs to be replaced, they are not obligated to tell the customer.

[Goose]

I checked with a body shop and they said it was factory paint. My dealer (who is near the body shop but not affiliated with it) took a look at the fender as well; they said that there's no way to adjust the fender. Considering that more harm than good may come out of trying to adjust such a small flaw, I'm not going to pursue this further.

Again, I admit that this situation really isn't a big deal and I should have noted it at delivery. Most folks wouldn't even care. I will say, though, that the quality of materials/assembly of this generation is lower than previous Civics. I realize that this observation is not a shock to most of you.

After four Civics ('87, '93, '00, '07), this may be my last one. Thanks for your input on this one, guys.

[Chase]

Dude mine is like that too...

[hiphopaddict]

I looked at my car today and mine is the same way, too.

[radianttree]

My driver's door looks exactly like yours does. I bought my car last Feb. and I never got around to mentioning it. Needless to say it does piss me off.

[Civic4u]

Get it fix at the dealer.....I did it....look GREAT!!!!...before your warranties being ignore/expire by the dealership.

[adamhoud]

My passenger side is like that.