Wonky boot tailgate alignment, possible to adjust?
- Thread starter Gibbo
- Start date
Lunar
New member
Hi Gibbo,
Slightly high on the left you mean?
Very fractionally maybe - if only you hadn't noticed!
Don't forget the numberplate might play tricks too, so alignment with the panel edges is the important thing.
As are the bumpstops and electric closure.
But it's an SVR man! - take it to the dealer and ask them nicely, for the money you've spent they should be happy to help.
The last thing you want is to rub the paintwork too.
Slightly high on the left you mean?
Very fractionally maybe - if only you hadn't noticed!
Don't forget the numberplate might play tricks too, so alignment with the panel edges is the important thing.
As are the bumpstops and electric closure.
But it's an SVR man! - take it to the dealer and ask them nicely, for the money you've spent they should be happy to help.
The last thing you want is to rub the paintwork too.
Hi there
Ok the tailgate also has height adjusters like the bonnet. The left side which was sitting higher I screwed adjuster all the way in and the right side I screwed one full turn out.
Tailgate is now pretty much level. Far rather do these things myself on the car than trust the dealership to be honest.
Anyone else with this problem, open the tailgate and look up and you will see the two spring loaded rubber stops that can be screwed further in or out to get the tailgate nice and level.
Ok the tailgate also has height adjusters like the bonnet. The left side which was sitting higher I screwed adjuster all the way in and the right side I screwed one full turn out.
Tailgate is now pretty much level. Far rather do these things myself on the car than trust the dealership to be honest.
Anyone else with this problem, open the tailgate and look up and you will see the two spring loaded rubber stops that can be screwed further in or out to get the tailgate nice and level.
Hi there
So as I have being taking more photos of the car, I have been spotting more panel gaps and for me once I spot these things it drives me mad, it has to be perfect. You could argue on a car costing over 100k it should be perfect but it does seem from the Jaguar forums F-Type panel gap, alignment is not their strong point with many customers taking cars back to dealerships to get corrected. As I did not spot this at collecting and when I informed the dealer via email a few days after to which I got zero response I decided to not pursue the matter as it was something I could resolve myself.
My biggest issue was the fact the bonnet was sitting high on the left side, so high in fact that a good 4-5" was protruding from the bumper, not as bad as it sounds but once I had spotted it, it was standing out to me like a sore thumb:
I have marked the image with arrows to clearly point it out, a good 5-6mm high on left side and not flush with bumper which drivers side is. So under the bonnet there is six rubber height adjusters I had a play with these and the best I could do was to actually rise the drivers side to match which just seemed a bit of a cheating way to do it and really the bonnet should be level/flush with bumper with an equal panel gap all the way along, this gap was equal just the bonnet was sitting high on left.
So I looked at the hinges and noticed they have stops which are bolts and I was able to screw the left side down some which helped considerably but it was still out. So I went the more risky route and undid the three main hinge bolts and tried to lower the hinge a couple of mm, this took at a lot of attempts as the assembly moves in all directions, I'd ideally recommend two people for this, but in the end I located the hinge 2mm lower, which then resulted in being two low due to leverage ratio, but I then screwed the hinge stop out a couple of turns and we are now at this:
In person it looks perfect, but now I look at photo and the left still looks maybe ever such a touch bit to high, but I can easily remedy that with just rubber stops, though it could just be the photo as now in person it looks perfect level, flush and straight, checked also every other panel gap and alignment around the bonnet as you adjust one can effect others, all I had to do was adjust front bumper out edge to left side bonnet which is easy as just two 10mm bolts. But now I look at the car and cannot see fault in person, whereas before it was starting to annoy me some.
Then a few days ago I posted this photo of the rear:
Of course as soon as I upload the photo I spot the boot is sitting high on the left, clearly whoever checked this car from factory had wonky eyes or the bubble in their spirit level was not calibrated.
So using the two rubber stops in the tailgate I got it level but only by adjusting the right side up which for me was not good enough. So I removed all the boot trim to gain access to the locking mechanism as it was obvious the lock needed to pull the tailgate down just a touch more. I undid the locking mechanism and moved it down a couple of mm, then re-tightened, re-adjusted the height adjusters and its now at this:
Which is now perfect level and in line with the rear quarters which is where it should be.
As a major complaint on the various forums is doors being a poor fit and even rubbing, I gave the doors a good check, but those are perfect.
Crazy that in this day and age you have to do this on any car, but the Mustang also had the same issue problem was there they were not quite as easy to fix on some, though the bonnet fix on Mustang was same as boot fix on Jaguar and just needed the catch height adjusting.
Anyway as I've still not posted a picture, here is the power plant:
Not much to look out, just a big silver square, looks like quite a compact supercharger unit.
So as I have being taking more photos of the car, I have been spotting more panel gaps and for me once I spot these things it drives me mad, it has to be perfect. You could argue on a car costing over 100k it should be perfect but it does seem from the Jaguar forums F-Type panel gap, alignment is not their strong point with many customers taking cars back to dealerships to get corrected. As I did not spot this at collecting and when I informed the dealer via email a few days after to which I got zero response I decided to not pursue the matter as it was something I could resolve myself.
My biggest issue was the fact the bonnet was sitting high on the left side, so high in fact that a good 4-5" was protruding from the bumper, not as bad as it sounds but once I had spotted it, it was standing out to me like a sore thumb:
I have marked the image with arrows to clearly point it out, a good 5-6mm high on left side and not flush with bumper which drivers side is. So under the bonnet there is six rubber height adjusters I had a play with these and the best I could do was to actually rise the drivers side to match which just seemed a bit of a cheating way to do it and really the bonnet should be level/flush with bumper with an equal panel gap all the way along, this gap was equal just the bonnet was sitting high on left.
So I looked at the hinges and noticed they have stops which are bolts and I was able to screw the left side down some which helped considerably but it was still out. So I went the more risky route and undid the three main hinge bolts and tried to lower the hinge a couple of mm, this took at a lot of attempts as the assembly moves in all directions, I'd ideally recommend two people for this, but in the end I located the hinge 2mm lower, which then resulted in being two low due to leverage ratio, but I then screwed the hinge stop out a couple of turns and we are now at this:
In person it looks perfect, but now I look at photo and the left still looks maybe ever such a touch bit to high, but I can easily remedy that with just rubber stops, though it could just be the photo as now in person it looks perfect level, flush and straight, checked also every other panel gap and alignment around the bonnet as you adjust one can effect others, all I had to do was adjust front bumper out edge to left side bonnet which is easy as just two 10mm bolts. But now I look at the car and cannot see fault in person, whereas before it was starting to annoy me some.
Then a few days ago I posted this photo of the rear:
Of course as soon as I upload the photo I spot the boot is sitting high on the left, clearly whoever checked this car from factory had wonky eyes or the bubble in their spirit level was not calibrated.
So using the two rubber stops in the tailgate I got it level but only by adjusting the right side up which for me was not good enough. So I removed all the boot trim to gain access to the locking mechanism as it was obvious the lock needed to pull the tailgate down just a touch more. I undid the locking mechanism and moved it down a couple of mm, then re-tightened, re-adjusted the height adjusters and its now at this:
Which is now perfect level and in line with the rear quarters which is where it should be.
As a major complaint on the various forums is doors being a poor fit and even rubbing, I gave the doors a good check, but those are perfect.
Crazy that in this day and age you have to do this on any car, but the Mustang also had the same issue problem was there they were not quite as easy to fix on some, though the bonnet fix on Mustang was same as boot fix on Jaguar and just needed the catch height adjusting.
Anyway as I've still not posted a picture, here is the power plant:
Not much to look out, just a big silver square, looks like quite a compact supercharger unit.
Aitch said:Thank you. That's an excellent write up and will be a great help to many owners.
See attached image:
Here is am image of the hinge so you can see how it can be moved, just remember a small movement here equals a lot more on the bonnet due to leverage ratio. But the first and easiest adjustment is the hinge bottom out nut, if you look at the image closely you will see a small nut, the hinge rest on this and you can screw it in (lower hood) or screw it out (raise hood) at each end. These along with the six rubber height adjusters under the hood should be all you need to get things lined up perfectly. Just for me I needed to drop a bit more as my hood was sitting quite high on passenger side so I needed to drop the hinge assembly itself 1-2mm to get the results I wanted.
Some very minor tweaking today using the two front rubber height adjusters, very happy now in person looks perfect and even the photos seem to back that up too.
Also found a set of the same wheels but in the satin grey for a good price, tempted to grab those, put them in storage until Winter is over and throw a set of PS4S on those.
Also found a set of the same wheels but in the satin grey for a good price, tempted to grab those, put them in storage until Winter is over and throw a set of PS4S on those.