Driver Side Fender Slightly Bent

ntran90 · 05-19-2023, 01:11 AM

Hi All. Could use some advice...I got my G80 last month through the delivery center and when I got the car I went over it as much as I could to identify any sort of defects and the car appeared to be pretty much spotless. However after getting the car back home and getting it fully PPF, one day while going over the PPF job I noticed that the tip of my driver side fender is ever so slightly bent downward (I checked the passenger side fender and that one is fine). The bent is pretty easy to overlook unless you run your hand on the inside edge of the fender and look at it at a certain angle. Now I know cars like a lot of things have certain tolerances - you're never going to truly get 100% but this to me looks like a clear defect during either assembly or the manufacturing of the fender. Do I have a case to file for a warranty request? Or will BMW deny it since I didn't catch right at delivery? Would it be possible to even fix the bend? Or would the entire fender need to be replaced? I already have it PPF so ideally I would like to save the PPF. And any idea how much it would cost to get it fixed? If BMW denies the warranty request I might still get it fixed myself. I know it's a bit of a first world problem but now that I know it's there, it's a bit of an eye sore tbh. I've attached a photo taken from the driver side door, I think it's pretty clearly show the downward bend at the tip. The green box is where the bend is if you ran your finger along it.

Lastly I also noticed that the front edge of my hood is lightly lower than the top edge of my front bummer when my hood is fully closed. I think this might be a tolerance thing but just curious is anyone's hood showing the same thing? Pic attached (IMG_7499.jpg).

Forzanerazzurri · 05-21-2023, 05:39 PM

Attach a photo of the other side for comparison. Looks like your hood needs to be adjusted up a bit which takes two seconds to do, unfortunately this will make your fender issue even worse. You should see my passenger door. It's way out of alignment. German build quality or something. I cared for about 15 mins, I guess I'm getting too old for this shit.

ntran90 · 05-22-2023, 03:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Forzanerazzurri

Attach a photo of the other side for comparison. Looks like your hood needs to be adjusted up a bit which takes two seconds to do, unfortunately this will make your fender issue even worse. You should see my passenger door. It's way out of alignment. German build quality or something. I cared for about 15 mins, I guess I'm getting too old for this shit.

Still hasn't dampen my mood when it comes to driving the car and honestly like I said it's a pretty subtle defect, but it's one of those things where because I know it's there now I always stare at it when I come up on the driver side.

Forzanerazzurri · 05-22-2023, 08:49 PM

Yeah that makes it much more obvious now. I wonder if something got dropped on it. These fenders are aluminum but I'm sure it can be fixed, maybe even a PDR guy can look at it? Risk is that you crack the paint in the process.

ntran90 · 06-14-2023, 01:44 PM

Update incase anyone was interested...I spoke to my CA last month and sent her the pictures, she told me to come by and they'll have someone in the service department take a look at it. I finally had time yesterday to stop by but unfortunately did not get much assistance. When i got to the dealership I spoke to the new cars manager and he said that the service department folks don't do anything about body panels but they do have independent body work specialists who come by the dealership from time to time, but unfortunately yesterday was not one of those days. He told me to come by again Thursday or Friday.

On the way home I decided to stop by a certified BMW collision shop to get their input and possible get a quote, in the event I needed to pay out-of-pocket. Went in and one of the office work checks me in and looked over my M3. She scanned the VIN and confirm the frozen paint and mentioned to me that they'll most likely have to repaint and blend the front end. At this point in my head I'm already thinking there's no way I'm going out of pocket for this since getting the front end PPF again would be $2000+ alone. I asked her if knew if the fender could be saved or would a replacement be needed. She called one of the shop foreman over to take a look at it and to get his input.

He comes over takes a look at, runs his hand on the fenders, identifies the bend, take a step back and look at it some more. Then asks me to pop the hood. I pop the hood and before I knew it he's running his hands all over the fender again and yanks it up from inside the hood area. My jaw damn near dropped...but what do you know it looks noticeably better

, he then closes the hood and I point out that the gap between the fender and the hood seems to be noticeable wider now compared to the other side. He asks me to pop the hood again and proceed to yank the hood (did not know this is how hoods are adjusted lol). We close the hood again, he looks at it and smiles and says I think I yank it a little too much on the one side, pop the hood again. He then proceeds to yank it the other way a smidge and both side look evenly spaced again. I shook his hand and said thank you

Pure speculation on my part but I have a feeling that during assembly at the factory, someone noticed the wider gap between hood and fender on the driver side and proceeded to push on the fender front tip to get it closer to the hood.

mcsquared · 06-14-2023, 01:56 PM

Glad to see it’s rectified.

MMM.PWR · 06-14-2023, 02:39 PM

The height of the hood can be adjusted easily by turning the nut on the two latches that are attached to the hood.. glad you got the fender sorted.

Forzanerazzurri · 06-14-2023, 02:39 PM

Looks alot better.

ntran90 · 06-16-2023, 12:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mcsquared

Glad to see it’s rectified.

Weight off my shoulders 🙂

ntran90 · 06-16-2023, 01:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MMM.PWR

The height of the hood can be adjusted easily by turning the nut on the two latches that are attached to the hood.. glad you got the fender sorted.

Thanks! I’ll check it out hood adjustment this weekend. Do you happen to know if there is a similar adjustment point for the doors? Recently noticed that when my driver door is closed it sits slight higher than the rear driver side door. Not too noticeable from the outside but it’s clear every time I look at it on the side mirror while driving.

ntran90 · 06-16-2023, 01:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Forzanerazzurri

Looks alot better.

Yep! I was so surprised at how much better he managed to get it with just his bare hands.

MMM.PWR · 06-16-2023, 10:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ntran90

Thanks! I’ll check it out hood adjustment this weekend. Do you happen to know if there is a similar adjustment point for the doors? Recently noticed that when my driver door is closed it sits slight higher than the rear driver side door. Not too noticeable from the outside but it’s clear every time I look at it on the side mirror while driving.

Not sure.. and I don't want to go looking at my car either. lol

05-19-2023, 01:11 AM	#1
ntran90 Private 19 Rep 86 Posts Drives: 2023 BMW M3 Join Date: May 2022 Location: Maryland iTrader: (0) Garage List 2023 BMW M3 Competi ... [10.00]	Driver Side Fender Slightly Bent Hi All. Could use some advice...I got my G80 last month through the delivery center and when I got the car I went over it as much as I could to identify any sort of defects and the car appeared to be pretty much spotless. However after getting the car back home and getting it fully PPF, one day while going over the PPF job I noticed that the tip of my driver side fender is ever so slightly bent downward (I checked the passenger side fender and that one is fine). The bent is pretty easy to overlook unless you run your hand on the inside edge of the fender and look at it at a certain angle. Now I know cars like a lot of things have certain tolerances - you're never going to truly get 100% but this to me looks like a clear defect during either assembly or the manufacturing of the fender. Do I have a case to file for a warranty request? Or will BMW deny it since I didn't catch right at delivery? Would it be possible to even fix the bend? Or would the entire fender need to be replaced? I already have it PPF so ideally I would like to save the PPF. And any idea how much it would cost to get it fixed? If BMW denies the warranty request I might still get it fixed myself. I know it's a bit of a first world problem but now that I know it's there, it's a bit of an eye sore tbh. I've attached a photo taken from the driver side door, I think it's pretty clearly show the downward bend at the tip. The green box is where the bend is if you ran your finger along it. Lastly I also noticed that the front edge of my hood is lightly lower than the top edge of my front bummer when my hood is fully closed. I think this might be a tolerance thing but just curious is anyone's hood showing the same thing? Pic attached (IMG_7499.jpg). Attached Images
	Appreciate 0 Tweet Quote

05-21-2023, 05:39 PM	#2
Forzanerazzurri Banned 6924 Rep 3,276 Posts Drives: E46 M3 Coupe/G80 M3CX Join Date: Jul 2021 Location: Alberta iTrader: (0) Garage List 2003 BMW M3 Coupe [0.50] 2022 BMW M3 Competi ... [5.12]	Attach a photo of the other side for comparison. Looks like your hood needs to be adjusted up a bit which takes two seconds to do, unfortunately this will make your fender issue even worse. You should see my passenger door. It's way out of alignment. German build quality or something. I cared for about 15 mins, I guess I'm getting too old for this shit.
	Appreciate 0 Quote

05-22-2023, 08:49 PM	#4
Forzanerazzurri Banned 6924 Rep 3,276 Posts Drives: E46 M3 Coupe/G80 M3CX Join Date: Jul 2021 Location: Alberta iTrader: (0) Garage List 2003 BMW M3 Coupe [0.50] 2022 BMW M3 Competi ... [5.12]	Yeah that makes it much more obvious now. I wonder if something got dropped on it. These fenders are aluminum but I'm sure it can be fixed, maybe even a PDR guy can look at it? Risk is that you crack the paint in the process.
	Appreciate 0 Quote

06-14-2023, 01:44 PM	#5
ntran90 Private 19 Rep 86 Posts Drives: 2023 BMW M3 Join Date: May 2022 Location: Maryland iTrader: (0) Garage List 2023 BMW M3 Competi ... [10.00]	Update incase anyone was interested...I spoke to my CA last month and sent her the pictures, she told me to come by and they'll have someone in the service department take a look at it. I finally had time yesterday to stop by but unfortunately did not get much assistance. When i got to the dealership I spoke to the new cars manager and he said that the service department folks don't do anything about body panels but they do have independent body work specialists who come by the dealership from time to time, but unfortunately yesterday was not one of those days. He told me to come by again Thursday or Friday. On the way home I decided to stop by a certified BMW collision shop to get their input and possible get a quote, in the event I needed to pay out-of-pocket. Went in and one of the office work checks me in and looked over my M3. She scanned the VIN and confirm the frozen paint and mentioned to me that they'll most likely have to repaint and blend the front end. At this point in my head I'm already thinking there's no way I'm going out of pocket for this since getting the front end PPF again would be $2000+ alone. I asked her if knew if the fender could be saved or would a replacement be needed. She called one of the shop foreman over to take a look at it and to get his input. He comes over takes a look at, runs his hand on the fenders, identifies the bend, take a step back and look at it some more. Then asks me to pop the hood. I pop the hood and before I knew it he's running his hands all over the fender again and yanks it up from inside the hood area. My jaw damn near dropped...but what do you know it looks noticeably better , he then closes the hood and I point out that the gap between the fender and the hood seems to be noticeable wider now compared to the other side. He asks me to pop the hood again and proceed to yank the hood (did not know this is how hoods are adjusted lol). We close the hood again, he looks at it and smiles and says I think I yank it a little too much on the one side, pop the hood again. He then proceeds to yank it the other way a smidge and both side look evenly spaced again. I shook his hand and said thank you Pure speculation on my part but I have a feeling that during assembly at the factory, someone noticed the wider gap between hood and fender on the driver side and proceeded to push on the fender front tip to get it closer to the hood. Attached Images
	Appreciate 0 Quote

06-14-2023, 01:56 PM	#6
mcsquared Lieutenant 778 Rep 571 Posts Drives: '24 SSG G80 6m/t Join Date: May 2023 Location: Florida iTrader: (0)	Glad to see it’s rectified.
	Appreciate 0 Quote

06-14-2023, 02:39 PM	#7
MMM.PWR Sith Lord 3460 Rep 893 Posts Drives: G80X, Mazda 3 6MT (daily) Join Date: Nov 2021 Location: Wisconsin iTrader: (0) Garage List 2022 BMW M3 Comp. [10.00]	The height of the hood can be adjusted easily by turning the nut on the two latches that are attached to the hood.. glad you got the fender sorted. __________________ Always two there are.
	Appreciate 0 Quote