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Hood "adjustment"

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Old Sep 27, 2006 | 12:36 PM
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Hood "adjustment"

Does anyone know of a way to adjust the way your hood sits when in the closed position? When I close my hood it appears that the drivers side of the hood is sitting a few millimeters above "flush" with the front fender. I can also notice a larger gap above the headlight than on the passenger side. I have not been in any wrecks or anything. I dont know how long it has been like this. Maybe the whole time I have owned the car but I would think that I would have noticed it before now...

There is a treaded "stopper" on either side of the engine compartment, near the front, that looks like it could be a way to adjust the way the hood sits but I'm not sure.

Thanks!
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Old Sep 27, 2006 | 12:49 PM
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Originally Posted by rpayer
Does anyone know of a way to adjust the way your hood sits when in the closed position? When I close my hood it appears that the drivers side of the hood is sitting a few millimeters above "flush" with the front fender. I can also notice a larger gap above the headlight than on the passenger side. I have not been in any wrecks or anything. I dont know how long it has been like this. Maybe the whole time I have owned the car but I would think that I would have noticed it before now...

There is a treaded "stopper" on either side of the engine compartment, near the front, that looks like it could be a way to adjust the way the hood sits but I'm not sure.

Thanks!
Post some pics, so we can have a better visualization of what you're referring to.
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Old Sep 27, 2006 | 01:10 PM
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Originally Posted by drexappeal
Post some pics, so we can have a better visualization of what you're referring to.
Sure thing... Will post tonight.
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Old Sep 27, 2006 | 01:47 PM
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I noticed that sometimes when I close my hood, one end isn't closed all the way (not locked all the way). This is probably due to the lock not engaging fast enough upon the rebound of the hood. Thus, I have to open it and close it again harder. Usually this works.

Make sure that the hood is fully closed and locked before you drive at high speeds. It'd be devastating if all of a sudden the hood flies open when you're driving on the highway. I've heard it has happened before.
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Old Sep 27, 2006 | 02:14 PM
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Originally Posted by patrick_y
I noticed that sometimes when I close my hood, one end isn't closed all the way (not locked all the way). This is probably due to the lock not engaging fast enough upon the rebound of the hood. Thus, I have to open it and close it again harder. Usually this works.

Make sure that the hood is fully closed and locked before you drive at high speeds. It'd be devastating if all of a sudden the hood flies open when you're driving on the highway. I've heard it has happened before.
That is a possibility... I'll give it a shot this afternoon. I know both sides of the hood are locking though. On the passenger side there is no slack between the hood and the "stopper". On the drivers side I can put my palm on the corner of the hood near the headlight and press down and there is about 1/4in of slack.
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Old Sep 27, 2006 | 02:22 PM
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i presume the car was wrecked once?
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Old Sep 27, 2006 | 02:48 PM
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Originally Posted by Justinius7
i presume the car was wrecked once?
The car has not been wrecked...
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Old Sep 27, 2006 | 06:13 PM
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I have the same problem. When I got the car, the hood and fenders are lined up correctly. The first time I opened the hood and closed it, the passenger side corner of the hood is kinda sitting higher than the fender. The first time I brought the car for it's first service, they fixed it. Again, the moment I opened the hood and closed it, it wasn't aligned correctly again. I'm bringing the car for service next week so I'll have them fix it again. I'll try patrick_y's advice and see if I'm just not closing it hard enough.
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Old Sep 27, 2006 | 08:56 PM
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To rpayer and ///M3N:

If you want to get really technical, there are ways to adjust the hood closing mechanism. There are these black "stoppers" that you can adjust by twisting them. If you twist them one way, they'll go up, the other, they'll go down. If you find that once you close the hood and both locks are fully engaged and the hood is still moving up and down a bit, open the hood again and adjust the stoppers to go up slightly. This may help decrease the slack. Don't adjust too much at a time and this type of work is probably best left to your Mercedes-Benz dealership or experienced mechanic. I've never touched them on my cars (haven't had to) but I've noticed the said black "stoppers" and this is how I interpret their functionality.

Sorry I don't have any pictures but they're usually made of metal with black paint or a small piece of black rubber covering them. They're mounted on an adjustable screw for twisting.

Best of luck.
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Old Sep 27, 2006 | 10:06 PM
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Okay, as soon as I got home from work, I tried patrick_y suggestion, closing the hood harder.... it worked. It's perfectly alligned to the fender now. It might be a different case for rpayer but try it before you try adjusting anything.
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Old Sep 28, 2006 | 10:55 AM
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I didnt get a chance to try that yet but I will at lunch today. I noticed the "stoppers" too. I just dont think they will help bring one side of the hood down. I would imagine those are for removing slack when the hood is fully closed.
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Old Sep 28, 2006 | 11:23 AM
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EVE
Originally Posted by patrick_y
To rpayer and ///M3N:

If you want to get really technical, there are ways to adjust the hood closing mechanism. There are these black "stoppers" that you can adjust by twisting them. If you twist them one way, they'll go up, the other, they'll go down. If you find that once you close the hood and both locks are fully engaged and the hood is still moving up and down a bit, open the hood again and adjust the stoppers to go up slightly. This may help decrease the slack. Don't adjust too much at a time and this type of work is probably best left to your Mercedes-Benz dealership or experienced mechanic. I've never touched them on my cars (haven't had to) but I've noticed the said black "stoppers" and this is how I interpret their functionality.

Sorry I don't have any pictures but they're usually made of metal with black paint or a small piece of black rubber covering them. They're mounted on an adjustable screw for twisting.

Best of luck.
Patrick,

You're pretty close to the solution . Those stoppers on the hood itself CAN be adjusted up or down by turning the nut (wish I had a picture of this) of the stopper clockwise/counterclockwise - FACT - I did this with my carbon fiber hood that I believe you actually saw. Start by messing around with those, something you can do at home with a basic metric set and you'll probably solve the problem. It's also OKAY to completely uninstall those from the hood to see what I'm talking about - it doesn't harm anything, but don't leave them off, they're party of the hood locking mechanism (it might even be easier to adjust with them off).

flip
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Old Oct 10, 2006 | 01:48 PM
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Thanks for the advice guys...

I havent had a chance to play with it a whole lot. I've been traveling on business. I did try to close the hood harder but it didnt change anything. I am familiar with the "stoppers" but I cant see how these would lower the hood to meet the fender. I guess if one of them were too high and keeping the hood from closing all the way but this is not the case. I can push down on the corner of the hood in question and there is slack between the bottom of the hood and the "stopper".
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Old Aug 3, 2023 | 10:50 PM
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My passenger side has the “I can push the hood down 1/4” (ish) before it’s solid. My driver side it solid, no movement. I have adjusted the hood stop (runner bumper) but no luck to the alignment I want or movement I want removed.

Does the actual hook in the hood move?
Does anyone know?

I don’t want to mess with it…but I want the hood lower 1/8”-1/4” and solid when down…and I can’t see anything in WIS or on my laptop…
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Old Aug 3, 2023 | 11:03 PM
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The R171 has adjustment nuts to address this issue being able to more the striker eye or latch up/down…

…but the w203 does not have seemingly such a vertical adjustment for the striker eye.

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Old Aug 4, 2023 | 02:08 PM
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This is all I want to adjust - basically the radii of the hood.

Dealer and Dealer Body Shop recommend bending hood over a 2”x4”…not doing that.


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Old Aug 4, 2023 | 02:39 PM
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I do see what appears to be an adjustment nut behind the striker eye/hook plate…

Of course my passenger one is pretty close to touching and the driver (perfectly aligned) has some room to potentially work…

I need to double check WIS…

Passenger

Driver
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Old Aug 4, 2023 | 11:38 PM
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W211 seems to be more similar…

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