Hello, I noticed that there’s a gap on the driver’s side. I’ll post the pics for reference:



That’s the passenger side, all seems ok.

The gap between the hood, front bumper and the headlight cover is more on the driver’s side.

One of my friends said that this gap can be adjusted with the screw near the headlight but I’m not sure which one, my friend is currently traveling due to his work commitment so I can’t ask him to elaborate further. Does anybody have any experience with this issue?

thanks in advance 👍

 

the headlight cover does have lots of adjustability......is that what you want to move as opposed to the hood or bumper?

 

thank you for replying👍 to be honest l, I’m not sure what to adjust. I think even if I adjust the headlight cover (which I don’t know how to do in the first place) there will still be a gap between the hood and the front bumper. Please check the below 👇 pic




maybe it’s a mixture of both, I mean I need to adjust the headlight cover plus the hood maybe? Not sure 🤔

What would you guys recommend?

 

seems like you want to move the front bumper up to meet the hood....there is a xmas tree pin in that location....no adjustability there
i know its not perfect ...but I have seen worse

 

I think my best bet is to try to adjust the gap from aligning the hood properly, what do you think?

many thanks 😊

 

My t/a has the same gap, would like to know how to fix it also.

 

How is the hood height in relation to the fender top on the driver side? If it's slightly high then you'll want to lower the hood stops. Or you can raise the passenger side slightly. If it's good now then try to ignore it. The car is over 20 years old and there may be some shrinkage of the front bumper. If that's the case not much you can do unless you work every adjustment of the front bodywork. Start doing that and you'll see that gap appear somewhere else.

 

Thank you for replying. Not sure about the hood height in relation to the fender top on the driver side to be honest, but I’ll double check it once I’m back home 👍 I had broken hood bump stops on both sides and I installed new ones from Hawks Motorsport ( same ones you find at the front) they fit perfectly and are stronger than the OEM ones because they are not plastic, they’re rubber. I had the exact same gap before and after the new bumper stops. And I lowered the new ones on both sides as much as possible.
I just had a thought that it could be from the bumper stops on the front, anyway, I’ll double check all of them once I’m back home and keep you guys updated.

thank you all for following up

 

Update: hey guys, I tried to tighten all the hood bump stops (upper &lower) unfortunately it didn’t do anything in my case, I believe it even made the hood latch stuck at one point so I loosened the lower ones just a little bit and the hood latch went back to the way it was. Only the upper ones are tightened all the way now, the gap is still there though.🤷

I took some pictures of the hood and how it’s aligned to the fender. I don’t think there’s any difference from the passenger side. So now I’m not sure that the hood is causing the gap. Maybe it’s a mixture of both the headlight cover + front bumper. I’ll let the body shop look at the car while they paint the scratch and the CETA mod.






thank you all 😊

 

raise the hood and see how the bumper is attached on top...as you can see the xmas tree push pins locate the bumper at that point...only thing i can think of is to slot those holes and use bolts to move the bumper closer to the hood...if there is enough slop in there to let the bumper move around that far

 

The hood latch is adjustable as well. If it's set too high the hood doesn't contact the stops. That would make you think that adjusting the stops lower has no effect.

 

thank you both for your input 😊

mill raise the hood, take pics of everything possible and see what we can do from there.

regarding the hood latch, if it’s adjustable, how do you adjust it? That’s new info to me. But I don’t know if I should adjust it. Or it may be beneficial in my situation.

I’ll keep you guys updated tomorrow with the pics and other things I might find.

much appreciated for your time and help.

 

Open the hood look down at the latch and you'll see these 2 bolts. Loosen slightly but don't remove and adjust as needed. You can see the slots behind the bolts that give you the adjustment. You will have up and down and some slight side to side. I'm not guaranteeing that's your problem but it's something else to try.

 

thanks for informing me, I’ll look into it as well 👍😊

 

I think we should re-align some expectations a bit.

Even though this car was re-designed for 98, it's really largely made of the DNA from its 1993 model year predecessor. At that time... body gap tightness was just starting to become a "thing." Lexus was a pioneer:


I love this car. ... but it was no Lexus.

So, the body panels, particularly the ones that match the fender to the hood aren't going to be so great. In particular, the fastener at the top of the fender near the windshield doesn't really hold tight. If you get it perfect - take a picture! (It won't last long.)

The front bumper reveals are notorious on our cars. They are such a PITA that my body shop refused to mess with them for any amount of compensation. Some of our members have had success getting them cleaner. IMO - you might be best off to drink a 6-pack and take another look at things. You might feel better at that point and think things are good enough. (One good run-in with a pigeon, etc. and it all moves.)

 

Harbor Freight sells body shims that you might be able to slide under the front bumper for about $10. It might help or it might make it worse.

 

I personally feel the gaps look pretty good on it. Are they absolutely perfect, nope, but that's how they were made. You can chase body gaps for weeks, months, but honestly unless you're really willing to dig deep, and maybe even do bodywork and paint, it's negligible. Enjoy it! It's a beautiful car.