Bonnet shut lines - how big are yours?

[Esox Mark]

Hi everyone

Something I noticed when I parked my S3 next to another A3 at the weekend was the marked difference in the shut lines between the bonnet and wings of the two cars. As is so often the case, once I start to question something it then stays on my mind... anyway, looking at my car it is obvious that the gap between the bonnet and the wings is taking the ****. On the drivers side, if I kneel down and look accross the bonnet I can see the black rubbers that cushion the bonnet when it is closed - not good on a white car! Quite why it's not really stood out before I don't know... anyway... I meaured the gap at 5mm all the way along and on the passengers side it's just under 4mm.

The car is booked into the Dealer next week to go to the body shop under warranty - Audi seem to think the problem is a misalligned bonnet? Now I'm no expert, but I bet all they do is move it one way by about 1mm so I end up with about 4mm each side! That'll still be too big a gap for my liking. In my opinion, the wings are going to have to somehow come in by 1mm either side, anyway... I measured the shut lines on work colleagues A3 this morning and his are 3.5mm each side. We then went mad and checked two other Audis in our car park at work and one (an A4) was 3mm and the other (S5) 3.5mm...

So, I was wondering how big a gap you chaps have on your A3's? That's so I have at least a bench mark figure to present Audi with when I leave the car with them next week.

THANKS as always!

Mark

 

[edition]

You might struggle if they give you an aligned 4mm gap, asking for them to move the wings in 0.5mm.....

 

[PregnantNproud]

Can we have pictures please Esox. Mine is a little big, and infact i believe its bigger on the right than the left!

 

[Scott]

I don't have my A3 here right now but I'll measure when it's back (tomorrow hopefully) until then I'm stuck with a Seat Ibiza 1.2 courtesy car lol.

I'm sure this thread is going to make a lot of people paranoid about their lines....lol

 

[Andy_S]

If it helps, (pre-facelift 8p) mine are 3.5mm at the front edge near the headlight, and 4mm at the back edge.

 

[-Ju-]

Checked mine and there around 2.5 - 3mm on both sides and tbh they do look just right.:icon_thumright:

 

[Esox Mark]

Thanks for all that. Much appreciated. 3.5mm I'd say is about right, so that's what I will tell the Dealer in terms of my expectations.

I'll post a picture later today or tommorrow so you can see how crap it looks right now! If the car wasn't white I think it wouldn't show up so much, but I can see the black rubber caps that lie along the inside of the front wings when I stand next to the car and look at - not good!

Thanks again...

Mark

 

[Esox Mark]

For anyone who thinks I am exaggerating

 

[NHN]

Ye I know what you mean cause when I did my facelift upgrade I noticed the new bonnet had a bigger gap & it keeps drawing my eyes to it aswell, its pretty poor & on an ibis its so noticeable that draws you away from the look of the car from that pic you've shown, problem is unless they can shift the wings in a tad then not much can be done cause bonnet can only be shifted left/right with bolts to hinges so kinda stuck & with aftermarket repairs under warranty this is sure to open up another can of worms of colour matching, quality etc etc, risky tbh letting audi dealer do this as alot dont use there own bodyshops anymore.

 

[Ads]

Looking at some of the photos on this thread http://www.audi-sport.net/vb/showpost.php?p=791662&postcount=1
looks like he also has a similar size gap, although hard to properly tell due to different angles.
His doesn't look as bad as yours because you can't see the black rubber caps.

I did a quick (and very rough!!) mock up of your photo blanking out the black rubbers.
Already looks better to me.
Maybe you could try painting yours???

 

[Khufu]

It does look very noticable in white! Mine looks fine though it could be about 3mm too.

 

[Esox Mark]

Thanks chaps. Yes, on white it shows up a lot more, which is part of the problem I suppose. It goes into the Dealer this Monday coming and yep, I think the wing needs to come in, or something like that? Adjusting the bonnet isn't going to make a lot of difference. We shall see... I'm not going to drop this, so if they don't sort it out into something I'm happy with then they are in for a fight! At this point, I've no reason to doubt that they'll fix this, I only need the wing to come over by a little over 1mm to 1.5mm. At present, as you can see from the pics, it looks crap and I can't look at my car without noticing it. I've already had one joker notice it and tell me my car had been in an accident and it was a crap repair! Obviously not the case as I took delivery of the car within only a couple of days of it rolling off the ferry... mind you, I can see why he said that ... I shall update you when the car comes back from the dealer... next Friday they tell me.