May 28, 201114 yr I'm trying to figure out what part it is.. the car had some slight passenger side damage but I can't tell if the passenger side light is not sitting flush with the bumper because of the bumper or something else got pushed back because when I screw the headlight in behind the grill it sits like this.
May 28, 201114 yr there appears to be a crack in your headlight mounting bracket, if its broken it could be your problem. close the hood and see if they are both even, could be the bumper got pulled out?
May 28, 201114 yr Three's a crease in your upper radiator support beam. Might not account for all of that but it needs to be pulled back out about 1/2" probably.
May 28, 201114 yr Author I went to check quicky this morning its hard to tell whats not right. I would check later when im not dressedu up
May 29, 201114 yr just a quick look at you r pic - arrow A - broken mounting tab arrow B - crease in upper radiator support between those two things, that could account for the alignment problem but not being able to physically see the car, hard to say...
May 29, 201114 yr Author hmm I swear the other side has the same looking crease but I will check in the morning.
May 29, 201114 yr This is one of the may downfalls to plastic lexan lensed headlights. The lexan is too strong to break when the headlight is hit, so the weak link is the mount bracket for the housing. A glass lense the buckets/brackets were not the weak link the glass lens was. On those, a nudge would be replace the cheap standard light lens, standard square or standard round, and the bracket would be fine. On these new ones, you have to replace everything and even the junkyard ones have broken mount tabs 75% of the time. And if you find one with intact mount brackets, the lens is yellow 90% of the time and won't buff out nice.
May 30, 201114 yr hmm I swear the other side has the same looking crease but I will check in the morning. it may have a similar looking crease on the other side, but the chipped paint is a clue that something is out of whack here.
May 30, 201114 yr Author Not so sure it's pushed in because I think the bracket that goes down on the radiator bracket (the silver part) it would have a gap, no? it's obvious it's pushed down but given the gap just pushing it back up is not going to be enough and I don't want to push it forward if that's not the case.
May 31, 201114 yr Not so sure it's pushed in because I think the bracket that goes down on the radiator bracket (the silver part) it would have a gap, no? it's obvious it's pushed down but given the gap just pushing it back up is not going to be enough and I don't want to push it forward if that's not the case. ok, after seeing the other side in comparison - yeah, it is pushed down and probably back a little too - the rad bracket will move with the support quite a bit before being noticably tweaked. I am willing to bet that if you measured both sides - say from strut tower forward, there would be a difference.
May 31, 201114 yr Author I thought about this.. what about replacing the upper support bar? Ah wait seems like I'd need to drill out the spot welds? Edited May 31, 201114 yr by 1-3-2-4
May 31, 201114 yr I thought about this.. what about replacing the upper support bar? Ah wait seems like I'd need to drill out the spot welds? yup, you would - not to mention that there is metal behind the headlight housings, too, that is all a structural part of that... honest truth is you probably have more "bent" than just that little kink in the upper rad support - in fact i would put money on it that there is more. Take a tape measure to it and you will find it...
June 5, 201114 yr Author Not really trying today I decided to put a screwdriver in one of the holes of the radiator support and I think I know where I need to pull forward at.. the bracket behind the light next to the radiator. I put my finger on it, it's more pushed in then the drivers side. Edited June 5, 201114 yr by 1-3-2-4
June 22, 201114 yr Author I pulled the headlight out today to see a bit more How it should be... gap with the support
June 24, 201114 yr Author Nice I just saw in the body section of the FSM they give measurements of how far the tram tracking gauge should be.. but that tool is too much so a tape measure will have to do.
August 18, 201114 yr Author Finally fixed this since it was time to put it in while I had everything out. daytime looks better and not using s cellphone but hood is not closed all the way
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now