Hi,

It's my impression that on most cars, the hood extends from the windshield to the grill. On my 2014 TL, the hood stops a little short of the grill and there is a small piece between the front of the hood and the grill. There is also another small piece on either side of the hood. Consequently, there are 3 pieces that meet at the front corner of the hood. On my TL, they are not all flush with each other. They are not too far out of alignment, but this seems like a strange design choice. Is there some reason for this? It's not that it looks bad, but I would think the standard design (with fewer intersecting pieces) would look just as good.

I know there is a small rubber cylinder-shaped thing under both front hood corners. This rubber piece screws in and out of a hole in the structure under the hood, so I assume this allows one to adjust the height of the front hood corners. Unfortunately, my hood was a bit low and each rubber piece was already at its maximum height, so I could not quite get the adjustment I wanted.

Mostly I'm just curious about this design choice. It seems odd to me to have 3 pieces meet at this very visible place. It seems like this is just asking for possible alignment problems. Is this just for looks or is there a practical reason to not use what I would consider the standard hood that goes all the way to the grill?

Thanks,

Gregg

 

I returned my new 14 TL SHAWD Advance the next day so they can align hood and grill. Also, left corner of grille plastic top was peeling up as well.

 

i've never really thought twice about it, hood designs seem to be one of the most diverse aspects of design in today's cars.

hope you manage to get everything aligned the way you like it

 

Does your car have the engine covers in place? My car is a '10, but the rubber seal on the engine cover covers a gap like what you are talking about.

 

Do you have a pic of what you are talking about?