Hood/Bonnet adjustment for R56 Cooper S

[BlueBomberRC83]

Hi guys. I have a 2009 Cooper S with about 63k km on it. When I got the car more than 2 years ago, it had some issues with the alignment of the hood. Now it's starting to bother me again since it seems to have misaligned somehow?

So I'm wondering if anyone knows how I can adjust the hood alignment? I basically want to know how I can a) pull the hood down to reduce the gap between the hood and the bumper, and b) how to pull the hood out toward the front of the car to have it flush with the bumper.

I've attached some images that show the problem areas. There's one image in which the hood looks a little deformed at the fender. Not sure what I can do about that. Any suggestions are welcome.

[BlueBeastie]

Hi BlueBomber. It's really easy to adjust the bonnet.

Open the bonnet and you will see 2 rubber stops. See the attached image as I've highlighted them in 2 blue squares. Skrew the rubber stop in or out until your bonnet is aligned correctly. I had pretty much the same alignment porblem, but this did sort it out. If you are still having problmes after this, then you might want to have the dealer take a look.

[Angib]

The hood/bonnet must be twisted, mustn't it? It looks flush at front left and rear right, but high at both rear left and front right.

Adjusting the bump stops may get the front right to sit correctly, but I have a horrid feeling that correcting the rear left is going to require a big, confident twist being applied to the hood/bonnet by hand (possibly with a manly grunt at the same time).

[BlueBeastie]

Quote: Originally Posted by Angib (original)

The hood/bonnet must be twisted, mustn't it? It looks flush at front left and rear right, but high at both rear left and front right.

Adjusting the bump stops may get the front right to sit correctly, but I have a horrid feeling that correcting the rear left is going to require a big, confident twist being applied to the hood/bonnet by hand (possibly with a manly grunt at the same time).

you have a good point there. I guess there is only one way to find out.

[BlueBomberRC83]

Thanks for the input guys. I'll try the rubber stoppers to adjust the height at the front of the car.

As for the twist, I think being able to pull the hood toward the front of the car on the driver side (car is LHD) would fix the problem since the hood is not flush with the bumper anyway on the driver side. The bumper sticks out slightly compared to the hood.

[BlueBeastie]

Cool! Let us know if you come right.

[BlueBomberRC83]

I managed to fix the issue. Turns out one of the metal rings underneath the hood wasn't latching on whenever I close the hood. I removed the screw that held the plastic housing around the ring and turned the ring a couple of times counter-clockwise to drop it a little. Then put everything back in place and closed the hood. It's better now at the very least. Don't think I'll be able to get it perfectly aligned.

Thanks a lot for your help!

[BlueBeastie]

Cool! I'm sure it looks alot better now though.