I have an issue that's been bugging me with my 00 targa since I bought it. The hatch fitment is terrible and causes lots of road noise when driving. When I bought it only the driver side sat up and it drove me crazy because I saw it every time I looked in the mirror. I took it to a body shop to have some fiberglass work done to one of the fenders which had a small crack. He put it on a 2 post lift to do the work, using the correct lifting positions with my leave in pucks. When I got it back the passenger side was also sitting high and the targa top squeeked in the front driver corner. I can't imagine it would have bent the frame but I don't know what else could cause it to sit the way it is. The body shop said the hatch hinges aren't adjustable so they couldn't adjust it down. So now the hatch sits higher than the fenders on both sides and the glass rubs the top when opening the hatch. Anyone else have this issue or any ideas??? Thanks!

 

I've never seen one that bad. I would take it to a different body shop you trust and see if they can match the panels back up.

 

That does seem like its out of whack quite a bit.

 

Compared to mine it looks like your finders are low,from the pillar to the finder has a much bigger gap,has the car been wrecked ?

 

Were does the door sit when closed,at the fender.Are they the same height? If you look at the two corners(back of the pillar,front of the trunk) were they come to the point,that looks about the same as mine.Dont know if it's possable,but it looks like your fenders are lower.

 

The quarter was poorly fit... the space between the halo and the quarter is a dead give away. it need to be shimmed... the quarters are shimmed at the factory to insure proper fit.

 

So I guess I was on the right track,I wasn't sure if they could be ajusted.

 

I will have to look at door fitment when I get home and compare to the fender but I don't remember it being off. There does seem to be alot of gap between the halo and the fender though. According to carfax and previous owner it has not been wrecked to my knowledge. As fat as fender height though I don't see how the fender being lower would cause the glass to rub the halo when opening the hatch and also the passenger side fit perfect when I bought the car and now after it has been on a lift it is off. I've read the frames of these cars are very rigid and proper lifting points were used but I just can't think of any other reason why that gap would have changed. Could the halo have shifted somehow? I will take more pictures tonight. Thanks for all the responses I'd LOVE to get this nailed down.

 

Hey ET is it poss. The halo has shifted as well is the fenders.the glass on the left side is higher than the halo?

 

Definitely messed up. The fenders might need some adjustment, but like you suggest, that would not explain the glass hitting the halo when you open the hatch! I just took a couple photos of my car from a similar angle and because of the lens and my Macro setting on my camera the photo is a bit deceiving as my panels are pretty much perfectly aligned. From that low angle my halo to fender gap looks far apart as well, but not at normal viewing angle.

The C5s are very rigid when lifted from the specified lifting locations, but not sure what would happen if they lifted it incorrectly (or dropped it too fast when lowering)?

Has the glass always touched since you took possession of the car or is this after you had some other work done? Does the hatch match up with the rear bumper properly?

 

Frame is 4 X stronger than any previous model... it did not come that way from the factory... You can not bet the farm on a Carfax report.... the car could have been in an accident and fixed by an incompetent shop where no insurance was used. A cheap fix not reported as a Carfax entry. Just suggesting possible reasons for this issue.

 

Ok I apologize this took so long and appreciate all the ideas. I added some more pictures of door and hatch fitment. Doors seem to be even with fenders and door gaps are spot on. Gaps from hatch to fenders are also spot on. Hatch to bumper gap is even but seems maybe a little wide compared to hatch to fender gaps but not excessive. Fender to halo gap seems comparable to Choreo's judging by pictures and seems to be the same front to back even with fender. The only part that looks off is the halo to glass gap when open. In one of the pictures you can see the white powder on the glass and seal is actually fiberglass the glass scraped off of the halo. When I bought the car the driver side did rub but it had been doing it so long I never noticed it. After I got it back from the body shop and the passenger side was off I noticed it rubbing when I opened the hatch.
I would like to point out that the body shop I went to is a very good friend of mine and has been in the business a long time and has worked on multiple c5's. Not that he can't make a mistake I just mean I trust him and his work.
I'm not sure what to think at this point. Looking at the gaps it honestly just seems like the hatch hinges slid up and it's causing the glass to contact the halo and open the hatch to bumper gap slightly. I don't suppose anyone has an exploded view of the hatch hinges or has had one off and verify they are not adjustable or slotted? Maybe the bolts worked loose and the hinges slid up in the slots (assuming they are slotted) and closed the glass to halo gap??? I'm not afraid to tear into it and look at the hinges but if they aren't adjustable I'd rather not risk breaking the plastic covers during removal. Thanks again guys!

 

Well I was doing a search on how to remove the hatch to look at the hinges and ran across an article that may have a fix.

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...h-removal.html

Post #3 by georgec114 tells how to remove the hatch to replace the seal and at the end of the post he says...
"BTW...removing shims will actually lower the glass in relationship
to the halo. I had to do this my 2001 coupe because the glass
would contact the edge of the halo."

I don't know why this would change unless the bolts came lose and are allowing the hinge to move away from the shims but it looks like I will be taking it apart and doing some investigating. I hate to remove shims to fix it not knowing what caused the change but if it fixes it I guess I don't have much choice. Hopefully georgec114 will run across this post and have some insight on what happened with his. I will post what I find, probably won't have time to play with it until Saturday though unfortunately.

 

I guess it is possible that the hinge bolts backed off, but I never heard of that? That is probably what I would check out first.

 

Finally was able to mess with this this weekend. Bolts on hinges were tight. The driver side only had 1 shim in it and the passenger side had 3 so to keep it even I took one out of each side. It is definitely better now especially on the passenger side but the driver side is still high and has no more shims to take out. Glass still touches the halo when open. I guess this is going to be the best it's gonna get. I might try to slide the hinges back a bit farther to try to get the glass away from the halo more without closing the hatch to bumper gap too much but aside from that I guess I'm just stuck with it. Thanks for all the help and ideas guys!