ThrottleUp

I just drove my new one back with the 427 Carbon Fiber Hood back home to Texas from the Museum last week and enjoyed the car tremendously, even the rain and the trucks couldn't get that grin off my face.

However, during the drive back the hood unlatched itself 3 times (on the passanger-side).... I had to pull over and noticed when i drop the hood to close from about 18 inches above the latches, that the passanger-side hood latch does not grip the hood and hold. That side of the hood just pops up and does not latch unless a special effort is made to secure it.

If I push it by hand it takes a strong push to make it latch, or I can raise the hood again, stand in front of the car, place both hands on the hood and then push the hood down with some force, and it will latch.

Problem is, I just don't think this is acceptable or even good for long-term.

I just sold my 2011 GS Vert that I owned for over a year and I never had any issues at all with the hood latching. I realize this hood is lighter, being carbon fiber, but if the driver-side latches well, shouldn't the passenger side also (since both latches are bearing equal weight)?

Has anyone else had this problem? Any thoughts what's going on and what I should do? The transaction date for the car was August 20, though I only picked-it up last week, I don't want some sort of 30 day adjustment warranty to expire on me.

BWF07

Have you taken it to your sealer and address the issue with them? That would be my first stop. Actually if that happened on your trip back and you were not that far away from Bowling Green, I would have turned around and returned to have it address their. They would have made it right.

ZR1Cat

Have you tried to adjust the height of the black rubber bumpers by twisting them? Bumpers must be at correct height for the hood to easily seat and release. That would be my first item to check.

ThrottleUp

I've been unable to take it to the dealer because of work, that's why I wanted to know if there is a 30 day period for pure "adjustments". I don't know if it's a defective part or just something that needs adjustment at this point, and I probably won't be able to take to dealer until the 30 days is past. Thursday will be 30 days since I transacted the purchase of the car.

I called my service advisor and he says it's ok if I bring it in next week and he'll have the body shop look at it. Of course he says there is no 30 day limit, but I don't necessarily believe everything verbal that comes out a representative of a dealer.

I haven't tried to adjust the black rubber bumpers but only know that the hood corners are perfectly flush with the body, just the way you want it to look.

Gary '09 C6

you've got full warranties on a new car...

it's likely the passenger-side hood bumper support (referred to above) needing adjustment

and b-t-w, congratulations !

johnodrake

There is no 30 day adjustments period. It will be corrected under warranty. Owing to the lightness of the hood, you need to put a bit of mustard on the closing. The SMC hoods had enough weight to make closure. If you just drop the hood (on mine) the passenger side will not catch. Put some force behind it or just press on the latches on both sides. I really think if there were an alignment issue, David Smith and his gang that do the Museum PDI would have caught it.

ThrottleUp

Thanks Gary '09 C6, it's been a wild ride going on this thing.....I feel like I had a double-serving of the whipped cream on my cake....had mixed emotions at the Museum, I wanted to get on the road, but I also kept asking questions and slowing down at the plant....... spent 20 minutes just checking out the engines all piled-up on their pallets....lol.. finally got out 2 hours later than planned so had to drive until later than I had wanted to...... no complaints here

JCtx

I wouldn't force the hood to latch; it can be damaged. It should be very easy to fix yourself. First, start with the rubber 'bumpers'; back them in a turn or two and try closing the hood again. If it latches fine, you found your problem. If not, then the latching mechanism has a little give, so you can easily loosen the 3 bolts and raise it a little. The other option is to shim the hood's bracket with thin washers. Finally, adjust the rubber 'bumpers' so hood sits flush against the fenders. Sorry to hear GM's QC is not what it should be. I also had to adjust my hood (and many other things ). Good luck.

shaimerej

The hood on my ZR1 does the same thing. I looked at it as best as I can and figure it is due to the hood's lack of mass; especially if I drop it holding only one side of the hood. I have much better luck if a reach out to the center of the hood and drop it that way. I'm interested to see if there are a bunch of other carbon hood owners that open/close their hood often and have experienced no problems.

ThrottleUp

Well...... I think I found the problem!

I'll have pictures in a day or so, but I am missing the rubber bumper on the passenger-side of the hood. Looking at where it is supposed to fit under the hood it looks like it was torn off and ripped a small hole on the underside as it was torn....

I was so hung-up in finding the problem on the latch mechanism itself I didn't bother to look up at the hood like ZR1Cat suggested to see the rubber bumper just wasn't there.

What kind of gripes me about this is that before leaving the museum, the PDI and museum delivery managers both looked at my hood that refused to shut without a "firm" push on top of the hood corner and said the reason was it because the carbon fiber makes it too light to latch shut. They said I would have to adjust my procedure for closing the hood and stand in front of the car with both hands on the hood and "push" it down fast so it would close both sides.

In my gut it just didn't feel right but since I had these two gentlemen, and my delivery guide, all telling me this I was gullible and failed to insist on a more thorough inspection. Caveat Emptor guys.......now I guess the dealer will need to replace the hood, which means they will take an unpainted blank and paint it at the dealer, so I'll risk the paint not matching well. .....sigh....

I'm getting ahead of myself but will be taking the car to the dealer Tuesday so will report then....... will try to post pictures soon but I don't have a website account to store pictures so may not be able to post. sigh...

Gary '09 C6

On the passenger side, the rubber bumper isn't attached to the hood. The hood indentation is intentional,
as the rubber bumper is on the car just in front of the firewall, below the wiper cowling.

(sorry to ruin your day !)

smokenjo

I HAVE A 427 60 ann. with the same problem, the dealer said the carbon fiber dose not have the weight as the stock hood, so I close the hood all the way down and just push down firmly on each side just above the latches

Chevy Cust Svc

I am very sorry to hear about your experience. Let me know what you find at the dealer. If you need anything in the meantime, please feel free to contact me via email at tricia_marie@gmexpert.com for more assistance. Be sure to include that we spoke on this forum as well as your username. Thank you in advance.

Tricia, Chevrolet Customer Service.

SharkbyteLT4

i find it is better to close the hood by forcing down on the middle of the hood like somebody mentioned before. anything else, its a 50/50 chance it will close on both sides

ThrottleUp

Ok, finally took it in to the dealer on Friday and he seems to have fixed the problem. Although I call this a "conditional approval", both sides of the hood have closed three times after being dropped from about 1 foot height, without pushing from the front.

I say "conditional" because I've been busy with work, even working today and will again tomorrow and will travel Monday........ so.... it will be a week or so before I can actually begin to give the car some "real world" driving and raising and lowering the hood. If after a couple of hundred miles of this the hood continues to work as it should, then I will consider it a good fix.

You want to know how the tech fixed it? (Gary '09 C6 you're gonna love this one ).... that's right, he "fixed" it by adjusting the rubber bumper thing in the engine compartment near the latching mechanism....

But it wasn't even obvious to the Service Advisor, who is usually the "go to guy" for Vettes at this dealership. He didn't think the rubber snubber was adjustable...... but the tech spread the factory lube around a little and turned the rubber bumper so as to raise it just a small distance (so short a distance that the hood corner continues to lie flush with the fender next to it).....

So I guess I'm (conditionally) happy for now.

I just want to mention that I also wasn't sure that the bumper was adjustable, but I learned it was by a couple of your comments. So a big hats-off to you guys for this. However, I've learned from experience that if possible, you want to let the dealer look at any problems with the car and give them the opportunity to fix it and to register it in their computer. I've had problems with past Vettes that yours truly tried to fix it and when I was unable to do it, finally took it to the dealer and then had a big go-around with the dealer who accused me of either causing the issue or "contributing" to it...... so now I just side-step that whole deal and won't even touch the car on a new problem. Yes I'm **** but I prefer to drive it to the dealership (I love having excuses to drive it) and do this rather than risking an issue on a claim afterward.....

To the others with this problem, I hope you can adjust that rubber bumper enough to make both sides latch as they are meant to. It's a better solution than standing in front and forcefully pushing the hood down. (What if you are in freezing weather and do this and something cracks? I think something like this could happen in that case, IMO)