Since the original thread got closed because of personal attacks being played out. I'm starting a clean thread. Where the sole aim is to store actual photos of fender to bumper alignment from members who have an interest.

Here is a 2022 LS500h, absolutely perfect:

 

Is that why that thread was multiple pages. When a thread starts getting hot, I exit. I want no part of it. LOL.

I'm sort of an expert on panel gaps, specifically ES gaps for purposes of this thread. I know where the issues are with ES manufacturing and I already emailed Toyota a detailed report.

All in all the gaps are mostly good but theres a couple specific key areas I highlighted for TMMK to improve upon after recognizing patterns.

Been studying gaps for over 20 years. What are you wanting to know, like to know? What's the point of the LS photo above?

 

You need to read the ENTIRE thread # 1 if you haven't already

 

Meh i'm not reading it if it was locked. that means it's toxic. Why bring that into here anyway. This thread will get locked if its seen as an attempt to circumvent. i've seen this before.

 

You don't know what you're missing!!

 

Here's what I'd like to know: the answer you didn't have the opportunity to provide from the previous thread.

 

I went to 2 different local Lexus dealerships to look at the ES vehicles the other day. I noticed that both dealerships had an ES that had a misaligned hood. Lexus ES vehicles now also have misaligned hoods too.
The misalignment was present on the right corner of the hood near the windshield with a gap in the hood. The hood was up higher on one corner than the other corner. Can the hood be adjusted to straight to fix this particular misalignment? I took pictures to show you.


Car number 1. This is the left side. The left side is not misaligned.

Car number 1. This is the left side that’s sticking up and misaligned.

Car number 2. This is the left side. The left side is not misaligned.

Car number 2. This is the right side that’s sticking up and misaligned.

 

Since so much of this topic has been KY build quality vs Japan build quality, I thought it was interesting the Japan-assembled NX is being recalled for missing welds.

https://www.autoblog.com/amp/2022/04...issing-weldss/

Good and bad manufacturing practices happen everywhere. 😊

 

This is crazy. Misaligned hoods and misaligned front fenders on the ES vehicles and now missing spot welds on the NX vehicles. There’s a thread on here in the ES 7th Generation forum where one ES350 owner found that there were missing spot welds on the rear right rocker panel that connects to the rear right floor panel where the right rear door shuts. He fixed it by trying to twist the sheet metal lips together with a pair of pliers.

 

I guess it's safe to say Lexus build quality isn't as good as it could be, or as good as it once was.

I still think Japan has an edge on good ol' US of A... so does this guy who has been an engineer with Toyota and others for decades:

 

I know we tend to blame the workers (well I would blame inspectors) but aren’t virtually all of the welds done robotically? I don’t think line workers are doing too many welds…but perhaps I’m wrong. I wonder if it’s an intermittent fault or just poor programming. Regardless this should have been caught. And the dealer should have caught and realigned the hood!

 

I agree with you that the dealer should have caught the misalignment of the hood and that he should've fixed it if it could be fixed. I told the salesman to tell the service department about the misaligned hood. I don't know if he went to them or not to tell them to fix the misalignment. The vehicle was sitting outside as a show piece in front of the dealership window. I wanted to ask you about the hood fix. How would the dealership realign and fix the misaligned hood? Are there any adjustment springs on the hinges underneath the hood to make the corners of the hood that is near the windshield be more flusher and even on both corners with both front fenders? How is this particular hood misalignment fixed?

Also, I don't think that the line workers on the assembly line are doing any of the welds. I could be wrong about this, but I believe that the welds are all done by the robots. Maybe the engineers didn't program the robots correctly causing them to miss or omit the welds or maybe the robots are not programmed correctly to fully weld the panels causing them to not stick together and to come lose. I don't understand how Lexus can miss something like this during manufacturing. They are supposed to inspect everything as the build progresses from the beginning to the end. I'm baffled how Lexus can miss something important like this. This is scary thing with what's happening with the vehicle not being welded properly during manufacturing. I hope that the ES vehicles do not have this same problem. I know that one member in here had the welding problem, but I do not know whether it's just a fluke or if many more ES vehicles are going thru the production line with halfass welded panels on them.

 

I don’t know exactly how Lexus does it per se, but normally hoods and doors can be aligned and adjusted by loosening certain bolts; the bolt holes are oval and allow some movement that should get the hood (or door) seated properly. To the best of my knowledge this should be doable on any vehicle.

 

The only bad thing that I see here if the hood bolts are tampered with is that the wrench or socket will strip off the paint on the bolts and rust will start to develop on the bolts and make its way up under the hood if the vehicle is driven during the winter in places like up here where they use lots of salt and brine on the roads. I know this because I had a body shop do work on the hood of my Charger and they loosened the bolts underneath the hood and the paint came off the bolts in certain areas when they used the wrench/socket and rust started to develop right away on the hood bolts and on the area around the hood bolts.

The hood on the ES that I saw at the dealership should've been aligned correctly at the factory during production when it was put on the car, not after the car is delivered to the dealership.

 

You’re right but that’s how the factory adjusts them too and how a dealer is supposed to. A good mechanic will be careful and not strip paint off the bolts…and if they do a bit of touch up paint will take care of it.