In order to replace hood struts (stupid design) I’ll need to get into the fender. Any tips or advice appreciated

 

Are you going to replace the hinges? The hood strut mounts are accessible from the engine bay and do not require the fender to be removed.

 

yes sorry, I don’t know why I said struts.

 

Haven't removed a fender myself, but I know its a ridiculous amount of 10mm hardware holding it on. There will be a few inside the wheel well behind the plastic liner, and I'm pretty certain you will need to remove the front bumper cover to access the bolts that are behind/below the headlight. Please post some pics as I need to replace my hood hinges eventually as well! Mine are bent like yours

 

you were correct about the bumper cover, I hate this car.

 

Not the cars fault the hinges are borked! Im guessing the hood flew up at speed? Thats what happened to mine, previous owner didnt latch it well. Went almost full Tommy Boy

 

yep.... search up the thread “ucf20 sunroof removal “ and you’ll see the whole story of what happened to the car, first I rear ended someone, fixed the hood to near perfect, re latched it, and then flew up at 30MPH anyway