Checking under the hood today I noticed that there are three bolts that seem to have moved since delivery from the factory (which was 2500 miles ago). I don't have a digital camera, but facing the engine bay from the front of the car, I'm talking about the three bolts on the very far left of the engine bay (i.e., passenger side) just an inch or so away from where the hood meets the fender on the passenger side. One is near the top left corner (near the hood hinge), one is near the bottom left corner (near the headlights), and the other is in the middle just a few inches from one of the vin number decals.

I can tell that they have moved because this is an area of the engine bay that comes painted from the factory (in my case, tarmack black), and there is a fair bit of fresh shiny metal to one side of each bolt. There is an identical trio of bolts on the drivers side of the engine bay, but they don't seem to have moved.

So my question is, how did this happen? The only thing I can think of is that the engine bay flexed during hard cornering. This was the dealer's theory, too. But I kind of find this hard to believe. Any other ideas? If I bought the car used I would say that the car must have had some body work done, and when reattaching the fender the bolts didn't line up exactly where they were before. But I bought the car new. Does anyone else have this? (Go outside and look...you know you want to.) Should I be worried?

 

was there any hail storms around the time you bought it?

I know some evos in columbus that got some hail damage while sitting on the dealer lot

Maybe it was damaged and they tried to fix it

 

Don't know what bolts you are talking about.

Are they the fender bolts that hold the fender on?
Are they loose?

 

Good observation, I'm gonna go check mine now.



This is a bit OT, but I noticed both front door hing bolts on both sides of my car looked like they had had a wrench on them after manufacture. I find it odd that both front doors would be misalligned after delivery.

 

He's got to be talking about the strut tower bolts or in that seem between the hood and the fender. Probably the latter. How have they moved?

 

Some one may have removed the sturt bar and put it back on. You should not see that much new paint(shiny). Did you up grade the strut bar?

 

he must be talking about the fender bolts. Man I hate it when people don't post updates/ resolutions......