So, I'm loving my 2011 XJL Supersport. Everyday I get in it makes me smile! However, the body panel gaps are really quite wide on this car, especially between the hood and front fascia. Looking at other pics of XJ's online, this seems to be a common theme. Was fit and finish for the body panels not high on the priority list for the XJ's? Is there an adjustment that can be made to tighten some of these gaps?

 

Ha ha yes true lol I have seen a few cars for sale and in person with the panel gaps in question, I normally say well they were made in Birmingham what do you expect lol , How these cars passed final inspection is beyond me , but don't panic adjustments can be made . I read of a post the other week of such perhaps others can point you to thus

 

How do you know that those cars were accident-free? Panel gaps are often caused by shoddy repairs.

 

I bought the car with 72K on it. Owner before me bought it at 11K and kept meticulous records. No report or repairs showing it had ever being in an accident, but there are a few things that make me think SOMETHING happened in it's "previous life." Both front fenders seem to be about 2mm higher than the hood, and the gap along the sides are not even (narrower as you go from the windshield to the front of the car). Makes me think the hood got misaligned at some point? There is a record that shows one of the hood latches were replaced (would have to look back at receipt to give an exact date). Could the shop have misaligned the hood in order to get the latches to catch correctly?

 

The service manager at my dealership said the early X351s were notorious for fit issues and it was a common complaint for wide gaps to be present particularly the gap from the hood to the front fascia. That gap is easily adjusted and I corrected mine with the screws across the top of the bumper cover. The screws and associated washer tend to slip in the adjustment slot allowing the gap to open over time. The other dealer statement about the gaps that I thought was significant is about aluminum body fabrication. The edges of the adjacent body panels are a "soft" roll with a larger radius than if they were steel so that the aluminum doesn't crack when stamping the panel. This larger radius at the edge makes all the gaps look wider than they would be on a steel body.

 

Thanks Freddy J. I'll look to make the same adjustments you did to narrow up the front hood gap. The panel fabrication is interesting to me as well. If that truly is the case (larger radius), then the larger panel gaps (or at least the appearance that they are larger) would make sense to me. Thanks for the insight! That's what I love about this group....the insight and tidbits of information you get here is phenomenal.