Just make make sure you test fit your parts in the future before you paint them. That's alot of cash to throw away.

 

What MikeyT said x342

 

Oh believe me I will! Was scary for a minute there. I even asked the paint shop if they tried to adjust the fenders, and they said they did their best....

 

First I was like "this guy is pissed at steeda" then i was like "wait,...he's happy now and bought another $1200 from steeda?" I'm confused

 

Lol, this will be my 5th Tri-Ax, they have yet to give me a crooked shifter! And their CAI and suspension parts are top of the line. I'm sure they would have helped me if I wasn't able to move the fenders to get everything looking good. And I got the stuff from AM, they always take care of me.

 

Glad that you finally are making progress on getting this fixed. Surprise that the "best shop for Mustang around" didn't know about the fenders

 

It's a performance shop, not a body shop. Would trouble me greatly if there was a body shop that averaged three GT500s/Supersnakes in it at any given time, thats alot of wrecked high dollar Stangs!!! The body shop had actually told us they moved the fenders and hood as much as they could, we just assumed the "experts" in their field knew what they were doing. I'm sure everybody that has a Mustang pushing over 600RWHP will still continue to use them, even if they couldn't fix a messed up hood.

Theres no doubt that the hood is not even. I have the hood turned as far as it can go towards the passenger side and it is perfectly even with the drivers side. That left a gap on the passenger side double that of the drivers side, so the passengers side fender had to be pushed in as far as it could go. With the hood to the extreme and the fender to the extreme they are close enough not to be noticeable unless you know what to look for. The main thing is that the hood is tuned so far to one side it comes VERY close to hitting on one side in the back when opened. I can live with this, rather than take a $1200 loss.

 

Glad that things worked out in the end for you.
Could you also please post pics of the entire hood, from different angles? I was interested in the same hood for awhile but could never find a review nor many pictures, even at Steeda's website. I was mostly interested in the functionality (heat extraction at speed) as I was having issues on track. I have since installed a upgraded radiator that has solved it for now, but could be enticed again depending on appearance.

 

Yes, please show pics of the finished product. Would love to see it.

 

I will post full pics and a review on Friday, I promise!! From the limited driving I've done with it the heat extractor works amazingly well. I'm gonna drive it hard sometime between now and Friday and see how it does. So far it's very nice.

EDIT: I'm also going to install a Steeda Tri-Ax tomorrow, so looking forward to driving it aggressively, for test purposes only of course.

 

Wait so now it fits?

 

Kinda, I was able to loosen and adjust the fenders enough to make the gap unnoticeable.

 

I wish I would have saw this thread sooner. The right body men would adjust those fenders and adjust that hood perfectly. I say men because it takes a couple of guys. One guy just standing over you and being the "eyes." The other doing the work.

 

Yup, was easy once I knew what to do. Went and yelled at the body shop owner this morning for having lazy workers!

 

Congrats of the issue being resolved. Are you happy with how Steeda treated you with this issue?

 

Not at all! The only input they could give is their products are perfect; I must have wrecked my car or have it aligned wrong. I highly doubt that both my fenders and hood, when set in factory locations, are all 3 crooked, but just happen to fall in place perfect. The hood is not perfect, but I was able to get it on and adjust the fenders so that it is not obvious. Even though it looks good, it's still off in a couple of places, you just have to know where to look. If I wasn't so pissed from dealing with a defensive company, then I would have thought to go check and see if I could adjust the fenders myself. Instead I took the word of the body shop, they should have tried to adjust stuff instead of giving up as soon as they realised the hood was made crooked.

I will still continue to buy Steeda products, I already have. But, I will only buy what American Muscle carries, that way if I have an issue I know I will get help.

In the end I learned a couple of valuable lessons. Always test fit before painting. And it takes 15 seconds to adjust gaps on the fenders using a tool that everybody has (10mm deepwell socket).

 

OK, I got to thinking, What if I was wrong and the hood is perfect like Steeda says? What if I acted out of anger and I am bashing(not really, I've been extremely nice about this) an innocent company?

Well having a science background from a private university I decided to set up a crude experiment. I decided to measure the OEM hood against the Steeda hood. I used a hard plastic cord so there would be no "play" issues with it stretching due to me applying unequal force during each measurment. It also had an edge at one end so that it would always sit flush at the start point. I measured from underneath the hood, since both hoods have cowls/humps that would skew the results; it was a direct path from one edge to the other. I made all measrements using the metric system for accuraccy, and only allowed my self an 0.5mm deviation. I made a total of 5 measurements on each hood, triple checked each of the 5, and completely reset everything between each measurement. I never had any outlying numbers, never went over my .05mm deviation; there was only an 0.25mm deviation of any numbers from the average.

After averaging all the results the Steeda hood came out to be 4.20mm smaller than the OEM Ford hood. That comes out to very roughly 3/16ths of an inch for those not familiar with metric. Pair the with the natural gap that is there even with the OEM hood and you are left with a HUGE gap!!!

I also know that the mounts/nuts on the Steeda hood are not right. Even adjusted to the max you can to center the hood, it still sets crooked! I have not actually taken any measurements to prove the mounts/nuts are crooked, so feel free to still be skeptical about my belief on that. At least until I get bored and decide to prove that too! With the Steeda hood being smaller, and the mounts/nuts being crooked, the hood will never come close to an OEM fit. My hood may be an exception, but so far Steeda has only said that their products are perfect and it must be my fault! I have adjusted everything to be "acceptable", but it sucks having to settle on acceptable on a $50k Roush. And that's the price before all my mods lol!

TLDR: The Steeda hood is 4.20mm or roughly 3/16ths of an inch smaller than the OEM hood. It is also my belief that the mounts/nuts on the Steeda hood are crooked. It is my belief that the Steeda hood will never come close to an OEM fit.

 

I was going to let this go, but I simply can't. Why? Because I just don't understand a few things, and anyone who bothers to read the entire thread will see what I mean, but I will summarize here to make it easier....

First, on the comments on how we treated you on this issue

That is certainly not what I said, here are my quotes from this thread so everyone is clear.

The quote above was post#9. I've bolded certain statements with a purpose, which will become clear in shortly.

In post#15, 908SS comes in and mentioned the same thing, and says the body shop should have adjusted the fenders.

So you then take the initiative to try and adjust them yourself, which I applaud, but then you go on to say this...

Seriously? Did what I say 6 posts prior with the exact same suggestions disappear? No, its still there. I just copied it and pasted it into this post.

Yes, your stock hood did fit perfectly, why? Because it was adjusted at the factory, including the fenders, they were adjusted too to match when the car was built. Once a new, different hood comes on from any manufacturer, there is a likelyhood it will have to be adjusted. Meaning the hood and the fenders need to be adjusted. It it certainly not always the case as you always see variance from car to car, but it is definitely a possibility even on a new car with no crash damage.

It is my strong belief that the phone conversation on this subject did not seem to go that well for the exact same reason that what I said here was ignored in this very thread, because you were so fired up about everything going on that you were not going to pay attention to anything we had to say. We did not stand a chance from the beginning.

In this thread our attempt to help with the correct information was ignored until someone else said the same thing, and now you are also bashing the product because of a small variance you will find in ANY aftermarket hood and can easily accounted for during installation by any semi competent body parts installer. You were convinced your installers were competent, and its become pretty clear they were far from it by everyone's statements, including your own.

We tried to provide the correct advice and help, anyone reading this thread will be able to see that. But only if they bothered to read the entire thing, so that is why I have posted everything in this condensed format for everyone to see and judge for themselves.

 

If you ever go back to the OEM hood make sure to adjust those fenders back to OEM! I would hate to see someone drop the hood and it hit the fender.

 

In fairness, from his first post, it appears to me the OP was refering to a phone conversation, and not from your posted comments:

....call up Steeda and ask their opinion and if there was some special trick. Heres how that call went:
Me: Blah, blah, hood I ordered, having issues
Me: I am having fitment issues with the hood.
Steeda: We have never had issues with our hoods not fiting.
Me: I am having fitment issues with the hood.
Steeda: What kind of issues?
Me: I can stick my entire finger between the hood and fender.
Steeda: Why did you buy the hood?
Me: To have a functional vented hood.
Steeda: No, why did you buy the hood?
At this point I too am wondering why the hell I bought the hood lol.
Me: To have a functional vented hood.
Steeda: Did you wreck the car? Is that why you are buying the hood?
Me: No, I rarely even drive the car.