All,
I am looking at a low mileage 2015 GT in yellow clearcoat on a dealer lot and spotted two body items that caused me to wonder if they are "normal" or might possibly be red flags for a car that has had some body or paint work. Am hoping some of you with 2015 Mustangs might know or take a quick look at your cars and post here what you found.
First item: is the rectangular metal loop that is bolted to the underside of the hood near its front edge and which engages with the latch mechanism (on the upper radiator support member) to secure the hood when closed all black from end to end, including where it is bolted to the hood, or does it have body color paint sprayed over the two end sections that bold to the underside of the hood, with black paint only on the U shape that drops down vertically from the underside of the hood to catch the latch mechanism? I would expect an all black part to be bolted onto the underside of the body color hood, but the car I am looking at has body color paint sprayed over the bolts or nuts that attach this piece to the hood and across the sections parallel to the underside of the hood, with the U portion mostly black. If other cars don't have this multicolor piece and body color on the bolts or nuts that attach it to the underside of the hood, I would suspect overspray of body color paint following some repair to the hood or front end. I don't recall this multicolor piece on my 2008 GT and think I would have noticed it. I will try to attach an image of the part here:
I would appreciate anything you can post here about what you see on your (other than black body color) 2015 Mustangs.
Second item: there is a circular round dot of blue paint about 1/8" across on the left headlight lens at the rearmost corner of the lens after it wraps around the front corner of the car and sweeps back along the upper part of the driver's side front fender (this corner roughly points backward toward the driver's side exterior rear view side mirror). There is no similar dot on the right side lens and I didn't see such dot on either lens of a 2016 GT on the same lot. When I worked in the auto industry years ago for two multinational companies, dots or other paint marks like this were often used to designate updated or replaced parts as a result of tsb's or recalls or other repairs. As this was also right at the front end of the car, together with what appeared to be overspray of body color paint on the black hood latch loop, I found myself wondering if the car may have had repair work without a claim record showing up on the carfax/autochek report. Anyone else ever notice this dot or know anything about what, if anything, it might designate?
Thank you in advance for any light you might shed on these two questions/concerns.
--ldc1955
I am looking at a low mileage 2015 GT in yellow clearcoat on a dealer lot and spotted two body items that caused me to wonder if they are "normal" or might possibly be red flags for a car that has had some body or paint work. Am hoping some of you with 2015 Mustangs might know or take a quick look at your cars and post here what you found.
First item: is the rectangular metal loop that is bolted to the underside of the hood near its front edge and which engages with the latch mechanism (on the upper radiator support member) to secure the hood when closed all black from end to end, including where it is bolted to the hood, or does it have body color paint sprayed over the two end sections that bold to the underside of the hood, with black paint only on the U shape that drops down vertically from the underside of the hood to catch the latch mechanism? I would expect an all black part to be bolted onto the underside of the body color hood, but the car I am looking at has body color paint sprayed over the bolts or nuts that attach this piece to the hood and across the sections parallel to the underside of the hood, with the U portion mostly black. If other cars don't have this multicolor piece and body color on the bolts or nuts that attach it to the underside of the hood, I would suspect overspray of body color paint following some repair to the hood or front end. I don't recall this multicolor piece on my 2008 GT and think I would have noticed it. I will try to attach an image of the part here:
I would appreciate anything you can post here about what you see on your (other than black body color) 2015 Mustangs. Second item: there is a circular round dot of blue paint about 1/8" across on the left headlight lens at the rearmost corner of the lens after it wraps around the front corner of the car and sweeps back along the upper part of the driver's side front fender (this corner roughly points backward toward the driver's side exterior rear view side mirror). There is no similar dot on the right side lens and I didn't see such dot on either lens of a 2016 GT on the same lot. When I worked in the auto industry years ago for two multinational companies, dots or other paint marks like this were often used to designate updated or replaced parts as a result of tsb's or recalls or other repairs. As this was also right at the front end of the car, together with what appeared to be overspray of body color paint on the black hood latch loop, I found myself wondering if the car may have had repair work without a claim record showing up on the carfax/autochek report. Anyone else ever notice this dot or know anything about what, if anything, it might designate?
Thank you in advance for any light you might shed on these two questions/concerns.
--ldc1955
