GM's Finest

[Bob Ayers]

My wife and I are ib California this week. I'm attending a conference. We were out sightseeing today, and while at a stoplight, I couldn't help but notice the trunk lid on a new Cadillac in front of us. I just happened to have my camera, so I took a couple shots. How is this for GM quality NOT!!

Left side:

Right side:

 

[michowski]

that doesnt mean anything. Ive seen dozens of people load there trunks up like it was the back of my truck and then force the trunk closed only to have the trunk be pushed to one side. Ive seen it happen on fords, gm's.

 

[Shoeboy]

I see that quite often, and most of the time i"ve seen things like that its been because of an accident, and its as close as they can get the alignment of the body lines without causing more problems of interferance. The doors on my Ranger are the same way. The driver door has a 1/4" or so gap all the way around while the passenger side door has a 1/4" gap on the sides and bottom, but a 3/8" gap on the top. The doors are not factory, they are aftermarket, but its the same case in situations. You don't know the history of the car, but ya, anyways.

 

[Thumper113]

It coulda been in a wreck at some point or hail damage, maybe even an aftermarket deck lid? I've seen that kinda thing on all makes from time to time.

Back in the 80's when I worked at a Ford dealer, aligning doors deck lids, hoods, fuel doors, glove boxes, even windows, sometimes were part of the predelivery inspection process. Those things came in with just about everything misaligned. Some techs do the PDI's correctly & some don't.

Working for GM now, honestly they're not bad at all from the factory anymore. The body panels adjustments are minor compared to what they used to be.............especially compared to what Ford used to be.

 

[Jspafford]

That looks like a brand new car. Could you tell by the looks how old it was? I am guessing under a year.

 

[Thumper113]

Looks to be around an '03-'04 DeVille

 

[CJREX]

I did this exact same observation several months ago and decided the following:

Most precise reasonable cost brand: Honda

Most precise I saw: Audi

Fords and GM about the same with Chryslers a bit worse. Newer Fords like Fusion and Edge noticeably better.

Worst out of all I saw: Mid 1970's vintage Ford Squire Wagon complete with fake wood. I swear you could have gotten a Quarter Pounder with cheese through those body gaps!

 

[human5]

Almost all of our Dodge Avengers and Chrysler Sebrings have really effed up deck lids. Hell, the Avengers have a problem with the doors flying open, mainly the drivers. All of our cars come strait from the factory and I don't belive we do PDI's on them. That could explain the deck lids. Some times it's just stupid, we had one that the top of the deck lid was actually warped and the passenger side bowed up. I belive they sent that car back quick.

 

[PaleBlue90]

its most likey from a bad body shop job, ive seen rental cars we fix at my body shop that have stuff like that from "fixes" before weve even seen the car. good body men like my dad are hard to find

 

[Bob Ayers]

That looks like a brand new car. Could you tell by the looks how old it was? I am guessing under a year.

It looked brand new to me, but I couldn't tell for sure what year it might have been.....

 

[4x4RangerGuy]

Almost all of our Dodge Avengers and Chrysler Sebrings have really effed up deck lids. Hell, the Avengers have a problem with the doors flying open, mainly the drivers.

Dodge Shadow's and their Chrysler equivalent had issues with the steering wheel coming off due to a weak backing plate and fasteners. I remember pulling out of a parking lot in my friend's Shadow in high school and he put too much stress on the wheel and it literally just ripped off. Good thing we weren't going fast.

 

[human5]

Dodge Shadow's and their Chrysler equivalent had issues with the steering wheel coming off due to a weak backing plate and fasteners. I remember pulling out of a parking lot in my friend's Shadow in high school and he put too much stress on the wheel and it literally just ripped off. Good thing we weren't going fast.

I remember after graduating High School I was test driving an El Camino. I got about 2 blocks away from the guy's house and started to turn, next thing I know the steering wheel came off. I wasn't going to fast either, but I threw the car in park, handed the guy the steering wheel and walked back to my car to leave. He called me an hour later saying he fixed it and wanted to know if I still wanted it... NOPE!