Hi all, a couple of days ago I noticed a cracking sound on opening the OSF door on my L405 AB. My immediate thought was the door check needed a dab of grease but it soon became apparent the drivers door is fouling the lower edge of the bonnet at the top of the door 'grille' which is confirmed by a small chip of paint off the door at contact point. It was parked on level ground on it's usual spot at home. Moved to different area and no contact. Move back and the same issue. I've owned the car around 1 year and this has never happened before. No accidents or off roading during my ownership, but surely the body isn't flexing that much or if it is I'm worried ! Any thoughts appreciated.

See here and see if its connected.

https://www.fullfatrr.com/forum/topic51050.html Keith

Main car : FFRR L405 Vogue SE SDV8 Balmoral Blue
Main M/C : Ducati Multistrada 1200S
Other
Suzuki Jimny

Past Cars
Ford Fiesta Titanium
D4 Nara Bronze HSE
D3 Teal S

Many thanks for the reply and link. Opened the door this morning with the car on the 'offending spot' and no contact. Currently in the shade and cool morning temperature. The cracking noise was indeed when the afternoon sun was on the car. I'll try it later when the sun moves round. This is bizarre to say the least as during the extreme temperatures last summer no issues. I'm at a loss as to why cars of this calibre should develop such a shoddy problem. Were you charged for re-alignment of the door ?

They re aligned the bonnet on mine and done free of charge, you should be able to see the difference in the gap on the n/s to the o/s.

Keith Keith

Main car : FFRR L405 Vogue SE SDV8 Balmoral Blue
Main M/C : Ducati Multistrada 1200S
Other
Suzuki Jimny

Past Cars
Ford Fiesta Titanium
D4 Nara Bronze HSE
D3 Teal S

Hmmm...well at least they didn't charge you but it's a PITA to have to get it sorted and more importantly rather worrying that panels move during normal light usage. Don't think I've ever had this on a car before, even old bone shakers when I first started driving thirty odd years ago !

Well, the car hasn't moved since yesterday the sun is shining and now the door 'cracks' on opening and closing again. Well done Keith, not sure I'd have considered the car getting bigger in the sunshine ! Whatever next !!

I don't think its a particularly big job to do - they aligned the bonnet fairly quickly, it was the paint repair which took longer. The first attempt looked like it had been done by a touch up pen given to a 2yr old - only after l complained it was then sent to the bodyshop. For your info this was on a 63 plated Vogue se, same yearish as yours if your profiles up to date, the brother in law on the same plate had to have his re-aligned as well When l was at the dealers they also said they had had it on other LR models due to the heat expanding the panel due to poor gapping in between the panels.

Good luck.

Keith Keith

Main car : FFRR L405 Vogue SE SDV8 Balmoral Blue
Main M/C : Ducati Multistrada 1200S
Other
Suzuki Jimny

Past Cars
Ford Fiesta Titanium
D4 Nara Bronze HSE
D3 Teal S

One of the cars I viewed at Easter had this problem, I put it down to a bad shunt of some sort, you can just see the drivers door edge with a chunk off the paint. Quite noisy and alarming.
The car had been inside out of the sun so not hot prior to photos.

That's the same side and exactly the same place as mine. What year was the car ?

On mine, the bonnet was touching the upper side of the right front door when opened. I went to the dealer and they adjusted the bonnet for over an hour, now it’s not touching anymore, but the paint has been scrapped and the rubber door seal was clipped… The paint was touched up with a pen but the result is quite bad… And now, you have to push down really hard on the bonnet to close it, they said that there’s nothing more to be done without disturbing the overall alignment!

Click image to enlarge

More or less the same place again. is it your current 2019 model or an older one ?

Yes, March 2019.

On a brand new car I'd be demanding they change the rubber seal and get the paint sorted by a bodyshop and they should be able to get the bonnet to close properly too. 2017 4.4 SDV8 Autobiography
2012 4.4 TDV8 Westminster - Gone, but not forgotten

I agree, problem not entirely solved and a dab of touch up paint on a high end new car is not acceptable. Regards the bonnet, mine is difficult to latch also. I have to literally slam it for the left side latch to engage, although this was apparent before the door contact problem and despite having a new latch fitted.

Just to follow up on this I had a look at the bonnet hinge system today and below each hinge is a small 11mm verticle bolt with a felt pad on top which can be adjusted up and down to regulate the closed height of the bonnet where it meets the door. On the offending side the adjuster was fully down. Having raised the bolt by approximately 4mm this has in turn raised the bonnet around 2mm adjacent to the door and because the panel gaps are not vertical has allowed perhaps 1-2mm more clearance between panels which seems to have been enough to solve the problem. Just the paint chip to sort out now !