new viper owner, my hood is dented.. how's that possible?

[djacob372]

I've had my 99 viper rt-10 for a couple weeks, and I've just now noticed a shallow, baseball size dent in the hood just above and to the right of the middle air intake.

The paint in and around the dent looks perfect.

So how does composite hood get a dent in it without a crack? Could this me a manufacture defect that the original owner never noticed?

It's not a big problem , the imperfection is subtle-- and wouldn't be noticable on a silver or gray car, but this car is black, and in the right light it's hard to miss.

 

[mad0953]

Can you post a pic?

 

[djacob372]

I don't currently own a digital camera, basically it's a baseball size very shallow indentation, no paint damage--looks like a dent on metal, but considering this is not a metal hood I'm stumped.

 

[mjorgensen Woodhouse]

I would call the original owner and see what they have to say. Maybe a bad repair or could be a factory thing since they are all "hand made".

 

[djacob372]

The more I look at the more I'm convinced it's a imperfection in manufacturing. There's no sign of a repair job, looks to me like dodge rushed this one out the door. Previous owner will likely claim ignorance, but I'll see what he has to say.

 

[djacob372]

Previous owner said he never noticed it--hard to believe but he seems trustworthy.

It's very hard to make show up in a photo--much more noticable as the reflections "move" through the low spot.

You can see it in this photo, there's a low spot to the right of the hood scoop (you can see the cloud reflections swirl inside it).

Are imperfections like these common? or should I suspect it's been cracked/patched/repainted.

How could I tell if it's been repainted?

You must be registered for see images

 

[mad0953]

Looks odd to me. BTW the paint is beautiful. I wouldn't think it would come from the factory like that. If it's a manufacturing defect I would think it happened after delivery to the dealer. Maybe the composite material hadn't totally cured and it shrunk as it cured. I don't know. Anyway if the rest of car is as nice as what I can see in the picture I would just enjoy the car and not worry about it.

 

[trainville]

That has to be a re-paint. There's no way they would have let that out of the factory. Not that it's hideous, but even those that aren't so fanatical would notice that. Looks like a good excuse to get one of those new hoods!

 

[djacob372]

Yeah the car is in phenomenal shape otherwise, with less than 6k miles. But, accordingly, it wasn't the cheapest RT-10 on the market--just want to be sure I got what I paid for.

 

[djacob372]

That has to be a re-paint. There's no way they would have let that out of the factory. Not that it's hideous, but even those that aren't so fanatical would notice that. Looks like a good excuse to get one of those new hoods!

Seems that way, but I also don't think they'd let it out of the bodyshop either.

LOL, it's not bad enough to buy a new hood! I could sell it and buy a final edition GTS for that cost.

 

[VENOMAHOLIC]

I bet it got there from people pushing the hood closed too hard. Maybe you could pop it from underneath. Either way, call me biased since I have the same black RT/10, but I LOVE your new Viper. Congrats.

 

[C O D Y]

I've seen a few like that (from the factory). It happened over time. Remeber there was a lot of work done to make these cars look good at the factory, but time does funny stuff to plastic fillers. I would guess the odds are just the same for it to be like that from the factory has it could be a repaint.

 

[klamathpro]

I've seen a few like that (from the factory). It happened over time. Remeber there was a lot of work done to make these cars look good at the factory, but time does funny stuff to plastic fillers.

I would guess that this could be the case. My 94' also has a very subtle golf-ball sized indentation near the passenger side speaker grill on my hood. It probably didn't look like that from the factory but time and heat seam to do weird stuff to fiberglass and composites. I never noticed it for a whole year of owning it and it seamed to suddenly appear out of nowhere. Anyways, look at the waves on any door of a C4 Vette. I wouldn't worry about it, but if you're like me, I'm bothered when I know it's there.

You could tell yourself that you could always have it professionally filled and repainted, when you get around to it. Maybe you'll never get around to it and over time you'll forget about it.

 

[big-n-italian]

i found the solution to your problem.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miNykNl-0NM

 

[plumcrazy]

ive seen that before as well. same spot if i remember correctly.

 

[pocketAA]

djacob372,
Not to be inappropriate or anything, I was just wondering what you paid for your 99? I have a 99 RT/10 in pristine condition with 7200 miles on it and was just wondering what you got yours for. Does it have any mods done to it?

Here are some images of my car if you are interested:
http://gallery.viperclub.org/showgallery.php/cat/500/ppuser/25078

Thanks!!

 

[ViperTony]

If you really want to tear your hair out over imperfections...install flourescent lighting in your car garage. You'll see all kinds of things on you don't want to see. Your car looks gorgeous, just drive it and enjoy!

 

[djacob372]

Thanks for all the input. I'm not sweating it too much, it's barely noticable. Just curious as to how it could happen.

I'm guessing it was caused by someone closing the hood--seems strange that it dented instead of cracking, but it's hard to predict how this material will react--I imagine if the hood was new, and heated up it may resist cracking and allow for a very minor indentation like this.

Just have to remind myself that the only reason this bothers me is because the car is PERFECT otherwise.

 

[MoparMan]

My understanding is that the best body panels are chosen for the black Vipers when built...I've heard this from several different sources but never from someone at CAAP, so take it for what it's worth. Anyway, if that's accurate, there's no way your car was built with such a flaw in the hood.

BTW: great color on that RT/10. The only possible improvement I can think of would be silver stripes!

 

[djacob372]

My understanding is that the best body panels are chosen for the black Vipers when built...I've heard this from several different sources but never from someone at CAAP, so take it for what it's worth. Anyway, if that's accurate, there's no way your car was built with such a flaw in the hood.

BTW: great color on that RT/10. The only possible improvement I can think of would be silver stripes!

Thanks, I too doubt it looked that way when they rolled it out, but time can make things show up later. More likely with the help of the orignal owner not knowing proper way to close the hood.

The idea that they would set aside the "best" panels for black cars, also alludes to the body panel manufacturing process being far from perfect, otherwise they wouldn't have to make that consideration.

silver stripes on black does look nice.