Interior panel fitment peculiarities

[Butzy]

First ford I've owned so no past experience with it being an issue.

Bar's not too high - my last big purchase, which was my first house - had a foundation that epically failed on us after a year and it started with cracks. So seeing weird gaps on my Bronco is striking a bit of a chord with me of course the structural integrity is compromised lol

Structural integrity is good on the Bronco, I'm certain as long as we aren't too concerned about the 2.7......

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[Butzy]

My non-offroad Mustang has a horrible panel alignment and interior trim fuckery too.

How dare you remove some of my quote!!!

 

[Kmcran]

My non-offroad Mustang has a horrible panel alignment and interior trim fuckery too. Typical Ford QC at its finest.

my mustang which looked identical to yours was the same way lol

 

[bbacon05]

I can't help you with the exterior gaps, but I can tell you mine has all those exact same interior gaps. The one over the door almost looks like they designed it that way, not sure why though

 

[Copperhorse73]

I’m guessing the interior panels are this way to allow a little movement. This is a body on frame vehicle after all and it will flex a little bit

 

[XirallicBolts]

Fit and finish were never a ford thing. You might have set the bar a little too high for an offroad vehicle

Every single Flex came from the factory with a wonky sunglasses holder. If someone notices, i just shrug and say "It's a Ford".
At least it feels nicer than the counterfeit plastic GM uses.

 

[abe]

The taillights gap is a known issue. I've seen reports on here of them popping off. The one I remember most occurred while the owner was at one of the Supercel events.

 

[broadicustomworks]

I Think you have your answer, pretty much.
Mine is comparable interior-wise, and I never expected precise even gaps in the interior plastics.
Probably designed with a bit of gap there in the recessed flange fitment for flex and movement.
Just remember that these vehicles are designed to go offroad and do some twisty stuff.
With an open roof design there is a high potential for flexing and movement of a lot of things. Engineered-in relief, if you will.

Had they butted all of the panels up super tightly, there would definitely be creaking and popping to the point it would drive us all crazy with "What is wrong with my Bronco, why does it sound like this?" Probably even cover panels popping loose, where we would all summarily lose our minds questioning the build quality.

Personally I would not sweat it and am not surprised to see it. Mine is the same and honestly, I've never second-guessed it or worried about it. Seems on-par with what the vehicle is and what it was made for.

Can't tell from the taillight pics what is going on badly there.
Taking it in for some questions and feedback won't hurt.

 

[Bronck]

Those gaps are there so that when you Baja jump your Bronco they will give

 

[Seatmandan]

6 weeks in, 1100 miles, absolutely loving it so far.

Except my OCD has a few words on a couple of things

Noticed this about 2 weeks after delivery and am taking it to my dealer's body shop to get fixed next week. Pics are hard, but basically the body isn't flush above the passenger tail light.

Good side:

Bad side:

Once I had the keen eye for weird (hopefully) cosmetic issues, I noticed this inside:

The interior panels aren't flush above either side ‍

And the seams on the back pillar are also leaving a lot to be desired:

Has anyone else noticed similar issues with their interior? The reason this thread has this title is because holy hell there's a rattle I cannot track down. I don't think it's the same soft top rattle there have been other threads on and I'm definitely planning on taking it all the way off then back on when it warms up this weekend to see if it helps. Going over rough asphalt (which we have a lot of in CO) throws it around a bit more than I would expect, side to side lite thrashing and I'm a tad concerned that there's more vibration than there ought to be. I get it's an off road rig and the issues are probably unrelated, just seeing if anyone else has these weird fitment issues.

In interior trim engineering, Tolerance stack-ups are designed around other tolerance stack-ups, which mostly consist of build variations of the entire systems of parts. In roof system (parts above beltline), the "slip-joints" created where the plastic trim parts meet are larger than the typical interior because of the "roll-cage" body structure design- it flexes and twists more than a typical "roofed" vehicle, therefore the parts need to "breathe" The other consideration is build tolerances on the boron steel "roll-frame" that the plastic parts attach to.

Sincerely,

Interior trim engineer

 

[annieVonBebop]

In interior trim engineering, Tolerance stack-ups are designed around other tolerance stack-ups, which mostly consist of build variations of the entire systems of parts. In roof system (parts above beltline), the "slip-joints" created where the plastic trim parts meet are larger than the typical interior because of the "roll-cage" body structure design- it flexes and twists more than a typical "roofed" vehicle, therefore the parts need to "breathe" The other consideration is build tolerances on the boron steel "roll-frame" that the plastic parts attach to.

This is the kind of answer I was hoping for, thank you! I've never had a convertible, let alone one the size of a mini tank and this all makes perfect sense even though I hadn't considered it.

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