2017 Lincoln Continental
#511
It's a discussion forum, that's the whole point. We talk about it because we're passionate about cars and we enjoy talking about this stuff. If you don't want to talk about it in this way, then you don't have to participate.
Why do people sit around and debate Football coaching scenarios? Why don't they go "join the coaching staff"? Because they're passionate about football and they enjoy talking about it and debating about it with the understanding that none of it is ever going to make any difference in the coaching decisions of a particular team.
Absent that, what's the point of having this forum in the first place?
Why do people sit around and debate Football coaching scenarios? Why don't they go "join the coaching staff"? Because they're passionate about football and they enjoy talking about it and debating about it with the understanding that none of it is ever going to make any difference in the coaching decisions of a particular team.
Absent that, what's the point of having this forum in the first place?
#512
Agreed. I wish we had had forums like this decades ago, when so many lemons and poorly-made vehicles were being foistered off on the public by smooth-talking salespeople and company reps. I get irked when I think back of how much money was wasted on them (including some of mine)......and how much trouble they caused buyers, at least partly because there was so little communication. Back then, forums, PCs, Smartphones, and even the Internet were all stuff of the future.
#513
Originally Posted by mmarshall
Agreed. I wish we had had forums like this decades ago, when so many lemons and poorly-made vehicles were being foistered off on the public by smooth-talking salespeople and company reps. I get irked when I think back of how much money was wasted on them (including some of mine)......and how much trouble they caused buyers, at least partly because there was so little communication. Back then, forums, PCs, Smartphones, and even the Internet were all stuff of the future.
#514
^ Like I said, there is no secret sauce on door gaps. You either make the gap small or you don't, any car manufacturer its able to achieve this if they want to, Lexus was able to market this aspect along with what their whole brand stood for at the time. I believe GM cars thanks to Bob Lutz has gotten their alignment up to Lexus standards. In the case of Lincoln, this small detail should be done right!!!!
#515
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#517
^ Like I said, there is no secret sauce on door gaps. You either make the gap small or you don't, any car manufacturer its able to achieve this if they want to, Lexus was able to market this aspect along with what their whole brand stood for at the time. I believe GM cars thanks to Bob Lutz has gotten their alignment up to Lexus standards. In the case of Lincoln, this small detail should be done right!!!!
#518
How would a car not be able to run to 200,000 miles with panel gaps that are not aligned? That makes no sense. The panel gaps on the Lincoln that I saw are absolutely part of poor quality in the assembly process and some point. I have only seen it on this one model so I would assume that other Continentals will not have this issue.
There's a reason, Jill, why these engineers make the money they do. They have to work for it
Last edited by mmarshall; 09-20-16 at 02:12 PM.
#520
Definitely not as much as with plastic....that's why steel body panels have much narrower gaps. Aluminum ones don't seem to have a set rule for gap-widths.....like you said, we'd probably have to ask the engineers why.
#521
Originally Posted by LexsCTJill
The car I saw was a real example in the real world.
Originally Posted by LOWFAST
Because then what would we argue about on the internets?
Originally Posted by SW15LS
It's a discussion forum, that's the whole point. We talk about it because we're passionate about cars and we enjoy talking about this stuff. If you don't want to talk about it in this way, then you don't have to participate.
Originally Posted by mmarshall
Continental or no Continental, car talk here on CL goes on around the clock...it never stops.
#522
Panel misalignment is a sin that is easy to commit but difficult to correct, for both the one instance that we see and for all other cars that were made on that same assembly line. It just takes (a lot of) extra time as the panels are being assembled onto the car.
Wide panel gaps, especially if they are equally wide on both sides of the panel or equally wide all around the car, are just that: wide gaps. They may be even more difficult to correct than misaligned panels, especially on the final assembly line. Consistently wide panel gaps, all around the car and on all cars that came off the same assembly line may be indicative of poor design (too much tolerance in the design) or panels that were manufactured in a size too small (which may point back to poor design). This is a problem that may not be able to be corrected until there is a major change (as at the first start of production after prototypes were built, or at a mid-model change), when a top-down change of design to manufacturing to final assembly can be made. But these top-down changes are expensive; it is better to build it right the first time ("Quality is Job One").
But as long as the panels fulfill their job -- do not allow water or noise into the car -- there is nothing wrong with the car; it just looks bad.
As an example, I will mention all the misaligned driver's doors on so many Buick LaCrosses (the outgoing model) that I have seen. The misalignment was so obvious that it could be seen from a great distance away: the top of the driver's door window frame did not align with the rear door window frame. I never took a close enough inspection to determine if the bottom of the doors were equally misaligned or if the sizes (dimensions) of the door frames where they meet at the B-pillar are different. But the doors -- quite obviously -- did their job by sealing out the elements, so there was no problem. It just looks bad.
Wide panel gaps, especially if they are equally wide on both sides of the panel or equally wide all around the car, are just that: wide gaps. They may be even more difficult to correct than misaligned panels, especially on the final assembly line. Consistently wide panel gaps, all around the car and on all cars that came off the same assembly line may be indicative of poor design (too much tolerance in the design) or panels that were manufactured in a size too small (which may point back to poor design). This is a problem that may not be able to be corrected until there is a major change (as at the first start of production after prototypes were built, or at a mid-model change), when a top-down change of design to manufacturing to final assembly can be made. But these top-down changes are expensive; it is better to build it right the first time ("Quality is Job One").
But as long as the panels fulfill their job -- do not allow water or noise into the car -- there is nothing wrong with the car; it just looks bad.
As an example, I will mention all the misaligned driver's doors on so many Buick LaCrosses (the outgoing model) that I have seen. The misalignment was so obvious that it could be seen from a great distance away: the top of the driver's door window frame did not align with the rear door window frame. I never took a close enough inspection to determine if the bottom of the doors were equally misaligned or if the sizes (dimensions) of the door frames where they meet at the B-pillar are different. But the doors -- quite obviously -- did their job by sealing out the elements, so there was no problem. It just looks bad.
#523
As an example, I will mention all the misaligned driver's doors on so many Buick LaCrosses (the outgoing model) that I have seen. The misalignment was so obvious that it could be seen from a great distance away: the top of the driver's door window frame did not align with the rear door window frame. I never took a close enough inspection to determine if the bottom of the doors were equally misaligned or if the sizes (dimensions) of the door frames where they meet at the B-pillar are different. But the doors -- quite obviously -- did their job by sealing out the elements, so there was no problem. It just looks bad.
#524
Pretty sad that the panel gaps/fit on my when it was new $12,000 Tacoma are way tighter and more uniform than that bs panel fit on that Lincoln. And now that I look at it a bit more, it does look like a Ford Taurus from the side/greenhouse, with a serious nose job.
#525
If they did (in this situation), then they're overpaid
If they didn't, then maybe that's why the gap is so bad...................seems like it's a no win situation