Bought a M7 USB a week or so back and it arrived today. Kinda figured I had a slightly mushroomed passenger side strut tower after striking a very large (and hidden) chuck hole a couple of months ago with enough force it dented the X-Lite rim on that corner. That suspicion was confirmed after test fitting the plate on that tower and saw that it wobbled front to back. Several wicked blows with a hammer on a 2x4 later, after removing the three strut screws and jacking that corner up, the plate fit nice and flat. The remaining install went smoothly with a drop or two of loctite on two of the four allen screws connecting the bar to the extensions. Upon closing the bonnet I had the common bulge in the middle towards the back. I had heard of folks just cutting the offending liner section out or soaking the liner with water and let it compress over time. Well it's 20 degrees here and getting colder, and I really didn't want my liner to look like it was attacked by a knife wielding whatever. What I did was lay a length of duct tape over the entire bar and then close the bonnet. When I opened it again I had a perfect outline of where the bar was touching. Next I removed the liner from the bonnet and identified the section where I thought was causing the hood to bulge. So, on the backside of the liner I first cut through just the fabric following the duct tape outline on the front side and pulled it back like a flap. Then I removed about half the thickness of the compressed material and laid the fabric flap back in place and re-installed the liner. Closed the bonnet and voila! No bulge and no hacked up liner to be seen when you open the bonnet either because the surgery was done on the back! M7 Upper Strut Bar = cheap insurance.
Hey very cool I have lived with my "bulge", for a few years now......that doesn't sound right :lol: I made the mistake to cut into the front of the liner......what a mess :blush2: I taped it up, now may try what you did
If you soak the liner with water and close the hood, the liner will mold around the m7 strut bar. Worked for me! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I did the same bonnet liner liposuction on mine to clear my GTT bar - relatively easy, and looks like you did nothing - but everything "just fits" afterward. The right way to address this issue IMHO.
Sounds like you did a very nice job. I did the soak & slam, but still have a power bulge. What I like most about your method Less is the use of the handy man's secret weapon.
I thought of that, but it's only 20 degrees. I'm thinking it would freeze first. Thanks Chuck. Living in the hometown of Duck Tape just sort of inspires you to think of uses for the stuff! Say a drumstick with a cherry perhaps...... or maybe a bulldozer......
soak and slam left me with a bulge and decoloration of my M7 bar. will try the new technique and thanks for posting!!
I found the parts of the bar making contact by sprinkling baby-powder on the bar then closing the bonnet. The powder transferred to the spots making contact nicely. I thought about trimming, but went for the soak-n-slam on a hot Texas day and it worked for me.
yikes, this doesn't sound like fun at all. is this a problem with just the M7 bar? The IE strut bar looks nice. - Andrew
This is an issue in particular with the M7 bar, but I'm sure that some others have the same problem. From what I've seen, it has a bit of additional clearance for aftermarket air boxes that many bars don't have.