The rear bumper fascia on my SS has the same symptom. I banged it with the palm of my hand and it went back in but it's loose. Looks like we will need to take the plastic wheel well liner out to get to the fasteners. A job for warmer weather.

 

Just driving onto a curb will do this? I guess that's what we get when we want cars with no gaps between body panels...

So if it's on both sides, would that meant that someone drove up onto a curb from straight on, with both tires then?

 

Not really. Ever hear an old lady pull too close to the curb or over the concrete barrier when pulling into a spot? You hear the scrape and pop that happens when the fascia of the vehicle contacts the surfaces? That's what it mean. Wheels are typically unaffected.

This jarring could pull loose the rivets and scrape/scratch the surfaces of the fascia and splash guards. I have never done this. In fact, I never pull all the way into a spot. That is not to say a test driver of the vehicle before I bought it didn't do it. I noticed the deviation in body lines the moment I saw the car the night I bought it. Figured I could go in at a later date and address it, knowing they are of the same caliber as Cobalts-and typically ANY modern GM car as far as body lines go. lol It just seems that the fascias on a lot of vehicles nowadays rarely line up ideally. My 1995 Riviera on the other hand, never ever EVER had this problem, whereas my Cobalt SS and my HHR have it noticeably at the grill and headlamp regions.

 

That is the result of matching plastic/rubber parts to metal parts. Not to mention that one of the labor saving manufacturing processes is overlapping body parts instead of fitting up, and tolerances in the QC dept. are pretty wide.

 

I know, and its sad. Why wouldn't a manufacturer put some effort in making their fascias look as good as they possible could? Cost effectiveness? Well, I'm sure that GM has such a great reputation for quality components/fit/form that they don't NEED to worry about such petty things like fascia fitment, then, don't they?

The journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step. They could have done better.

 

I think that's one of the things they are addressing now on their new cars, (new models). The HHR was from the old GM...

 

Would they NEED a NEW GM if they always had a good product? Nope. I used to be all gung ho for GM. I've never owned anything but. I'd be lying if I am certain I'll always own GM. Years ago, this was a certainty.

 

Nah, I'm pretty confident their future products will be better. Look how good the Cruze is, and that isn't even a new GM product, that has been around for a few years now in other countries. I'm excited to see the new cars that will be out in a few years. I'm really thinking those will be first rate cars!

I can certainly say if they aren't, I will be VERY disappointed.

 

Just thinking...if someone backed into you in a parking lot and didn't do any damage, could it still possibly do this?

 

my hhr is like this after installing my fogs as well. it was good before. let me know what happens