Bumper cap alignment

Yeah, I’m getting this fixed.

 

Let's warp your mind further...
Stand at the back end by the tail light and look down the body line... do you see where it's not straight (Bed to the left or the right)?
Now, go use those dirty fingers from your bumper check... and see the gap between the bed and the cab? Are they even (Left side vs. Right Side)?
Things you can't unsee...... You're welcome.

 

Lol, yeah it’s straight. Another thing I can’t unsee though is the dust in my instrument panel that has gotten through the hole where the brightness button/knob is.

 

DOH!
Maybe next time at carwash, hold the vaccuum near that to see if it can suck it back out?
I will give you a little hint for dealing with the dust in general. Get the small swiffer hand dusters (they even sell individuals at the $1 store) and use it on your dash, cluster, etc on a regular basis. It will do a very good scratch-free job and keep things looking spiffy.

 

Mine is exactly the same as yours, not worth the trouble to fix for me. The one that bothers me more is the misaligned rear taillights that I have yet to see talked about on here. One area on my passenger side taillight is making contact with the paint and will definitely be brought up during my first dealer service. I check every 3rd gen Tacoma that I see and they all have a different gap at the taillights.

 

I'll have to look to see what you are describing, but the simple answer is this area doesn't have much gap control. It is all dependent on the body stamping/finish and the light installation. The fender side is just two pins that go into rubber sockets. The tailgate side is two bolts that go into speednuts on the taillight assembly. You could cause more gap by using rubber washers of whatever thickness you wanted, or not torque to bolts as much. But, you risk creating other allignment issues in that process. I guess it just depends on how much time you want to spend on it.

 

Hey thank you for the response. I thought about making a thread on here but didn't want to start more negativity aimed at third gens. I took the taillight out and had a look to see how it mounted up. I thought maybe something was damaged during installation. If I had to guess it is differences in the molds for the taillights themselves so every truck is going to line up differently. My main concern is an area for rust to start forming as the sharp edge of the taillight is digging into the clear coat already. There is a 2nd gen in the parking lot of my work that has the same issue as my truck but his has a nice amount of rust that has formed.

Being that this is a new truck I am going to have the dealer make the fix for me. If it wasn't for the chance of rust I honestly wouldn't care. I will make a thread on here once I get through the process with pictures.

 

If a rub spot is your concern, maybe use a piece of 3M clear or XPEL from one of the sellers here in that location. I'm assuming this is the wedge point midway on the fender. You could also try a couple rubber washers on the pin posts. Probably easy to use ones used in bathroom fixtures. Easy to find in a fastener section.

 

Really good idea! Thanks!

 

They work really great for removing inside glass streaks after cleaning glass with cleaners

 

I have the same issue. The bumper gap on the passenger side looks good. The drivers side looks bad. It is pretty noticeable.