Pictures of your car illustrating what you are talking about would be helpful. I'd like to see how much of a gap you are talking about so I can refer it to my car.

 

This topic has been covered before, and as you say all Porsches exhibit this trait.

The reason is so that Air (at 170 mph!) cannot get under the hood and flip it up and over the windshield, so for aerodynamic reasons it sits a little lower.

On the previous postings, there are a series of measurements done by owners, which shows the range........

Don't worry, it is supposed to be there, even on a GT3!

 

Sounds good but Ive seen a few in the shop that are perfectly aligned, unlike mine.

 

Alignment Images

Here are some images - it is hard to photograpah as it is a feel thing and detail more than a blatant issue...that is one reason that is it not a complaint...but a question...I have a feeling that it is the nature of the beast.

If you run your hand down the hood it would have to go up to get over the gap between the hood and the nose section.

 

I guess the benefit to that is that the edge of the hood is not directly exposed, thus road dirt has less of a chance to accumulate and get cought underneath or at the edge of the hood.

 

Thanks (kareldeely) ...I did a search and found no specific comments - but your input was just what I was looking for.

 

Nothing to worry about - It's done this way on purpose and has many benefits as outline above.

brad

 

I am glad to hear that, I thought maybe that the latch adjustment was too tight on mine, good to know that that is normal.

 

The slight recess probably also protects a bit against stone chips. A flying object coming at the front of the car has more of a chance to skim off the surface if there isn't a gap to trap it. It's very subtly done, thankfully, so it avoids looking like an underbite. 987f

 

Here's what I know from oservation and experience watching my body man replace my hood and front bumper at 2000 miles.
1. my 07 CS was originally delivered with a slight discrepancy of the bumper-leading edge of the hood. I was satisfied with the explanations as given elsewhere in this thread.
2. But I looked at about five Caymans and CSs in the dealer's lot and noted that there was no consistency in the alignment. Some hood edges were even, some were below as you have noted. Some did not look like they were installed with great care to this point. (Note: this so-called intentional gap feature may be more like an accident of fabrication or assembly)
3. When the hood/leading edge was seen as even, some of those cars also appeared to have the gapping of the lateral hood raised (uneven). (Note: this suggests that if the front edge is adjusted even, the lateral edges might be uneven, supporting the intentional design theory expressed in this thread.
4. When my new hood was installed by the body shop, I noted the front edge was even and the left lateral hood edge raised. I call this to the attention of the body man and he simply adjusted the center latch height and the rubber stops left and right. In the end, in order to get the new hood looking correct on the right side, the front of the hood appeared to be lowered a bit below the bumper trailing edge. I've settled for this for now.

Last thoughts: I don't believe that Porsche has the fit and look of the hood right; having the gapping uneven on one edge and even on the other just doesn't make sense to me (allowing what others have said to the contrary). If this was an intentional thing, all of the cars would uniformly display this feature, and not all do if you look at several cars at once. I may have my body man re-visit this situation, and if I do, I'll report on it here.

 

Looking at the pictures; the slight variation seems normal.

 

This also seems normal to me. It's nice to see that others are experiencing the same issues.

 

Pictures look fine to me.

 

the hood and nose of my CS is also uneven, it is not symmetrical. Should I bring it back to the dealer and ask them to adjust it?
on the right side of the hood is flush with the nose and on the left side of the hood is below the nose. Car is brand new and i don't think i hit anything.

 

the hood and nose of my CS is also uneven, it is not symmetrical. Should I bring it back to the dealer and ask them to adjust it?

Welcome 340. You should take a look at these if you haven't already.
http://www.planet-9.com/faq.php?faq=miscellan#faq_idios

 

The explanations are reasonable for the mismatch, but I also believe mating a flexible polyurthetane front clip with a steel hood doesn't help. The old days of "bodymen" filling seams with lead and sanding them down until smooth are gone.

 

The explanations are reasonable for the mismatch, but I also believe mating a flexible polyurthetane front clip with a steel hood doesn't help.

The hood is aluminum, not steel - be careful with it!

 

Any of you guys ever own a Bosxter prior to getting your Cayman? If you had, you'd understand that if the hood is even with the top of the bumper, you'll get a strange whistling sound that will come and go and be different if crosswinds are happening, too...this was much more pronounced with the 986/996 than with the 987/997's but my understanding is that the gap, with the hood being lower than the edge of the bumper cover, is still necessary...

 

From an aerodynamics perspective. Having a slight dip in the transition of the bumper to the hood would only benefit the airflow over the car. The slight dip helps the airflow stay "attached" to the car thus helping the coefficient of drag. If the edges were even or worse yet the hood was slightly raised, with the gap between the two edges, a local vortex could form disrupting the airflow and possibly producing a wake and hurting the car's aerodynamics.

 

My bad, it's aluminum of course, not steel. I had a 99 Boxster and the hood/front clip were even. Remember the hood shut lines on the 986 were different than the 987s. Never had any whistling. I would say that the shut lines on my Cayman are acceptable but not as good as my 986. I'm not sure anybody at Valmet is getting out the calipers to measure before the cars go out the door, laminar flow considerations notwithstanding.

 

The hood and bumper on my Boxster were perfectly aligned, and I never remember hearing a whistling sound. I do remember reading, however, when the 987 Boxster was introduced, that the designers rounded the front corners of the hood for better sealing. It is also a visual clue to the 356 cars of yore. 987f