Basically, my hood is ****ed.
Everytime I open it, it gets worse.

So, here is the driver side which is probably in okay condition:




VERSUS passenger side, it might be hard to see in the pictures, but the dark spaces are GAPS. HUGE *** GAPS.





What exactly is wrong with the hood to begin with...I'm not even sure how this happens. How does one go about fixing something like this anyways?

 

You need new hood hinges

 

those should be pretty cheap right?
is there a chance of my hood falling off if i dont get it fixed asap?

 

^Unlikely, unless one of the hinges are actually broken. And the hinges aren't too expensive either. Its important to ensure they're lubricated every now and then.

 

Take 2 of those little straws that come with spray cans and join them together with a piece of flexible rubber hose so there is a flexible joint in them, and put that on a can of either PB-Blaster or Seafoam Deep Creep and spray the hinges so they break free. Once they are free, open and close the hood a bunch of times to loosen the hinges completely (as long as it's not grinding the paint as you do it). After the hinges move freely, use compressed air to blow out the rest of the PB-Blaster/Deep-Creep, rag up the mess and then liberally apply white lithium grease to the hinges using the plastic-hose/joint thing that you made earlier.

This problem usually happens as a result of neglecting to lube the hood hinges on an annual basis. It shouldn't happen as easily as it does(this doesn't really happen to any other cars that I know of), but we are unfortunately stuck with cars that have this problem and must deal with it preferably through preventative measures. If your hood hinges are already bent and it scrapes every time you open the hood, you'll have to replace them immediately or risk further paint damage.

You should try to touch up the scratched areas as soon as possible too so they don't start to rust.

 

That will work, but its over-kill. The beauty of PB blaster is that when the solvent evaporates, the oils dont and act as a lubricant. Realistically, all you have to do is spray the hinges with PB and wipe up and drips or over spray and be done. That said, Im not sure how the solvent and oils in PB react with paint as opposed to using it on nuts and bolts so in reality it is probably a good idea to blow out the PB and use a neutral grease.