I have noticed that whenever I open my hood it catches on the pannel near the windshield on the passenger's side. It makes a nasty metal grinding sound when the hood is about at 35 degrees, and becomes tougher to push it the rest of the way open. Its not really that its physically a lot harder to open, its just the sound is terrible. Also when the hood is closed it seems like it is sitting a little off center, which I can notice by looking at where the hood meets the headlights.

Is this something I can fix easily or is this sounding like I am going to need a new hood? I don't know how this started happening, its done it ever since I bought the car.

 

That's a common problem. Mine did that a few months ago. I lubed that hood hinge at the passenger side fender with some white silicone grease and it fixed the issue. Might need to regrease it every so often.

 

Yep, put a cotton terry towel in the gap between the fender and the hood to keep it from rubbing, spray the hinge with white lithium grease, and work it in.

If you catch it early, you can take care of it before it bends the hinge and has to be replaced.

It took a week or so for me to get it back to normal when mine started doing it, but applying the grease daily and wiggling it for like 10min/day worked.

Oh, and I don't recommend WD-40, PBlaster, or anything else with any smell, since your air intake for the cabin is right in that spot too, and you'll smell anything you use there.

White lithium grease is odorless.

White lithium grease is also known as "dry-lube" by some manufacturers, it doesn't attract dust like normal grease does.

And get touch-up paint on that spot it rubbed on ASAP to prevent rust.

 

Thanks, i'll give that a shot