So, maybe the original hood was damaged during shipping or something and the dealership had it replaced, it's still a factory OEM hood. You're making too big of a deal with this.

 

It's OEM. I see the Hard Clearcoat sticker in the bottom left side indentation and the emissions sticker in the bottom right.

There are a few interesting omissions though. There should be some rubber strips across the middle where the strut bar crosses to prevent rubbing. There are also holes down near the window line where rubber plugs go in. If there was a hood swap, it would have been simple to remove from the old hood and put on the new (unless that was done during the current hood swap).

Were there any parts of the hood surface that were not primed or painted? Especially in the areas under the edges of the ribbing that stiffens the surface? If it was repainted, it should show there.

Does any of this mean the car was in an accident? No. Does it mean that some work might have been done on the car? Possible. Does it mean that the car wasn't "new"? No, not if you were the first titled owner of it.

Four years after the fact pretty much make it a moot point. It's like finding a problem after the warranty has run out. Was it there before - yes. Since you didn't find it, it wasn't significant enough to warrant any attention then, so why does it make any difference now?

You can go take it up with the dealer but I suspect nobody will even remember that particular car and what might or might not have happened to it.

 

i guess i was making a big thing of nothing. guess i cant do much about it. thanks for the input guys.

 

what would you even say to the dealer?

"hey although my hood looks amazing and is probably lighter then the oem one i am concerned that i paid for a "new" ; what i thought to be oem hood. And i find out years later that it is an aftermarket hood. Can you guys compensate me for that?"

Release the hounds!!!

 

True story. I bought a brand new '88 BMW M3 in June of '87, only to find out one entire side of the car had been resprayed, along with the trunk and rear deck/bumper. I discovered this by noticing overspray under the car, and also on the wheels as I was polishing them. Dealer told me to go F myself, and I really loved that car, so that was that. Sold the car 2 years later. Just after selling it, I heard one day that a guy had purchased an '88 750iL about the same time I bought my M3, and he discovered a similar situation. Too bad for BMW this guy was an attorney. He sued BMW and got treble (3x) the car's purchase price in punitive damages. At least in FL, if a new car has had more than $400 of "touch-up" done before delivery, it has to be disclosed to the buyer (at least back then).

 

not only that but he damaged the hood and its being replaced, I mean even if it was replaced at the dealer how can he go take a damaged product expecting compensation for it not being the original if he already damaged it.

+1 on it appearing to be an OEM replacement part that dealer probably swapped in when the original was damaged during shipping

 

It could have also been damaged on the ship over from Japan and repaired at the port.

 

this is probably what happend. Cars get dings all the time in doors that are repaired prior to arrival.