Hood adjustment for fitment and squeaking

I've noticed that the hood portion of the catch on my car's hood latch is becoming notched. I'm assuming that the latch is a hardened steel piece and it's wearing through the catch. The catch is riveted into the hood, so it's not a simple bolt-on fix.

If the catch just keeps wearing away, eventually the latch adjustment will be unable to compensate for the excess travel. I've heard of people using pads (of the furniture type) to snug the hood up on the bumpers, but this will mean that your panel alignment may suffer.

Has anyone done anything creative to combat this? Some sort of tubing on the catch, or even some JB Weld in the groove being created? Any other creative solutions?

Regards.

It's ghetto, but some people wrap a few layers of sturdy tape around it to keep it from wearing or rattling. Tubing would be good but you've got to get it to adhere somehow anyway. The tape will need to be refreshed periodically.

The furniture bumpers go on top of the rubber stops near the headlights.

Doing both should snug things up.

You might try lubing the catch so it will latch easier and wear less.

I placed some clear silicone on the rubber stops and closed the hood. They will dry to the correct form. It got rid of that annoying rattling.

All latches and hinges are lubed as part of maintenance. It helps with the squeaking, but not the rattling. I've also tried fitting furniture pads on the stops, but the hood wouldn't latch, plus I'd like a more factory look if possible (yes, I'm anal).

This morning I thought of getting some of that plastic dip coating for tools and the like and seeing how well that works. My 240sx has that type stuff on its strikers and although it’s wearing through in places now, has held up admirably for 14 years. Now I just want to find out if that groove in the catch is supposed to be there. Do all of you guys have it?

The silicone might be a way to go if the rattle continues to be an issue.

Regards.