Les is right, just do it, the bend is not that severe, as I decided not to cut mine, but you will definitely need to do something. I read everything I could and called several other well seasoned XF pros and asked them and everyone told me the same thing, bolt up no problems, all same hardware, and I ended up having to go to the store for bolts anyway, so just goes to show you, even when you do think you have done all the homework you can - you can still end up with missing info until you get your hands dirty (just make sure the auto parts stores are still open when you start - I almost had a 2 day brake job because of 4 little bolts LOL)