alexjc4

Since I have had my car the drivers door has needed a good slam to shut properly.

Caused (according to most opinions) by a sagging or poorly refitted door. The rear of the door was getting lifted ~5mm as the latch engaged.

So today I got around to doing something about it and added a factory shim part behind the lower hinge. This gave the required lift but now the window frame and striker place needed adjusting.

In all its quite a fiddly job, dismantling the door to access the 6 allen head bolts for the window frame, interestingly one of the lower bolts was missing,suggesting a slightly slapdash job last time the door was aligned.

Anyway 4 hours later, after multiple adjust/check iterations, and about five aborted attempts at reassembling the door trim, the door and frame are nicely aligned ,no longer getting lifted as it latches, with nice gaps all round , BUT the door still needs a slam.

Works lovely with the main door seal (which is quite new) removed, so it may get better as the seal squishes down.

Oh and the little plastic lug for the door release catch pinged off under the car somewhere never to be seen again, and on the final tighten of the striker plate i mashed the spline drive on one of the bolts.

You could say "one step forward, one and a sixteenth step back"

Bearclaw

Good job... mine needs a bit of this attention, as well. It's natural for the long, heavy door on any 2-door car over time. And this why body shops get what seems like an inordinate amount of labor to perform this adjustment.
They know what's involved.

alexjc4

Totally! not a job I would want to do everyday, really frustrating. Especially tricky when some body work has been done or a new door is involved and I think mine ticks both boxes.

dryheat

I think this may be normal..If one of the doors is already closed and all the windows are up, the second door can require a bit of a slam. Putting the windows down resolves the issue. I have always chalked it up to a relatively small cabin and a good seal.

Porsche964FP

Well done Alex, patience of a Saint!

alexjc4

Ok, I am going to declare victory on this one, the door behaved perfectly today, closed with a pleasing thunk on the first attempt at every try. Huzzah!

Porsche964FP

Bravo!

boxsey911

I think that many of our cars will have suffered from the slapdash effect of previous work. My own example would be the bonnet. I struggled for ages with leaks into the trunk. Replacing the bonnet seal had no effect. I then found a thread on here about bonnet washers on the hinges and discovered that mine only had four piddly little things on it. So I bought the correct washers. Eight of them and not expensive. Fitted them. Now the bonnet squishes against the seal correctly and the leaks have stopped.

bmohr

oh, i need more info on this one for sure. I get a leak from my left side into the trunk and my drivers door looks miss aligned. Get a semi wet seat belt from time to time and I figure an alignment and new seals are in the future.

alexjc4

I also get a leak into the trunk, runs down the left chassis rail, starts behind the firewall, could well be the bonnet seal now you suggest it.