Door Hinge Adjustment

[jwrayth]

My passenger door has never sat right since I got the car, and recently it has gotten worse. The front of the door has never had a door-guide attached as the previous owner claimed it stopped the door from functioning, but both striker pins catch and the door locks/unlocks and opens well (even using the remote door launchers).

A distinct rattle has appeared from the front latch though, and on top of that the area around the rear striker pin has been damaged by the door scraping against it;

http://i.imgur.com/YvXp4RWl.jpg (http://imgur.com/YvXp4RW)

And from inside the car you can see the front end of the door doesn't align properly;

http://i.imgur.com/gcjJC9Hl.jpg (http://imgur.com/gcjJC9H)

I inspected my front hinge and found both bolts had become loose (not enough to turn with your fingers, but loose compared to the rear hinge which was holding tight). So my assumption is that the front hinge has been working itself out of adjustment and I need to pull it back into place, then re-adjust the striker pins.

Firstly, a sanity check of my logic would be nice :) And secondly, Is there a procedure for adjusting the hinge?

Here is a picture of my front hinge for reference;

http://i.imgur.com/DnlGZhBl.jpg (http://imgur.com/DnlGZhB)

[David T]

You cannot check door alignment by the way the door meets up with the insides. The hinge bolts probably loosened up because the striker pin was not adjusted correctly and from all of the forcing and slamming it loosened the bolts. The "procedure" to adjust the doors is called "Trial and Error". The door is adjusted to the fiberglass underbody and the door seals, not the anchor pins. Very difficult to adjust the hinges with the torsion bars wound up. They should be removed before trying to adjust the doors.

[jwrayth]

I'm not attempting to check the alignment via the inside, I was posting that picture as more anecdotal evidence that the alignment is out (as I can't speak for your car, but my drivers door aligns perfectly inside and out). The real proof of the alignment problem is the scratches at the rear after passengers have use excessive force to close the doors.

Torsion bar removal on my own sounds a bit out my depth for the immediate future, so I think I'll have to live with it for a bit longer until I have the tools together or can make it to a UK club event and get some assistance.