Driving with your doors open - bad for the car?

[RammJaeger]

I have people requesting that I use my Delorean in parades, and I was thinking about driving with the doors open. Is this bad for the car? Clearly I wouldn't be driving fast, I just wondered if other people had done this and if it might hurt the car.

[Rad Dad]

You will probably get conflicting answers - I have done that several times with no apparent damage. Certainly speed is a factor as is the smoothness of the route. If you have any worries, a bungee cord strung between the doors - over the top - will eliminate any problems.

Dick Ryan
Vin16867

[ALEXAKOS]

A smooth ride may not cause any damage per say unless the police don't like what you are doing.

Should you hit a road bump or pothole, even be having a small collision (God forbid!), the effects may be from minor to serious damage.

As most of us have seen, the driver side torsion bar frame on the rear (above the rear window with the T panel removed) in many cases shows an asymmetry to the Passenger door side.
http://i821.photobucket.com/albums/zz135/alex-akos/delo%20resto/DSC00062_zps13b3e2e6.jpg
I fear this is a result of weight/gravity versus bad mechanics.
So all that door weight does burden the adjacent components.

[Dangermouse]

You would be fine in a slow speed parade over smoothish road. Anything that gets the doors moving should be avoided.

If you check out the Events section you will see many cars in St Patricks Day and July 4th parades, with the doors up.

[David T]

We do it all the time. It gets very cold when we do the parade in Ship Bottom in December! Never do it where anyone can get close to the car while you are moving, you could hit someone in the head.
David Teitelbaum

[Rich]

.....As most of us have seen, the driver side torsion bar frame on the rear (above the rear window with the T panel removed) in many cases shows an asymmetry to the Passenger door side.
http://i821.photobucket.com/albums/zz135/alex-akos/delo%20resto/DSC00062_zps13b3e2e6.jpg
I fear this is a result of weight/gravity versus bad mechanics.

What is shown in that photo looks like an asymmetry of the torsion bar brackets that is due to the delamination of the roof box on the driver side. They didn't come like that from the factory.

The causes of roof box delamination include over-torqued torsion bars and probably variations in the assembly methods during roof structure construction and of course aging of the assembly with time. Driving with the doors open can cause problems but not roof box delamination. An open door is one way to decrease the forces that delaminate the roof box.

[Rich]

As already noted, smooth and slow driving isn't likely any problem. If you are careful.

I have been known to do it myself.

Here are two stories with no statistical meaning yet perhaps still instructive:
1. I heard of an owner who managed to tweak the door so badly it wouldn't close. He was driving with the door open - very slowly - and managed to hit something overhead. He found out that the doors are not to be used to stop the car.
2. The only owner I know who ever broke a door hinge on a D was also seen driving with the door open from time to time. It was a driver door hinge. The one that was open more often. It failed while the car was not moving, I think. Did the open-door driving episodes contribute to the hinge failure? Can't say either way. But it couldn't have helped....

So don't bend it and don't break it.

[Patrick C]

Driving with the doors open can cause problems but not roof box delamination. An open door is one way to decrease the forces that delaminate the roof box.

Debatable. The doors provide an immense amount of structural integrity to the entire car when closed. When open, the body flexes a lot (just try closing the doors when the car is on a lift...the whole body flexes and the doors are very difficult to shut.) I theorize that when the doors are open and the car is in motion, the fiberglass body can flex and this flex in the roof box area can cause the adhesive to let loose and for the roof box to separate from the fiberglass.

As Byrne Heninger advises in his door strut bracket kit, no good will come from driving with the doors open. Door alignment can go off, etc.

[DMCMW Dave]

Nobody has mentioned it but the really hairy stresses are on the lower strut mount. This is a pretty small piece of metal bonded to the fiberglass, and is typically the first thing to fail due to this sort of stress (actually the metal usually does OK but the fiberglass will rip out). I agree with Patrick's theory as well.

[Delorean Industries]

These are the upgraded lower brackets that we offer. Attaches using the original 6mm hardware points and two additional rivet points on each side. Tig welded bracket to ensure that it isn't deformed from manufacturing heat.

[David T]

Nobody has mentioned it but the really hairy stresses are on the lower strut mount. This is a pretty small piece of metal bonded to the fiberglass, and is typically the first thing to fail due to this sort of stress (actually the metal usually does OK but the fiberglass will rip out). I agree with Patrick's theory as well.

The point is you can do things that are not normally recommended if you are careful. Going over a bumpy road fast is not a good idea! On the subject of open doors, it seems to be a danger moving the car with an open door when you enter a garage. More than one door has been "tweaked" by hitting the door. One local owner moved his car out to wash it. When it wouldn't start after he finished, he pushed the car back into the garage. By the time he realized the door was going to hit it was too late. You break welds and the door becomes "flexible". As for the lower strut mount, many were damaged when one vender had a run of struts and they were no good. When you closed the door the strut was too long (wouldn't compress enough) and bent the lower mount till it broke. That is why, early on, venders were already offering kits to repair that lower mount.
David Teitelbaum

[Ryan S.]

I wouldn't worry about it. Even at highway speed is fine. Take a look
:nana2:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OpG__2gwVg

May need a towing service.

[LordFly]

I personally intend to keep my car for a while, so I try to avoid anything that may be damaging to major components of it. I also don't see the appeal of driving around with the door(s) open. I don't even really like taking pictures with them open. You wouldn't do it on anything else would you? Yes, they open up, get over it. If it's something like a parade, fine, do it, people want to see that. But I'm not going to drive over to my buddy's house with my doors open. I've always thought one of the coolest things about a DeLorean vs something like a Ferrari or a Lamborghini is that you can own one without people immediately assuming you're a douche. Why would anyone want to change that?

[Rich]

An open door is one way to decrease the forces that delaminate the roof box.

With reference to the comments that when driving with the doors open the body structure is weaker and that closed doors somewhat stiffen the body I agree. And a stiffer body will likely reduce roof box delam., yes.

The statement here about opening the door to decrease one of the delamination forces on the roof box was meant as a general statement about a parked D. When the door is closed the torque on the door torsion bar more than doubles vs the fully open position. The bracket bolted to the roof box is asked to transmit that torque to the body. As shown in the photo that torsion bar bracket is trying to unwind and, unlike most of them, it's starting to succeed. With roof delam in evidence to go with it. Which came first? I don't know.

So I'll stand by the claim that the risk of roof delamination is made worse by over-torquing the doors (as a mistaken door-droop solution instead of buying new lift struts) and that at least in principal an open door reduces the torque load into the roof box and thus reduces delamination forces vs a closed-door condition - in a parked D. I don't recommend leaving the doors open as a roof box delamination solution, of course. The answer is a solidly-adhered (original or repaired) roof box structure and properly torsioned doors with decent lift struts assisting, all in order to keep it that way.

[Kane]

On a similar note... What is the opinion on leaving the doors open while parked (like at a car show or something)? If it is parked on display with the doors open for several hours, is this bad for the door components (torsion bar, etc)? I know some people have a solid rod that they use to hold the door open when on display, but I didn't know if that was really a necessary solution.

[Tillsy]

On a similar note... What is the opinion on leaving the doors open while parked (like at a car show or something)? If it is parked on display with the doors open for several hours, is this bad for the door components (torsion bar, etc)? I know some people have a solid rod that they use to hold the door open when on display, but I didn't know if that was really a necessary solution.

Other way around - the torsion bar is less torqued and the strut is no longer compressed when the door is open, so both components are happier open than closed.

[Rich]

Other way around - the torsion bar is less torqued and the strut is no longer compressed when the door is open, so both components are happier open than closed.

+1

Just restating Chris' correct notes.

The job of the torsion bar and the lift strut is to store energy temporarily and then release that energy to do work. The work they do is to lift the door when it's unlatched. The energy is loaded into them when the door shuts.

So everything that's storing energy or doing any part of the job of resisting the compressive and torsion forces in the door-opening hardware gets a bigger load when the door is closed. Bar, strut, front hinge, rear torsion bar bracket and the strut pins on both the door and the roof rail.

[Kane]

So basically all the real work is actually the raising of the door from closed to open and it takes little effort to hold it open? So the weight of the door while open is held up in a way that won't damage anything if kept open for extended periods of time? Am I catching that right?

[Rich]

So basically all the real work is actually the raising of the door from closed to open and it takes little effort to hold it open? So the weight of the door while open is held up in a way that won't damage anything if kept open for extended periods of time? Am I catching that right?

Not quite.

Point by point in your question:
So basically all the real work is actually the raising of the door from closed to open
Yes, all the work needed to lift the door is done in raising the door. But work is not the same as loads or forces or what you might call "effort". Work is some force performed over an angle or a distance.

and it takes little effort to hold it open?
It takes a lot of force to hold it open. Just disconnect the torsion bar and the lift strut and try to hold the door open to see how much force it takes.

So the weight of the door while open is held up in a way that won't damage anything if kept open for extended periods of time?
Won't damage anything, ever? No. There can still be damage under any force situation. There will just be less force and, at least in principal, less chance of damage with the door open. And with the car stationary. And this only applies to the door lift hardware. The upper door roof seals may distort with the door open for a long time, for instance. And maybe there are other components that might be affected. None of that's based on any reports or field data, only on basic engineering.

Don't overthink this one. The torsion bars are good for a long, long time IF they don't get nicked/chipped and IF they are not over-tightened. The strut mounts are durable with the doors closed if they have not worked loose. More important than storing with the doors open is making sure neither torsion bar is touching its respective rear hinge.