Drivers door adjustment.

pilcob

pilcob

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Hi.

The drivers side front door on my S4 needs adjusting, it dropped after i was dragged by door during recent theft of the car, access seems very tight, is it possible to adjust the door without removing the wing?

Thanks.
 
My B5 was like that, i just stuck a trolley jack under it with the door half open, and jacked it up.

Had to be proper brutal with it, near enough had the wheels off the floor, but the door shuts perfectly now :)
 
aragorn said:
My B5 was like that, i just stuck a trolley jack under it with the door half open, and jacked it up.

Had to be proper brutal with it, near enough had the wheels off the floor, but the door shuts perfectly now :)
Click to expand...

Had already thought of that method, but was not sure if it would cause more damage.
 
Well i figured that either

a) the bolts had moved, which means the upward force should just push the hinges back up to where they should have been

or

b) the actual a pillar had slightly distorted, and the upward force would reshape it.

either way it worked :)
 
pilcob said:
Hi.

The drivers side front door on my S4 needs adjusting, it dropped after i was dragged by door during recent theft of the car, access seems very tight, is it possible to adjust the door without removing the wing?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

A quick and simple method we use for wind damage is to get a small socket about a 13mm (not a deep one) and you place it on the lower half of the bottom hinge kind of in between the door bolt and hinge itself, push the door closed and you'll feel the resistance the harder you push the higher the door will lift, don't be scared they can take quite a bit of grief with no damage.
 
Whats with all the brutal methods of fixing a dropped door?

Locate the hinge bolts in side the A pillar and adjust as necessary.

Both my front doors dropped rather badly (to the point the strikers has a really deep grove in them.) and read up on people using the socket method or jack/lift. It took a bit longer to do it the proper way but it worked with less risk of further damage to the car.

I take alook on Elsawin for the instructions and gap measurements if you want, one weekend i'm going to be really anal and recheck all mine and get the gaps right.
I got wind leaking in from the rears when I replaced the window frames.
 
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Axios said:
Whats with all the brutal methods of fixing a dropped door?

Locate the hinge bolts in side the A pillar and adjust as necessary.

Both my front doors dropped rather badly (to the point the strikers has a really deep grove in them.) and read up on people using the socket method or jack/lift. It took a bit longer to do it the proper way but it worked with less risk of further damage to the car.

I take alook on Elsawin for the instructions and gap measurements if you want, one weekend i'm going to be really anal and recheck all mine and get the gaps right.
I got wind leaking in from the rears when I replaced the window frames.
Click to expand...

Nothing brutal about it, doesn't damage anything, takes 5 minutes and there's no stripping of interior trims, if you manage to damage the car with the socket you don't deserve to be a car owner anyways !! ha
 
19scotty81 said:
Nothing brutal about it, doesn't damage anything, takes 5 minutes and there's no stripping of interior trims, if you manage to damage the car with the socket you don't deserve to be a car owner anyways !! ha
Click to expand...

Your using the socket as a lever to bend or move something.
That can't be right or good.
 
Axios said:
Your using the socket as a lever to bend or move something.
That can't be right or good.
Click to expand...

Thing is the door is most likely out of alignment because something has bent in the first place.

The door on the shed was so bad that it hit the striker with a dull thud and stopped dead. There was no witness marks suggesting the bolts had moved so the only real explanation is that the A pillar has slightly distorted.
 
Axios said:
Your using the socket as a lever to bend or move something.
That can't be right or good.
Click to expand...

Yes but the reason your doing that is because somethings already moved or bent, the bolts don't move themselves so your actually straightening whatevers already happened. By loosening everything off your moving the parts from where they were set at the factory which is far more telling if someone else looks at your car and you can see the outline of where the hinge has been moved forward or back.
Moral of the story ... Do what the hell you want !!!!!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Used the trolley jack method this morning and now the door is aligned again, unfortunatley instead of the bottom moving out the top moved in so the whole door needs moving back to get the panel gaps right.
 
there is also the option of adjusting the metal plate thats on the inside of the b pillar
you can adjust this to alter how low or high the door closes and also how tight the seals are to stop wind noise
have a look at the markings in the paint before adjsting the catch , then carefully release the spline drives and adjust it accordingly
then re-tighten the spline drives
 
Yes I used the socket version, no pic I'm afraid... I put the socket in lengthways with the btm of the socket against the hinge and the top against the door. It kinda fits because if you do it wrong it pops out. Didn't need that much pressure either against the door to get it lifted. Ill take a pic and try and upload it
 
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