Re-aligning front door

[diarmuid]

Hi,
Just wondering if anybody has any experience re-aligning the front door on a B5? My car was broken into last year and the front door has never been right since (after returning from the body shop). I've had a guy out from a mobile bodywork repair company to try and get straighten it but its not quite right. The problem is the seal around the window is not quite flush so I get a bit of wind noise on the motorway. Also the door is not quite as well aligned as the passenger door.

Has anybody had any experience with taking the doors off a B5 and re-aligning them? I've got a Haynes Manual but this tells you to mark the position of the hinges before taking the door off (so it's not much good if you don't know the right position of the hinges) I'm pretty sure I won't have to take the door off but I'm not sure if I should get the bottom or top hinges straight first etc. Any tips on re-aligning the door would be appreciated.

Thanks /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beerchug.gif

 

[moschino]

I believe the easiest way to do this is to remove the front wing, this gives you access to the front door hinge bolts when the door is closed. It is easier to align the door section first to make sure it seems flush before trying to align the top window section of the door.
Trial and error, it took me 2 hours to correctly align my front door.

Regards,
Jim.