cost to re-align door?

[earlyre]

on my recently* purchased brand spanking used Sable, I've noticed the Driver's Door is sagging ever so slightly. (
any ballpark figures as to what getting this sorted should run me @ my trusted indie body shop?


*Recent, but more than the 30 warranty the dealer provided

 

[JHZR2]

You sure it isnt that the striker is misaligned? What about the innards of the hinge? Whats to say it has to be bent/bodyshopped to be straight?

 

[SatinSilver]

Originally Posted By: earlyre
*Recent, but more than the 30 warranty the dealer provided


Call them up and see what they can do if anything. If they come through for you on this then you can recommend them to others. I remember you didn't beat them up on price so it's worth a shot. Small things like this go a long way towards goodwill.

 

[expat]

You used to be able to replace hinge bushings to fix that sort of thing. If the hinges are, indeed, worn.

What the body shop will most likely do is, with the door slightly open, place a 2x4 on the bottom of the door, place a jack under it and 'Tweak' it up a bit.

I'd say 5 minutes at $10 per minute

 

[earlyre]

the just before it would hit the striker, you can see the door is a few degrees south of cleanly lining up with the rear door.
and when closed, the body line seems to be a little in towards the bottom.
no accidents showed on the carfax, but....they don't always...

body shop, cuz i wouldn't have a clue where to begin, and they do.

 

[simple_gifts]

About 2 weeks after I bought my parents LeSabre, I was backing it into my driveway to do an OC and had the driver's door open; it hung up on a small incline i had on the side of my driveway and wrapped it around about 120 degrees.

All it needed was a realignment and I had it done locally for < 85 bucks IIRC.

 

[Garak]

Originally Posted By: expat
What the body shop will most likely do is, with the door slightly open, place a 2x4 on the bottom of the door, place a jack under it and 'Tweak' it up a bit.

That's the high precision method that was frequently employed by me on taxis.

 

[eljefino]

If there are bolt holes from the bottom hinge into the door, remove those bolts, and put a washer/ shim between the door frame and hinge, then stick the bolts back in.

Is there actually play if you lift the door?

My F150 was terrible for this.

 

[Silverado12]

Originally Posted By: expat
You used to be able to replace hinge bushings to fix that sort of thing. If the hinges are, indeed, worn.

What the body shop will most likely do is, with the door slightly open, place a 2x4 on the bottom of the door, place a jack under it and 'Tweak' it up a bit.

I'd say 5 minutes at $10 per minute


If the bushings were good, that's exactly what we would do when I worked in a body shop. Most of the times they got bent in the first place by people leaning on an open door.

 

[Phishin]

Originally Posted By: expat

What the body shop will most likely do is, with the door slightly open, place a 2x4 on the bottom of the door, place a jack under it and 'Tweak' it up a bit.


This is how I fixed my truck door. Jack and 2x4. I luckily got it right the first try....just put pressure on the bottom side of the door with the jack. I put a piece of 2x4 until the bottom edge of the door under the door handle...to give me leverage to bend the door back up. When I removed the jack, tt was prefect. The door wouldn't really shut before this. Now it latches perfectly and easily.

My old lifted truck had a real saggy driver side door. The older guy who I bought the truck from....used the steering wheel and door as hand-holds to get his butt into the seat.

So, the steering column was all loose too.

 

[Papa Bear]

Originally Posted By: Garak
Originally Posted By: expat
What the body shop will most likely do is, with the door slightly open, place a 2x4 on the bottom of the door, place a jack under it and 'Tweak' it up a bit.


That's the high precision method that was frequently employed by me on taxis.

That's the high precision method used at the factory when I worked at Chrysler .....usually the "jack" was replaced by a big hammer.

 

[earlyre]

Stopped by the body shop after work today, the owner came out, looked it over, went inside, came back with a tool that looked like a section of bent pipe, with a pin on the end that went into the clasp, and 2 fingers that went around the striker. Put the tool on the door, and cranked it up. Took a look, cranked it again, said that should last you for a while. I asked if i owed him anything, nope,and back into the shop he went sending me on my way.

 

[earlyre]

apparently that tool is called a door adjuster..
similar to this one, but his looked sturdier.

http://www.amazon.com/Lisle-65800-Door-Adjuster/dp/B000HAUYFO

 

[expat]

Nice Guy, I felt sure they would 'Book you in'.

 

[earlyre]

there's a reason they are my body shop.

 

[Garak]

Originally Posted By: Papa Bear
That's the high precision method used at the factory when I worked at Chrysler .....usually the "jack" was replaced by a big hammer.

Sometimes the board was used as a lever. We did replace hardware on occasion when that was clearly at fault. Striker adjustments were very easy, too.

As Silverado12 mentioned, it's often from people leaning on the things. In the taxis, of course, that was ridiculously common. Having a shift where someone didn't need to lean on the door would be a miracle. If you ever want to witness something wear out completely, drive a cab for a while and monitor the mechanical condition of the passenger side door. You'll see parts wear out that would never see any issues whatsoever in normal use, even normal high mileage use. A police car's doors don't even see near the abuse.

 

[TFB1]

Originally Posted By: eljefino
If there are bolt holes from the bottom hinge into the door, remove those bolts, and put a washer/ shim between the door frame and hinge, then stick the bolts back in.

Is there actually play if you lift the door?

My F150 was terrible for this.


Bingo!!! I recently did the washer trick on my beater F-150...

A proper fix would be repl the pin and bushing but since this is a $1200 vehicle, I went with the washers and used the pinstripe to judge height, now shuts perfect... Cost??? Maybe 25 cents...

Clue here is if the door can be lifted slightly when it's open maybe a foot, if so the hinge pin & bushing are worn...

BTW there is actually a tool(basically a flat bar) made for adjusting the doors on light weight unibody vehicles, hooks on the striker and door latch, you provide the muscle... On something like my truck, it'd basically be useless...

 

[earlyre]

...and it's already starting to sag again... should i just order the Door Adjuster off amazon (like $35) and live with it?...