Door sag question

[slackerme]

I cant find a DIY fix on any of the forums.

My drivers side door closes but it sticks a little bit when you try to open it. Its annoying th hell out of me.

Any DIY fixes?

Thanks
Dan

[kbS42001]

x2...the "rub" marks on my door sill make me angry everytime i open the door...but i dont want to try and fiddle with it, scared i will make it worse

[The_Jerbel]

Either adjust the latch, or else do what I do- grab the door and lift up to bend it back into shape a little bit.

[quickglx]

open the door to various degrees- can you lift up on it and feel play? you may need a new hinge if so. Try different positions when doing this.
If the hinges are tight and have no slop, you may want to adjust the striker. But if the bottom of the door is rubbing the sill, the hinges will need adjustement. Its pretty tight in there, with the fender on its hard to get to the bolts... may want to contact a body shop that has special door hinge tool made to reach in there, should only take 10 minutes or less to fix......

[cu52]

I have the same problem. I adjusted the striker, which solved the issue of the scraping on the sill, but created a whole new problem of wind noise. I need to adjust the door at the hinges to keep the seal on the door to avoid wind noise.

[The_Jerbel]

The weight of the door bends the hinge over time, causing the door to sag. It needs to be bent back to its original position in order to fit properly. You can jimmy rig it by adjusting the latch striker to match the door, but the fitment of the door to the chassis still won't be perfect.

[WMi_S4]

You put a floor jack under the front corner of the door and jack it up ever so slightly. A temporary fix to a headache of a problem. My car does this as well, but eventually you get use to it.

[quickglx]

I have the same problem. I adjusted the striker, which solved the issue of the scraping on the sill, but created a whole new problem of wind noise. I need to adjust the door at the hinges to keep the seal on the door to avoid wind noise.

This is actually an easier fix.. you need to take off the door panel and adjust the window frame carrier with the 4? T45 torx bolts that hold it on the door skin. BUT be sure it is only the upper frame that needs adjusted and not the whole door as I might suspect... the rear of the door edge should be *slightly* higher than the rear door it meets up with, by maybe a MM... Just enough to feel when you move your hand over the gap between the doors. This will reduce wind noise through the lower part of the door seals supposidly- same for rear door/ qtr panels. Same way your sunroof should be adjusted- low in front high in rear. Gaps should be even all the way around, within reason. Door should not drag on sriker plate when closing, this will alter perception of a correctly adjusted door. Hold the outer handle in the opening position and slowly close door while still holding the handle open- so the latch doesn't latch.. this is an easy way to gauge if the striker is dragging the door when closing......

[quickglx]

The weight of the door bends the hinge over time, causing the door to sag. It needs to be bent back to its original position in order to fit properly. You can jimmy rig it by adjusting the latch striker to match the door, but the fitment of the door to the chassis still won't be perfect.

Actually bending the door is the jimmy rig.... there are many adjustments available, just takes time and a few special tools to reach the door hinge bolts. If it doesn't fit right after adjusting everything, bending may be needed, but that is likely due to prev accident damage or poor/incomplete body work...

Use care when placing a jack on the door to bend, obviously... easy does it, little at a time and recheck. Too much pressure and you may damage the hinge. MIght not notice it initially, but over time- without lubrication mostly, accelerated wear can be expected and likely you will need to replace the hinges eventually. Also be sure to not damage the lower door trim when doing so, easily broken as they are likely 10yrs old and rotting under all that pretty paint...

[The_Jerbel]

I've adjusted my fair share of doors, so I know that they are adjustable, but a hinge that has become bent over time is still a bent hinge, whether you adjust it or not. If you want to return it to its factory condition, you must bend it back to straight.

I like to use my own strength to bend the saggy door back straight, since I have a better sense of feeling than if you use a jack, and you can be extremely careful and precise this way. But in any case, whatever works for you and makes you happy, is just fine.

If if the cause of the door sagging is that the hinge adjustments have moved over time, then I agree with you, you need to make some adjustments to return the door back to the factory position. This happens occasionally, but the hinge actually bending over a time period of several years is not uncommon either.

[lbs4]

my door slightly catches when you pop the handel but i dont want to mess with it, i have before on my old a4 and it cause wind noise and then that drives me more nuts, i dotn mind the extra push when i open the door. i think mine just needs the striker adjusted instead of reafing on the door, but like jerbal said the best way is to grab the bottom of the door and pull up, ive done that on a fair share of vehicles

[quickglx]

So technically if the hinge is bent, it is faulty and should be replaced. In my experience, bending the door into place will only work temporarily. And may cause other misalignment issues too. If it were my car and the hinge was bent, I'd try bending it back too no question, if I couldn't adjust it with the bolts first which is very unlikely.. hinges/paint aren't free. On a customers car, a new hinge would be suggested and the whole disclaimer before bending.. Customers suck- if you've ever fixed anthing on the car- its your responsibility for some reason if it should ever fail, even two or three years later. As you may have read into it- I ended up putting on a new set of hinges for free on a customers car... it was an older A8 but stll same hinge design/ mechanics apply

[slackerme]

easy fix. I took the 2 bolts on the lower hinge bracket that hold the hinge to the door out. Then I put a small stainless steel washer between the hinge and the door through the screw hole. Tightened it back up and it closed perfect now

Took like 10 minutes