Car door not hung correctly

Adam

Adam

Adam

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
9,295
I'm looking at buying a new car and one issue I can't get my head around is the fact that the door is not hung correctly. The result of which is the door isn't aligned correctly so over a period of time when it's opened and shut it has flaked off some of the paint on the side skirt. It's very minor, perhaps only a couple of cm's long but it has completely worn the paint off. When you open and close the door you can feel an extremely minor rub as the 2 surfaces come in to contact.

I've not come across this before, can a car door be hung incorrectly or become misaligned over a period of time? I'm worried the car isn't straight following an accident. There aren't any other signs, the price is reasonable but not a give away and it's HPI clear.

Anyone seen something like this before or should I be running away?
 
Adam said:
I'm worried the car isn't straight following an accident.
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Sounds very much like it to me tbh.

Adam said:
Anyone seen something like this before or should I be running away?
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Yes, seen this before with an old Mk3 Escort Turbo (turned out it had been previously written off) and yes, assuming this new car is actually a used one, pick a better example.
 
It's perfectly possible that the door has just dropped due to mavity, but if it's a common car with plenty of other examples available then I'd probably be looking elsewhere just in case.
 
scratch said:
It's perfectly possible that the door has just dropped due to mavity.
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Equally, I know of many high mileage cars & trucks that have never dropped their doors, due to mavity or anything else!

Whilst there may be a perfectly justifiable reason for the sagging door, I'd personally look elsewhere.
 
I've had this with my wifes clio after the wind took it and it swung fully open and must have bent the hinge slightly or something, put a trolley jack under it with some a thick cloth, slackened the door bolts and adjusted it back into place.
 
Hinges are moving parts that wear over time and cause the doors to drop, and this is a relatively common issue on cars that have seen a lot of use. However, it's also entirely possible that the door has been removed and refitted badly (or a different one refitted badly) as a result of accident damage.

If the hinges have worn, you should be able to tell by lifting the end of the door (with the door open). Any wear will show as vertical movement.
 
Thanks for your comments. I guess the accident is the worst case, I'll give it a good look over for tell tale signs such as a poor respray etc. It's an 06 plate and I appreciate things can happen over the years, I just hadn't heard of such a problem.

I'll try the idea on the jack if I go ahead with the car, that sounds very sensible.
 
As above the hinges can move a bit so its not that rare, but at the same time minor correction is dead easy ( literally lift it) so you'd wonder why it would be left to take paint off.

Accident damage possible and I'd say more probable. Unless its something special / really cheap I'd look elsewhere
 
I have a VW Golf MK5 and mine along with a lot of others have dropped doors, so the either side door can droop slightly.

Mine over the years has scraped the side skirts, as car is out of warranty would have to come out of my own pocket to fix.
 
Doors can drop with hinge wear. But not very likely on something still fairly new. My 1994 car doesnt suffer from it. Unless it's a particularly rare car then walk away and look at another example.
 
Lift the door at the handle end up and down,
If it jiggles then it's just the pin worn.
If it doesn't, lift harder until it shuts correctly..
 
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