Adjusting Drivers Door

[Simonjjb]

Hi,

Looking for some help here.

My car was repainted prior to my purchase in San Francisco. The one issue the car has is that the drivers door doesn't close with the normal amount of force that the passenger door and my other porsches do. Basically have to push it twice or once very hard. The best that I can tell is that the door slightly moves up on the final close. But not by very much. I can't see any special binding or indentation on the door seal that would indicate something (all new seals after the paint). The door gaps themselves seem normal, at least to me. See pictures. So I am looking for any common fix suggestions or other way to figure out whats causing this. Thanks in advance...

[edmayo]

Did the body shop remove the hinge pins, or unbolt the hinges to remove the door? If like most they unbolted the hinges you've now lost all the factory fit. Having dealt with this more than I care to from body shops too cheap to buy the hinge pin slide hammer, then I have to refit doors on a freshly painted car. Look at the hinge pin bolts, if they have wrench marks then that's what was done. There is a certain procedure to get the door back lined up, you MAY end up chipping paint if not careful. I can go thru the whole story if you feel capable, best to take it back to shop and make them do it correctly.

[Simonjjb]

Thanks - it’s too long a drive from CT to SF, but I’m assuming my local restoration shop can do it.

[Haasman]

I had a similar problem and it turned out to be the striker plate in the door jam. After adjusting it slightly cured the problem. The internal plastic on mine was broken.

If as Ed suggests, the door pins/hinges were messed with, that's a whole different story.

[76911S]

From those pictures, it looks as if the whole door is low in the opening. Yes, take to a competent shop and get that adjusted correctly. Lowering the catch might make it close a little better, but if the whole door is off a tick, that is just a band aid solution.

Just my 2 cents.
Mark..

[frankc]

When you say the door doesn't "close", are you referring to it not latching when closed, or it requires extra effort to even get the door to the closed position? If it is not latching, then you may want to check that the latching mechanism on the door pivots freely when the trigger on the door handle is pulled. This was the cause of my door not latching unless I used more than normal force, and lubricating the mechanism solved it.

[Haasman]

Another test- carefully mark around the striker plate in the door jam so that you can reinstall exactly where it was if necessary. Remove it. Gently close the door and see whether it is indeed the hinges etc or the striker plate.

[Richy]

Good advice from the above posts , but remember , if it was easy it would probably be fixed now .

[911kiwi]

I had a similar problem after re painting my driver's door and I DID remove the hinge pins with JimmyT's tool, so I would retain the factory gaps. If your gaps look even, and your passenger door (which I assume was also painted) closes ok, try what I did (after adjusting the door latch many, many times without satisfaction)
Remove all of the door interior coverings: door cards, both pockets, armrest. Lube the door handle mechanism well. Adjust the latch with a bare door until you get that satisfying "ping" sound when the door closes with a normal push! No hands on the door handle. Reinstall your door coverings and re-test. Good luck! Worked for me.

[Simonjjb]

Thanks folks - I’ll try some of these. I looked closely at the door hinges and they don’t seem to have been removed. There is no wear on the screws. However, there is some wear on the stricker screws.
Franck - it does 1/2 latch, but doesn’t fully close unless I push door again or close extra hard the first time