Driver's door adjustment

Hi everyone. I spent the afternoon fitting a new driver's door seal. Got it from Scott's Old Rubber and it seems to do the job nicely! In fact a bit too well - because now I have to slam the door hard to close it. Is there a way to adjust the door to accomodate the new seal?

Yes you can adjust the door outward either at the lock striker on the b post or by shimming the hinges out however both those methods will move the panel out of alignment with the others. The window frame part can be adjusted seperately as well, which won't throw out the panel alignment, so check very carefully exactly where the door is pushing back. Frame adjustments are the screws on the bottom of the door and in the door ends. That job isn't much fun either but if it is just the top of the frame then moving the screws in the base of the door (after loosening the others so there is movement)will probably fix it. Fortunately once finished it will be fixed forever.

The seal should flatten down over time anyway. I know it's a common thing to push P6 doors and they close with a neat click but this means the rubber can't be doing is job and sealing well, it needs to assert some pressure on the door. I've swapped seals on a mini and had the same experience. In fact i refitted them a couple times in case I did something wrong. In a few months they were OK.

I'd leave it a bit. Just lubricate them with a little silicone spray.

Not only will the seal flatten over time, it might well shrink too. At least, mine did! I tried to cut the seal in the top corners at the rear of each door at forty-five degrees and glue them together, but they came unstuck and the top lengths settled shorter, leaving an annoying gap! Save any seal remnants you might have trimmed off, in case you have to add a section later, which was my cheapskate solution to the wind noise the gap was causing.

Peter's points about the seals taking a set after awhile are good ones, but it's more than that. OEM seals were softer, mostly because the rubber was a softer durometer but also because the repo seals seem to have slightly thicker walls to the bulb section. I think that is because they had to measure an OEM seal rather than having an orginal drawing for it.

If there are no relief holes in the bulb section and you've done a perfect job of gluing the ends, including the flanged section under the threshold plate then you're also fighting a balloon effect when you close the door.

Yours
Vern

I have given up on reproduction P6 door seals some years ago. As Vern says they were indeed much harder that the original items, and they never settled enough. Door closing used to be a frustrating procedure.
Then i bought some sponge extrusion seal from wollies, that was soft enough to seal and allow the doors to close properly.
What i used was this: Woolies Trim - Sponge Extrusion
or this: Woolies Trim - Sponge Extrusion
Sadly i don't remember anymore which of the two.

It does make me wonder how the factory made the doors shut so nicely.
I fitted genuine new front door seals on my u/k car when I rebuilt it and it took at least 6 months for them to settle down.
All I can think is when the cars were new all the jigs which the panels were made from we're more accurate hence better fitment.
Just look at the poor fitment of new wings, panel gaps and light unit fitting are diabolical without a lot of fettling.
Clive.

Thanks everyone. I think I'll see if the problem settles down before trying to change the door "trajectory". I have kept the spare piece of channel and will attempt to make the 45 degree corner with that piece. I'll end up with two joins to glue but it will be easier to shape it on a bench than while trying to judge the join crouching in the door aperture! I will however order the Woolies trim for the other front door and see if that produces a better result - thanks Demetris. Next job is to head out onto State Highway One, crank up the speed to 60 m.p.h. and (hopefully) apprecite the much reduced wind noise on my side!

Regarding the 45 degree corner cut, it is much better not to cut across the rubber completely, just the stiff "foot" that goes into the channel, and remove some of the "tube", on the inside of the corner, to allow the seal to follow the bend neatly.

roll said:

now I have to slam the door hard to close it. Is there a way to adjust the door to accomodate the new seal?

Click to expand...

I think a lot of us come across the situation "now I have to slam the door hard to close it. Is there a way to adjust the door?" can you sort it yourself?

this is what happened to me a few days ago and I wasnt fitting a new door seal , it just happened

here is my solution and a lot of this you could say - yes its blindingly obvious - but here goes

first of all you need time, allow a couple of hours, I did it in an hour but with the missus screaming in your ear that she needs to go out , leave the job to another day, WHEN you've got a free couple of hours a felt tip pen is needed to mark the top and sides of the door striker plate - here's a great video I watched first love that, another thing is to look at the opposite side door to see how that all works

right MARK where the door striker plate is NOW

next - the 3 cross head screws holding that striker plate have seen plenty of previous action, you MUST use the best and exact phillips that is going to turn them, or else you will DAMAGE the screws and make your situation 10 x worse

arm yourself with the very best philips screwdriver, the biggest with the right tip, WD40 is what I used on them too, as the screws were so flippin tight it didnt look like they'd EVER move, in fact I adjusted the matching housing in the door first, hoping that would do it - the adjustment there goes up, down , right, left just as the striker plate does, a lot of time could be needed to get this job done

after finally realising that I hadnt been using the exact right Phillips, as soon as I did use the exact one, the top 2 screws loosed, the bottom one was so firm I thought it would never budge and although I tried moving the striker plate with 2 loosened, no effect

in the end I got a mole wrench and hammered the phillips in to the lowest screw, with the mole wrench turned the screwdriver, it loosened the screw!! NOW THE FUN BEGAN, GAME ON!

after a lot of triel and error fafffing about somehow I veered from the advice in that video and the whole striker plate was now floppy and floating all over the show, thank god I had marked with a felt pen where it had been in the first place
over the next 45 minutes I must have driven the neighbours mad with me swearing and the door slamming, I'm just glad the weather was dry and warm

finally 1 hour after I had started I managed to lower the striker plate slightly down from where it had been and this resulted in my pushing the door, it closed without slamming, THERE IS A GOD!! tighten up all the flippin screws as tight as they will go and get a tea on , no sorry the missus is on the warpath and needs to go out right this minute, you did it JUST in time mate, haha well well

I think my biggest tip from this whole episode is get a screwdriver with multiple tips, I got one with a dozen assorted tips, somehow I picked the biggest looking phillips there was but then realised , there was a BIGGER one, that was the one that did the job , you need a whopping big phillips for this and a pair of mole wrenches must help , there's nothing to beat that feeling when it goes right in the end

Haynes manual page 236 worth a look , diagrams quite good, anybody else been through this lately?

I've got a tip for Seamus, don't leave your car keys on the seat when mucking about with doors and catches.

Just had a look at my 2200 and none of the fixing screws for the strikers are "Phillips" heads , and I use the word advisably . They are cross heads but if I look closely there is a small extra cross witness across the diagonal . Given the age of the car, this usually means they are Pozidrive . I think there is another later generation called Superdrive. It is most important not only the have the correct size driver but also the correct type to match the screw head. A Phillips will certainly cam out (slip) if used in this situation. I am not sure if Series Ones have Phillips , but it is important the verify which before trying to undo to adjust.

I always use an impact driver when working on car doors and latches. And yes, it is important to have the correct tip that matches the screw head.