Date: Tue, 14 Dec 2004 05:26:30 EST
Reply-To: THX0001@AOL.COM
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: George Goff <THX0001@AOL.COM>
Subject: Re: noise from door seals at speed / Tweaking Doors
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In a message dated 12/14/04 4:08:24 AM, vw.vanagon@TELIA.COM writes:
<< put a knee as high up on the inside
of the door as he could reach and pulled the windowframe towards himself a
couple of times >>
Things are done a little differently here in the USA, but the end result is
the same. In every body shop worth its salt, you will probably find a
battered, greasy piece of 2X4 (50 mm X 100 mm) lumber about a foot (300 mm) long which
is inserted between the door and the jamb wherever needed, top middle or
bottom, then the appropriate corner of the door is pushed on to tweak the door
into a proper fit.
While I am not sure if it is still true, some highly qualified bodymen I have
known would rather bump out or re-skin a damaged door than replace it with
new. They claimed they could get a better fit fixing the old door than
installing a new one.
This came home to roost once for me years ago when I asked my wife to back a
pickup into the garage because I was a greaseball from working on the cars and
I didn't want to get the seat dirty. Paying more attention to keeping her
centered, I failed to notice that she had the door ajar (I could never get her
to trust the virtual image in the mirrors) until I heard the sound of crush of
metal as she caught the side jamb of the garage door opening.
I took the truck to two shops for estimates: one was the "Bodyman to the
Stars" in our burg and the other, my buddy Chuck. The first shop said that since
the truck was so pristine they would replace the door with a new one. For
half the price, Chuck said he would pull the old door because I would get a
better fitting door. I don't know if I was just stupid or if I was taken with the
idea of sipping free coffee while sitting in their waiting room, but I went
with the high price spread. The new door was never right. Either it was
flushed up with the body and leaked air and water, or else it sealed tightly and
looked bump ugly on the outside.
I still might go to a dealer to get a thick estimate for the insurance compan
y adjuster, but when it come time to put the dinging hammer to the metal,
Chuck gets the job without question.
George
