Door closing problems- possible weatherstripping?

[darkred87T]

Hi,
I had my car repainted last year around this time and in the process, I had doors put on it from a good used car. After I got it home, I started on the general reassembly including having to realign the doors that were not aligned properly at the shop. Also, I ordered and installed new weatherstripping from GM.
Here is the problem, the weather stripping seems to be binding in the door,(mainly the bottom corner as you can see in the pic) causing the door not to latch unless you give it a good swift swing. When I pull the latch to open the door, it "pops" out.
Iv'e spent hours on end trying to align both doors and nothing seems to make any difference. As of now, all the gaps and lines are matched up perfectly on the outside of the door with the body and I'm still having problems. I can here the weatherstripping binding as I close the door. My brother keeps telling me that I just don't have the doors aligned right but there's got to be something else going on here. Here is a pic of the front corner of the rocker. You can see where the weatherstripping is binding and taking the paint off:

 

[57loboy]

Silly question, but are the hinges/pins ok? Aligning a door with bad hinges is a never ending nightmare. I aks because of the rusty dust visible on the lower hinge...
I've never seen weatherstrip bind to the point of removing paint - that takes work! Are you sure it isn't paint adhesion issues and the noise is because of that?

 

[chris2316]

Those Are The Most Common Problems ,,,,hinges!

 

[darkred87T]

The hinges are O.K. not much play if any up and down. Also, i got the doors and the hinges off of a 25,000 mile car. It's funny also that both doors act the same way. Just before they reach the latch, they get hard to close and want to spring back open. That's when I hear the binding. if I try to adjust the door higher or away from it, it knocks the alignment way out wack.

 

[57loboy]

Something's got to be up with the hinges as weatherstripping shouldn't/doesn't have that much force or strength to it. There really shouldn't be any up/down play in the hinges. There are no spacers or washers between the hinge and a-pillar or door right? Although the hinges came from a 25k mile car, it almost sounds as if they are stretched/bent in a hyper-extended sort of way. Is the latch and striker bolt adjusted properly too?

 

[darkred87T]

Stricker bolt and latch is adjusted properly. I guess the only thing I can try next is a new set of hinges. It's just strange that both doors do the same thing. Iv'e owned these types of cars in the past and have had doors with bad hinges but they never got to the point where this happened.

 

[mybuick]

hinges are still availible from gm 300.00 for the set though...

 

[chrisgarrett]

Why don't you take it to a professional. An experienced bodyman could tell you what's wrong with it.

 

[darkred87T]

Yeah, I'll proabably bring it somewhere before I spend that kinda dough on hinges. I just don't want to get ripped off.

 

[Yedi]

doors

if you have the door lined up w/ the quarter panel first, then the fender. the door should be good, if the striker is hitting centered, should be good. Paint should not be rubbing off though, bring it back to the body shop, you paid for a service for them to do, aligning doors should have been part of replacing them :biggrin: Honestly, I had my car painted 6 years ago and had new weatherstrip installed and had a similar problem w/ the door closing hard (weatherstrip was binding) The doors were adjusted perfectly. When the weatherstrip is new it is stiff, take silicone, or even engine oil and rub down the entire weatherstrip, give it a couple good weeks in a hot sun and it will bet better. After the first summer mine were good. If the hinges were bad you would have a problem closing the door (hitting the striker wrong) and the door would drop when you open it. If you grab the bottom rear of the door and go up and down there should be any play, maybe a little, very little. My hinges are starting to have a little bit of play, I bought the pin and bushing kit, I just havent got around to doing it. Just my experience, I work in a body shop at a dealership.

 

[Yedi]

one more thing, were your fenders removed? There might have been factory shims on the bottom and they forgot to put them back in, so now when you line the door up w/ the fender it is too far in, binding the weatherstrip, just looking at that picture it looks like somthing more than stiff weatherstrip is up....

 

[darkred87T]

Well, the stripped paint might have been from it being misaligned originally but it seems like it's still binding in that one spot. I aligned the door with the rear 1/4 panel and all the other lines/gaps match up fine. The door actually latches just fine when you close it with enough force. It doesn't even take much but enough as to where I'll forget, close it normally, and have to open it again to shut it harder. Maybe I'll just give it a little time. I have some glove oil from my baseball mit. Maybe that will help loosen up the weather stripping?

 

[SFITurbo]

Try taking out the striker, then close the door till you feel the tension of the weatherstripping. I ended up with about 1/2 inch at the beltline before the door would be closed completely. Make sure the window is not causing the binding either. If body lines look good all the way around while holding the door shut with slight pressure you should be good. Window was the culprit for me.

 

[turbo39151]

The door is mis aligned. You can find good hinges in any yard. You can still get OEM pins from GM. Also, check ot even better, replace the stirker. Then, have a body shop align the doors when you can put all new parts in there. It'll work out just fine. Ask me how I know...:wink:

 

[RobS]

I had my car painted last year. The doors were alined properly as they closed perfect without any weatherstrip in place. My hinges had new pins and bushings installed. Installed the new weatherstriping. The doors would not close unless they were slamed. After 2-3 weeks they started closing eaiser. So yes, I think it could be the weatherstriping but after a while it should break in and start closing eaiser.

 

[darkred87T]

I'm gonna go with the weatherstripping being the issue. If I realign the doors, the lines and gaps will be way off. Theyr'e just about right now. I'll wait and see if it works in.