Has this happened to anybody? (LE of door bending TE of fender)

[nuggets]

the man never comes back..

alright i took a picture of what mine looks like now... definitly should've fixed it earlier...

 

[DSM MAN]

Ok I went and tried to fix it yesterday. Here is what I did.

I took off the cosmetic piece that is on the fender near the door. Then take out the parking light so you can get to the two bolts that are hidden in there. Then remove the fender. I took a picture of the car with out a fender and circled where all of the bolts holding the fender on are located There is a bolt that is behind the door that holds the fender on, if you still cant find it I took a pic of it and its in an earlier post.

For me, the back of the door was sagging no doubt causing some problems up front.So I loosened the hinges of the door just enough to be able to move the door. Be careful when you open the door with the hinges loose, the door is heavier then it looks. I had someone hold up the door so it would be level in the back and I tightened the hinge bolts.

Another thing that was wrong on my door, was that the fender and the front part of the door where they both meet were bent IN from me prying on the fender just to be able to get in the damn car. So I pounded those out so that they were straight. Make sure you check that they are straight so that they dont catch even when everything is aligned.

From there I just put everything back together making sure it was straight and that it wasnt going to catch. One that thing helped me get the fender-door gap was going and looking at the drivers side as a reference. Good luck, if you need further help you can PM if you need.

 

[DSM MAN]

I was thinking about that first pic on my last post, do any of you eclipse or laser guys have a bolt in that third hole? Because on my car there was a hole in the hinge for a third bolt but no hole in the body. Does anyone have this? And is it just a Talon thing?

 

[HighPsi92GST]

I was thinking about that first pic on my last post, do any of you eclipse or laser guys have a bolt in that third hole? Because on my car there was a hole in the hinge for a third bolt but no hole in the body. Does anyone have this? And is it just a Talon thing?

iv had an eclipse talon and laser before and none ever had that bolt there. so must have just been left blank.

dsm man - good job on the pics, would have done it if I would have gotten a chance to take some to help with my explanation

nuggets - thats quite some damage WTF

 

[dmc67]

Well I use too have that problem and mine happened b/c the fender got just a lil bend in it near the door and my g/f pulled the door open and smashed it really good but after I put on new fender it hasn't happened anymore KNOCK ON WOOD!!

 

[DSM MAN]

iv had an eclipse talon and laser before and none ever had that bolt there. so must have just been left blank.

dsm man - good job on the pics, would have done it if I would have gotten a chance to take some to help with my explanation

nuggets - thats quite some damage WTF

Thanks for the compliment. And thanks for helping me out. I wish I or someone else would have started this thread a long time ago so we could have got this fixed. Oh and another tip, dont do what I did and have someone try to fix it with out even taking the fender off, you will get stuck with a big thing of bondo like I did. Oh well live and learn.

 

[BlackbirdOfPrey]

Wow, I didn't know that this was as common a problem as it is. My 1g has the same look on the driver's side. Except for now it is starting to rust where the door contacted the fender.

 

[HighPsi92GST]

Well I use too have that problem and mine happened b/c the fender got just a lil bend in it near the door and my g/f pulled the door open and smashed it really good but after I put on new fender it hasn't happened anymore KNOCK ON WOOD!!

one of the bigger reasons for it, besides the door sagging down alittle is that the fender get pushed in just enough for the lip of the door to catch it. iv had a door come close to bending the fender but i made the adjustments before anything happened

 

[DSM MAN]

one of the bigger reasons for it, besides the door sagging down alittle is that the fender get pushed in just enough for the lip of the door to catch it. iv had a door come close to bending the fender but i made the adjustments before anything happened

Thats one that thing was weird with my door. We had tried to have it fixed before and the fender gap ended up being about twice the width of what it is now and should be haha. Today it got a real good testing I gave my friend a ride home and he opened the door all the way twice and then slammed it, I was mad but happy at the same time that it was fixed and NO MORE CARPET TOOL haha. Later.

 

[nuggets]

Hey guys, i just fixed my door today. I had to do a bit more work to get it to work though. I believe my car was previously in an accident I was never informed about and somehow everything got slightly out of place. So trying to make this whole door thing work has really pissed me off and now it BARELY is able to close without touching. Let's just say I had to do alot of pounding to get it to fit correctly. I didnt even check this thread for the bolt layout, i just went out there and started wrenching. I ended up breaking about.. 4 or 5 rusty bolts so right now my fender is held on ghetto-style but secure. I'll take some pics of the finished product.


Now all I need is my rare-ass color touch up paint. Too bad I have to special order it online.. :-/


PRM-R65 Bluish Red Pearl

 

[Limegrntaln]

I will tell everyone that this happens about 10 times a year to our work trucks and everytime, its a door over extended while opening, Ive seen it happen at least 5 times right in front of my face, the wind catches the door and it only takes a few MM for the hinge to get bent out, if you think about the way the hinges are setup while opening and they bend, they are getting bent forward, then look at closing the door, that few MM the hinge got bent forward now it puts the door edge right against the fender and snap!! Ive seen it happen to me countless times.

It doesnt need to happen one time, everytime you open the door and let it hit the stop hard its getting bent more, till one time its bent enough to catch, we replace the hinges before we even mess with the fender or the door, and they are perfect again. then we fix the door and the fender, we have gone to installing cut up seatbelts about 9 inches long bolted to the pillar just a half inch from the hinge stops, we havent had a problem with one all year.

 

[HighPsi92GST]

the doors have door stoppers. as long as that is in place the door can not be over opened and will not bend the fender on these cars

 

[TimG]

It also has happened to me twice. POS. I'd like to meet the clutz that bolted up our doors or designed our hinges.

It's easy to fix; as long as you know how to do body work. I did the work and painting in my garage and it turned out fairly well. I just have to do it again because my door did it again.

 

[nuggets]

I'd love to learn how to fix it permanently. It just keeps bending it back in after like.. a week!!!!!!! GRRRRRRRRR. Also how did u paint it and keep the flow of the paint? did you sand it down and just repaint the one area or did you repaint your whole car? *i know nohint about bodywork.

 

[Boosted90GST]

my pass side was doing the same thing, i ended up gettin a new door at a local yard to then find out that the whole pass side of my car was rebuilt at 1 point and done very crappy at that. its still not straight and never will be for me not to mention my side skirt lines up like sh*t

 

[NeMiZiS]

We swapped out the door and fender with new ones.
Spent hours lining everything up so it wouldn't hit again.
Opened and closed the door over and over and it was all good.
About 2 months later, now it has starting hitting the fender again!
What is the best way to go about fixing this problem?
This is on a fiends 94 tsi.

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[bryanwheat]

We swapped out the door and fender with new ones.
Spent hours lining everything up so it wouldn't hit again.
Opened and closed the door over and over and it was all good.
About 2 months later, now it has starting hitting the fender again!
What is the best way to go about fixing this problem?
This is on a fiends 94 tsi.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

IT's all in the adjustment. Once the fender becomes damaged it will catch every time. You will have to straighten it real well or get another fender. If you space it so that the fender sticks just slightly out further than the door than it won't happen again.

 

[WOTDSM]

I know this thread is old but I wanted to post to hopefully help some DSMers. The reason this happens is because the hinge pins are worn out.

Buy a new fender and some new hinges and you'll have another 20 years of trouble free door opening and closing.

 

[inspire]

Simple Solution

1. Adjust the door from the hinges/ replace hinges

2. Adjust the fender forward, in or out.

To Fix the fender and or door damage to like new
-a body hammer or door edge hammer and a dolly.
-metal glaze or body filler/"duraglass" depending on how deep the dent is
-36 grit to knock down while it is tacky, 80 grit to block sand when it is dry, metal glaze to fill any pin holes and or deep sand scratches from very rough grit papers, block with 120, 180, 320, primer, sand, mask, repaint/ re-clear aka blend into the door and fender.

Good as new, there is a reason body shops charge a arm and a leg. Labor ain't cheap, Materials ain't cheap, and the guy that owns the place owns a lot of cars, a big fancy house on the water, has 5 kids, 2 wives, golfing is his hobby, and his boat and summer getaways are unfortunately in the Bahamas.

 

[SixBolt_16G]

I've got this happening on my 99 gst for the last 2 months so its effecting all these cars over time...hasn't damaged the fender horribly yet...also noticed the the bottom corner if the door bows out a little when closed.. like the door has been sagging over time (heavy ass door for a 4 cyl import compared to Honda, toyo, nissan)...thanks for posting a fix for this

 

[WOTDSM]

Simple Solution

1. Adjust the door from the hinges/ replace hinges

I always recommended replacement of the hinges because I've noticed a lot of DSMers stating that the problem has happened to them after a few months after they just unbolted and adjusted the hinges.

Save yourself the headache and spend the $80 on the hinges! We have to remember that after 20+ years of metal on metal action wears these suckers out.

 

[talonxgirl]

Was your car in a wreck before you bought it? My first Talon didn't do that until a Jetta smashed it. It was because the rotted strut tower wasn't strong enough to withstand the impact and it bent the firewall back, pulling the rest of the subframe with it.