poor shutting doors

[carrots 1]

has anyone else got the same prob as me,i have to shut my doors hard.ive checked and adjusted the catches thinking they are out of line.but i still have to slam them.strange thing is if the tailgate is open the doors close as they should.so its like a cabin pressure

[davidwort 0]

same problem on my mk4 golf, it's infuriating, only the drivers door does this, another door or tailgate open and it shuts fine, all the other doors shut fine, but just the driver's door with all the others closed and it has a habit of just catching but not closing fully.

I'd imagine it's a combination of worn/sagging door seals, worn hinges (hinge pins?) and position of the striker.

[bristolbaron 10]

Also factor in the cold weather and winter for corrado doors is a pita. [by the way car door is an anagram of corrado]

 

My doors are fine in warmer weather but bounce as soon as the cold sets in.

[Supercharged 2]

same problem on my mk4 golf, it's infuriating, only the drivers door does this, another door or tailgate open and it shuts fine, all the other doors shut fine, but just the driver's door with all the others closed and it has a habit of just catching but not closing fully.

I'd imagine it's a combination of worn/sagging door seals, worn hinges (hinge pins?) and position of the striker.

 

Any good body shop should be able to sort this in minutes - I had to get my MK2 done as the doors were sagging, they used some sort of blue plastic bush on the door - think it was a VW tool of some sort and adjusted the hinge pin - was like new afterwards!

[VW_OwneR_85 1]

probably the door striker on the shell might want adjusting, its position makes a big differeance to how easy the door shuts, if you eye it up and have the door almost shut you can see wether or not its at the right level, if its to high that means the door will have to lift up when it shuts, if its to far back then the door will have to push harder then it has to against the door frame before it shuts,{sounds like your problem} it doesnt need to be too tight to keep water out, since having both my doors off for audi handles iv had to re adjust everything and both my doors can now be closed by a slight flick of the hand, takes no effort for them to shut.

[carrots 1]

thing is if is is the striker why does it shut fine with the tail gate open or a window down

[daves16v 1]

There are 2 flaps, 1 in each of the openings for the rear bumper to mount, these flip open when the door is closed, I would take the rear bumper off (4 bolts) and check these are not jammed shut. With the bumper off look into the opening (1 each side), the flap is to the outer side of the car.

 

Another thing might help is that if the door has worn hinges and is dropping then you need to bring the door back into line, I had this on mine and made a simple shim that sits between the bracket on the body and the bracket on the door but only on the top one. This will tilt the door back very slightly, the shim does need to be very thin though, around 0.3 to 0.4mm thick depending on the amount of wear.

[Supercharged 2]

There are 2 flaps, 1 in each of the openings for the rear bumper to mount, these flip open when the door is closed, I would take the rear bumper off (4 bolts) and check these are not jammed shut. With the bumper off look into the opening (1 each side), the flap is to the outer side of the car.

 

Another thing might help is that if the door has worn hinges and is dropping then you need to bring the door back into line, I had this on mine and made a simple shim that sits between the bracket on the body and the bracket on the door but only on the top one. This will tilt the door back very slightly, the shim does need to be very thin though, around 0.3 to 0.4mm thick depending on the amount of wear.

 

good call!

[davidwort 0]

that's fine if the rear bumper has been off recently, but if it's not been off in 20yrs then you better crack open the Irwin bolt grippers :)

[DriverVR6 11]

I wasn't aware of any "flaps" inside the openings for the rear bumper to mount, I'll have to look for/check those next time I remove the bumper.

 

What do these flaps do then?

[daves16v 1]

I wasn't aware of any "flaps" inside the openings for the rear bumper to mount, I'll have to look for/check those next time I remove the bumper.

 

What do these flaps do then?

 

I guess they let air pressure out, I only noticed them a few years back when someone opened and closed the door when I was at the back of the car with the bumper off. If you hold the door open then shut it quickly but don't actually let the door touch the car you can actually hear it open and close if you listen carefully, well at least I could on my car.

[DriverVR6 11]

LOL, Well that was lucky that they opened and closed the door whilst you were at the back of the car with the bumper off LOL.

 

It's amazing how you find these things out, I would never have known about them.

[davidwort 0]

All dubs have them back to the mk1s, theyre actually there to let air out so the blower can blow air into the car!

Sometimes fitted in the doors under the card

Edited February 2, 2013 by davidwort

[carrots 1]

how does the air get to the vents,must be behind the rear door cards

[davidwort 0]

Yep, and down into the rear quarter, rear door cards aren't air tight so air can flow all around them and down.