Door Drama

[chief 900aero]

hello again,

the drivers side door on my car wont shut properly. i have to push it fairly firmly to get it to shut the whole way. when i swing it shut (same as you do on anyother car) it will catch but still hangs out about 1cm/ 1/3inch. is there a way to adjust it or is it back to the pannel shop?

[Jim Mesthene]

Originally Posted by chief 900aero

... is there a way to adjust it or is it back to the pannel shop?

If the hinges are bent from over extending the door, you can bend them back by blocking the hinges open with wood and forcing the door closed. Repeat, bit by bit, as each hinge requires, until it's straight enough to adjust the latch.
If the idea of bending hinges and forcing doors scares you, go to a body shop.

[Matt88S]

is there a way to adjust it or is it back to the pannel shop?

There is indeed, you should be able to adjust the door in just about any direction. There is all kind of adjustment on these silly doors, much better than the stupid newer vehicles that more often than not are just welded on and thats it.

Open door and view hinges, there is adjustment on the hinges there, top and bottom. Unscrew the door handle and the inner door pannel/trim and slide it off over the lock. Now looking on the door itself there should be (6) I think six, allen head bolt/screws where the hinges fasten onto the door. You can adjust the door with these as well.

Do you have a Bentley manual? It tells how to all this, you might consider aquiring one if you don't already have one.
Ebay, amazon, or eeuroparts.com are good places to get a copy if you are in the US. If you are on the other side of the pond then you can get a copy right off this website, I think if you click on the SaabShop button it will take you in the direction you need to go.

I need to do this to one of my cars as well, I just have not gotten around to doing it. The door on my car is scooted too far forward, its squeezing the rubber at the front of the door and leaving a little gap at the back, kind of noisy as well. Since it is too far forward it is hitting at the front of the door first and leaving the back (by handle) open a bit.

Check your car and see if its actually adjusted too far out of if the door itself is hitting somewhere and keeping it from shutting or if the lock on the door is misadjusted.

Cheers and good luck,

[Jezzadee]

Door maintenance

[ejenner]

I replaced the doors on my track car recently and I adjusted the doors quite a bit trying to get them perfect. (I posted on here about it) In the end I gave up and left them setup so they closed well but leaked air at the front. This made the car noisey on the motorway so I implemented a suggestion from this forum to put that issue right. Basically someone said (can't remember who now) that I could open the door, lower the window and bend the door frame so the door sealed properly all the way around. I thought this sounded like a bit of a nasty way of doing it but tried it the other day and it worked fine! now both doors close properly and no longer leak air when travelling at speed.