Door alignment fore and aft?

PabloX · 07-17-2022, 09:52 AM

The background here is that the passenger's side window has a binding problem. About 2/3 up it starts to slow down in both directions and it can be bad enough on the way down that it'll pop out of the carrier rail. Then, of course, it falls to the bottom of the door with a disconcerting noise.

However, if the door is open, the window travels up and down just fine. As an additional symptom, the passenger's door requires more force to close or it won't fully latch.

I always assumed the problem was the window frame alignment, but I also noticed this issue.

You can see on one, the window frame overlaps the door seal a lot more than the other. The one with the overlap is the passenger side. So it seems this is pushing the window frame out when closed. Also, the passenger door has a bigger gap at the front than the driver's.

Is there any way to adjust this? The car has never been in an accident as far as I can see. The hinges on both sides seem to have the same shims where they mount to the body. Yes, I've already adjusted the bottom bolt on the window frame as much as I can to counter this.

EDIT: sorry, pics coming.

PabloX · 07-17-2022, 09:55 AM

Passenger side

Driver side

strictly · 01:27 PM

post a picture of your passenger door (panel gaps) whole door, with panel gap to fender, sill and b post all in one shot.

I would be tempted to take the window frame completly out, check your door opens nicely then (you mention a clunk), make sure its at the right height panel gaps, then refit the window frame adjusting as you go. While you take the frame out, feel for wobble, and see if the bracket which helps hold it position (is not rusted, it is by the speaker in bottom of door).

If its not a frame problem, i have used silicone spray or WD40 with success on the ends of the window glass to make is move up and down smoothly. In your case it sounds like the frame, but you may want to have a quick go.

911obgyn · 911obgyn's Garage

You can loosen and adjust window frames but if door alignment is off you are chasing your tail. If you take your window frames out get new felt for the glass.

75 911s · 75 911s's Garage

Give us pics of the door gaps.

junkman300SD · 07-18-2022, 04:51 PM

AND, my 86 driver's door took more effort to close. I had to rotate the top of striker plate on the c-pillar outward. There are special tools to fit the bolts. I think they're called "triple square" sockets. They may have been on Amazon. Torx bits do not fit.

Your door hinges may be worn and sagging. If so, the only long term fix is to rebuild the hinges or replace with new. They will continue to wear rapidly if adjusted. To test, open the door, hold the trailing edge and lift up checking for play. There should be none.

PabloX · 04:34 PM

Sorry for the late followup. Here's a full picture of the door. The car has 85k on it and the hinges are not worn as far as I can tell. No play to speak of.

The car is now at Auto Sport in Shrewsbury getting aligned (I just got done putting new ball joints and bushings on the front end) and having the valves adjusted. He said he'd see what he could do, but agreed he didn't see any obvious solutions.

Showdown · Showdown's Garage

Check the seals around the door- if they’re new, out of their tracks, or misaligned they’ll deflect the window frame and that can cause binding

When I replaced my door seals not only did it take a lot of force to close the doors but the windows were hard to open/close.

A heat gun to soften the seals and then leaving the door closed for a few days did the trick and now everything is smooth.

Coastr · 07-19-2022, 06:00 PM

The car might not have had an accident but that doesn’t preclude damage such as some oaf leaning heavily on an open door or bending it backwards on a pole. Check the hinge area carefully for any deflection on the mounting points. Coupe doors have a lot of leverage on the hinges - Porsche doors are top quality but not immune to yielding to leverage. The striker could easily be deflecting the inner door panel forward on closing, further deflecting the window rails. If everything is already adjusted to the max something isn’t right somewhere. Door hanging and gapping is an art, you might need a panel guy

PabloX · 07-20-2022, 08:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Coastr

The car might not have had an accident but that doesn’t preclude damage such as some oaf leaning heavily on an open door or bending it backwards on a pole. Check the hinge area carefully for any deflection on the mounting points. Coupe doors have a lot of leverage on the hinges - Porsche doors are top quality but not immune to yielding to leverage. The striker could easily be deflecting the inner door panel forward on closing, further deflecting the window rails. If everything is already adjusted to the max something isn’t right somewhere. Door hanging and gapping is an art, you might need a panel guy

The bottom bolt is indeed adjusted all the way inwards (pushing the window frame out).

I think there's a good chance it's always been like this, but yeah, I probably need a panel guy. Or I just call it "character".