97 A4 - misaligned driver's door

[bcs296]

I would post pictures but I won't be home for at least a couple of weeks.

My driver's door is sagging slightly. I can tell because the molding strip is not on the same line as the rear door. More importantly, the weatherstripping/door seal that runs along the top of the door and is supposed to seal tightly with the edge of the roof does not do so. There is maybe a 1/8"-1/4" space between the rubber seal on the door and the edge of the roof. Normally, I wouldn't care about a small misalignment like this on an old car but the door failing to seal properly makes for a TON of terrible wind noise on the highway.

When I open the door as wide as possible, I can see that the screws holding the door to the hinges have started to rust due to the paint being scraped off by a screwdriver -- obviously the door has been off the car before and I'm sure that it's related to the sag.

Does anybody have any suggestions on how to fix this?

[mike-2ptzero]

You could do it yourself, all you have to do is loosen all the bolts that hold the door hinges to the body of the car and have someone lift the back of the door upward causing the top hinge to slide forward a little. If you are not up to doing that you could just take it to a body shop and have them do it for you.

BTW when the door is removed from the car the hinges dont have to be removed. The 2 bolts on the bottom hinge must be removed, the top hidge is in 2 pieces which comes apart by just removing a set screw on the center pin and then lifting the door striaght up. This allows the door to be removed or installed by 1 person.

[bcs296]

Thank you!

I will probably give it a shot when I get the chance and see how it works out.