Listers,

Has anyone done a door/hinge adjustment and have some tips for a new XK8 owner. Really loving the car but it appears drivers door is down about an eighth of an in and contacting the sill upon closing. Hinges appear solid with no door movement when fully open and lifted.
Thanks all
Dave

 

It appears no one has had door problems like you describe. Neither have I. It probably would help if you put more information about your car in your post. Year, model etc. If you get no replies, I would think any body shop would be able to help you out and probably wouldn't be terribly expensive. Good luck.

 

the door striker can be adjusted, you'll see a couple torx head bolts, T40 IIRC, anyway...if the striker is not worn down to just a small metal bar, you can loosen and raise the striker. It is a metal bar covered with plastic. It is important to keep it lubricated with silicone grease to reduce wear. Mine was chewed up pretty badly, and had to buy a new one.

 

My left door sags about an inch and it's first thing on the menu come warmer weather. I bought two new hinges for it. All-in-all, looks pretty straight forward. Remove door interior skin. There are some good sequential photos in other threads dealing with getting inside the doors on how to do this. Support the door on some kind of temp stand. Remove bolts on hinge face from inside of door. Remove door after unplugging electrical connections. Remove hinges from fender face then install new and reverse process.

Good luck.

 

Mine was about the same - 1/8" or so down. Rather than fiddle with adjusting I just opened it enough to grab the bottom of the door, at the open end, and yank it up a couple times. Closes perfectly now.

 

Amazing you should mention that. I just did that to my freezer door last week.

 

Yeah, I don't think it comes from usage. Probably more from peeps leaning on them when they're open.

 

good to know gung, thanks for the additional info!

 

Hi,
When you replaced your door striker were you able to simply remove the torx bolts from the door jamb and bolt in the new striker?
My fear is that if I remove the bolts that the attaching nuts behind the jamb will fall into the deep recesses of the body. Hope that is unfounded.
Thanks.
Charlie

 

Fiddling with the hinges and striker plates can make things worse too. If you only have a little door sag (i.e., 1/8"), then just put a piece of wood on a floor jack, open the door just clear of the sill, put the jack under the rear end of the door. Jack it up an inch or two for a few moments and let it down. Test alignment, repeat as necessary until perfect. I did this to my '03 when it was nine years old, and it's still perfect today.

Crude? Yup - you bet! But it works, and it won't screw things up worse.

 

If the door sits squarely in the body opening when it is closed, with consistent gaps all the way around, then adjusting hinges and strikers is not needed, just a little tweaking.

If you imagine what you need to change to correct for a door that is low at the rear, it is to move the bottom hinge out or the top hinge in to the body. Only way to do that is to shim it (or bend it) so no loosening of screws can make it right.

 

Hanging doors is only surpassed by aligning windows when it comes to "fiddly-ness". I'll do just about anything to avoid loosening those fittings. I spent an entire day once on the windows for a Buddy's convertible Mustang. After "that" wonderful experience, we let the paint/body shop hang the doors after it was painted.

 

lubricate everything real well around the door strike and latch occoasionally the latch will drop to the closed position rather than unlatch fully when trying to close it seems like its out of allignment

 

The door on my "just bought" XK8 is about 1.25 inches low. I don't see any adjustment either as hinges seem integral with frame and door. Please advise what could be the problem.

 

I think others here have noted that if you literally just pull up strongly on the door it fixes the droop. Seems weird but there have been a few that claim this works.

Doug

 

That's been said for 1/8th, 1/4 inch. My door is down over 1 inch to where it will no close without great lifting.

 

I hate to say this, but with that sag it sounds more like a frame problem than a door problem. What about the other door?

 

Get a cost estimate from a body shop. And at the same time ask them if it's been in a wreck.

 

Other door is OK