Roach

The drivers door does not open sometimes. I have to pull 2-3 times to get it to open. There is visible wear on the striker as if the hinge is sagging (back of the door is too low).

I'm confused by the section views and description in the Bentley of the hinge adjustment. I found a post on adding a shim behind the lower hinge to jack up the back of the door. Is this correct, or can you adjust this at the hinge?

Thanks,

CH

MP4.2+6.0

Does the door basically seem to line up with the jamb (putting the striker aside), particularly around the window seal area? Most likely if it doesn't, the car had body work done. If you don't think the body was ever damaged, I would first just adjust the striker way before I touched the hinges. Fooling with the hinges means you will more likely upset that upper window seal area more, which can lead to more wind noise. You can also order a striker from ecs tuning--they list a "new and improved one" and I have replaced it on mine just to tighten things up a bit.

The striker is adjusted right on the face of the striker plate with a torx socket bit and wrench. It has indexing marks to keep track of where it was. Loosen it just gradually or it will move around wildly on you. I set it by first visually looking at how the door catch meets up with the striker as they come together, and whether the door seems to far out or too far in at the back edge compared to the front of the rear door. If you play with it, I find you can get the doors to close snugly yet not use a ton of force. They should not hang up when opening, and if they do either the striker is pushed too far in and everything is too tight, or else things are really off on the setting and the door is flexing as it is forced by the misfitting closing action.

Roach

Like a said there is wear on the top of the striker from the latch track. It closes easily. When it opens it's easy. I tend to agree with your comments about adjusting the door and then having seal issues - I will try the striker - you can hear the striker make contact with the door about 1/2" prior to door close. Not a big deal but the wear that is present makes it worth a try. And, amazingly I have the proper socket!

Thanks,

CH

Roach

I moved the striker down on mark on center - we will see - Thanks.