I have a 1982 240d and the drivers door does not seem that it is aligned correctly.

The drivers door was always hard to close so I replaced the striker plate but I believe the previous owner adjusted the 4 door hinge bolts.

I've loosened them to try and align the door properly but I must be doing something wrong because it never seems to align properly.

There are 4 bolts holding the door on the frame. The hinges can move up/down and front and back. Please look at the attached photos and you'll see that the drivers door seems a little lower than the passengers door.

I'd like to get the door aligned properly before I start adjusting the striker plate.

Any ideas on how the hinges should be moved in order for the drivers door to be aligned similar to the passengers?

Thanks.

pete

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Some of that may be slop in the hinges themselves. The driver side door gets a lot of use, so it will tend to wear more. You can probably buy new hinges, and some car hinges can be rebuilt (not sure on MB though)

Your pic makes it look like the door is down in the rear, for sure.

Door and panel alignment can be "fun". How do the body lines match up? I'd look more to them than how the window frame lines up. If you look down the body at an angle and from the side you can get a better idea of what's off. If, for example, the front edge of the door lines up with the fender lines but the rear edge does not then you know that the door is tilted up or down towards the rear. The gaps at the front and rear edges of the door should be looked at closely, too, as they can provide info on how to move the door. You want the gaps to be even from top to bottom, instead of tapered. And you don't want the door to end up too far forward, as it then might bind on the fender during opening and closing.

It really comes down to making an adjustment, taking a good look at how it lines up, and going from there. You may need to adjust the striker plate several times, too, before making a final judgement. The striker plate can cause the door to be a little out of whack if it's high or low in relation to the door, or too far in or out. It could be helpful to remove the striker and set the door, and then place the striker so it holds the door where it needs to be.

As for sloppy hinges, you can get a feel for that by opening the door, grabbing the rear edge and lifting up on it. You'll feel any slop in the hinges that way.

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- Greg -
1973 220D, The Prodigal Benz
1974 240D

Thanks for the info.

I wasn't thinking about the hinge being bad but the car does have 300k on it so that's definitely a possibility.

I'm going to pull the striker plate tomorrow and see if I can get it aligned.
I'll also check for any slop in the hinge.


Thanks again.

pete

Is the driver's door slanting down or is the entire door mounted too low? The vertical and horizontal margins are showing no variance. Maybe it's just that the photo is too small to show much other than the front door being lower than the rear.

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84 300SD
85 380SE
83 528e
95 318ic

If someone has not mentioned it there is different thicknesses of shims that go under part that bolts to the inside of the Car (striker?).

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

Make sure the bumper in the door striker is good. Also, lube the door latch so that it moves freely or it will mess up the bumper and cause a need to replace.

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85SD 240K & stopped counting painted, putting bac together. 84SD 180,000. sold to a neighbor and member here but I forget his handle. The 84 is much improved from when I had it. 85TD beginning to repair to DD status. Lots of stuff to do.