My passenger side door sticks really bad after replacing both struts. Any ideas why??? It's really hard to open and close. Here's a pic showing how bad it's scraping...

 

My best guess is it's coincidental and would have happened anyways.

Although I guess the new struts could possibly be causing the car to 'twist' slightly. But I can't back that up, just another guess

 

Check your hinges on the door for wear. Also check the pin and the bushings. As far as the struts doing that, i've never heard of it but you never know. How do the rest of the body panels line up? I believe if for some odd reason your new struts are to blame, your fenders would be much more off.

 

how did u jack / support the car up when changing the struts?

 

I wouldnt blame the struts...id blame the way you jacked the car up. If you did it by the corner and your car had any rusty bodypanels or floorboards it is possible you tweaked the body out and twiated the car. This is all i can think of, unless it is coincedental that the door hinge went at the same time.

What was first said is probably the worst thing that can happen


Id check at the top of the door/roof right in that little corner, see if the metal is twisted/bent or the paint has chipped. This is a good and easy area to check to see if your car has had diagonal stress.

 

My Beretta GTZ did the same thing - Although it was sitting on jack stands for some 4 months.

 

sounds like u didnt use the right lift point on the car
on the passanger side u need to get the jack past the exhaust to the frame, driver side is a little easier.

 

I used the same jack point I've always used, where the notch is in the jacking diagram in the users manual. I've jacked it up there many dozens of times. LowCamaro, where exactly do you mean by the top of the door/roof right in that little corner? The body panels are rust free and pretty solid so I'm not worried there. There is a point where the front bottom edge of the door is hitting the plastic moulding on the back side of the fender. Either way I guess I'm looking at new hinges?

 

OK, find the striker pin (the pin that locks into the door latch when its shut) and then follow that rear edge of the door frame up to the roof untill it comes to an end. I dont know how else to explain it. Right on that corner, look at the sheetmetal, kind of where the roof meets the rear quaterpanel ( behind the 6x9 speakers) Sorry if you still dont understand. Look for a little piece of paint missing or for there to be some bent metal.

 

get subframe connectors when you're done with those hinges.

 

I'm definatly planning on SFC's! It's going to be a while after I rebuild the front end, do a 350 swap, etc.

 

I jack my car up at these points,

 

how did you jack it up like that, one side then the other? that could have done exactly what they were talking about. If you do that should try jacking maybe 3in on one side then 3in on the other side.
Well thats if you get it fixed then you can do it right next time.

 

Are you telling me that these cars are so sensitive that jacking on one side at a time will cause a frame alignment problem? I really have a hard time believing that. The strut is hardly a fixed attachment like an sfc. On top of that, the attach pionts are fixed as well. There's no room for adjustment with the exception of the mount. I'm sooooo confused! I still think my door hinges are simply shot. I took off the gfx on the pasenger side and the door workd fine. As soon as I get the cash I'll replace te hinges.

 

d00d like they said its better to jack after the exhaust(frame is stronger there), or try not to jack a corner.

 

Yeah, don't use the jack points in the manual, always jack it up at the frame. I learned that the hard way, too. My passenger side fender popped out a little.

 

SgtSkip: yes the frame will bend if jacked up incorrectly. These cars aren't the strongest ever made, just fast. Trust me, don't wait to get subframe connectors installed after your engine swap and whatever else you plan on doing. Get them put in NEXT! Anyone else here will say the same thing. They even give you more jacking points.

 

Can you move the door up and down any, if the pins are shot that bad you would be able to pick up the end of the door a noticable amount. Normally you will not bend the frame just tweak it alittle,
Is it a T-top car?
Have you driven the car or did you just let it down and notice the door.
And by jacking the car one corner at a time the frame will put stress on the door and it may be possible that you just bent the pins. Most mechanics I know recomend leaving the doors slightly open when jacking the car this way(but don't jack the car corner to corner). The work on the car you did couldn't of caused the problem, but like said before the method and location of jacking the car can. Has the car ever been wrecked, if so a fixed frame can be easier to tweak, especially if a weld happened to pop. Spend the extra cash to get a jack you can lift the car's front at one time, but still be careful where you put the stands.

I wish this board had a spell checker, its late and I cant spell. LOL

 

Thanks for all the gouge guys. Looks like I'll be buying a bigger jack. The car does have T-tops si I'm sure that doesn't help things. I do have a bit of up and down movement on the door. The drivers side has a little as well. The car has never been wrecked but it dows have 236K miles on it, of which I've had it for a little over 100K. I second the spell check thing!

As far as which sfc's to get, which should I get? What kind of yen am I looking at and can I install them at the auto hobby shop or should I let a shop do it?