How to adjust driver door so it closes more flush?

[Dark Horse]

Had the driver door open wide recently whilst working on dashboard for a few hours and it was a really windy day so I think there was a bit of pressure from the inside of the door pushing it out which has thrown it off alignment.

When I close the door now, the rubber seals are not flush and it doesn't latch cleanly. The door hasn't sagged, it's just that it doesn't close as tightly as it should and the wind noise, even at low speeds, is much louder plus when it rains, some water goes inside the door frame (but doesn't leak inside thank God!).

Had a look through the forums and tried tightening the top bolt but it makes no difference so I took it to a local bodyrepair centre and they fiddled about with a few spanners somewhere on the door hinge which fixed it temporarily but a few months later, the seal is no longer tight again and the door does not close and latch cleanly.

Can anyone help and advise what bolts to adjust to get the door to close tighter so the seals are true? The one I tightened is this one with the green arrow which was already firm and didn't do a thing.

Attachment 29589

And here are some more pictures showing the door seal out of alignment when the door is shut. In both pictures, you can see the rear passenger door as well which sits flush properly with the seals tight against the door frame.

20160104_151134.jpg

20160104_151144.jpg

If I press against the driver door, it'll close tightly so I'm thinking it's just some bolts that need adjusting. Can anyone help and point out which bolts (maybe from the first picture showing the hinge?) to adjust?

Cheers.

[steveheather]

Hi there. My A4 drivers door had the same issue when I first acquired it in April 2011. I solved it and posted the method in doing so with my first ever post on this forum - How To dropped front doors

The door is still correctly aligned after 5 years and about 50k further miles.

Hope you get it sorted.

Regards, Steve

[Dark Horse]

Thanks Steve, that's really useful. I've quoted some of your post below to make sure I understand.

The lower door hinge is secured to the A pillar by two bolts - one from the outside and one from the inside. The inside one is accessed fairly easily by simply unclipping the interior trim and using a 13mm socket on a small extension. In my case, I found this bolt to be none too tight and this may be the reason for the hinge moving over time.

Do you mean the trim indicated in this picture with the green arrow?

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The exterior bolt though, appears at first to be pretty much inaccessible due to its' head being tight up to the wing. However, closer examination reveals that it is not the wing but a plastic spray shield preventing access with a spanner. I then discovered that this bolt can be easily accessed from inside the wheel arch by undoing the two small torx screws in the rear of the wheelarch liner, pulling the liner to one side and then gaining access to a further torx screw in the aforementioned spray shield. This can then be pulled to one side giving good access to the bolt. Turning the wheel onto full right lock first gives good access.

Is the exterior bolt on the lower door hinge the one indicated by the green arrow in this picture?

20160109_131536.jpg

Also, did you adjust the top bolt indicated by the blue arrow? If so, how do you get access to this?

Thanks again mate.

[steveheather]

Hi again.

In order to clarify for you, I will begin by stating that I did not need to adjust the bolt on the top hinge at all. The top hinge bolt is a hefty affair that appears to have a fairly locked position that wouldn't easily be moved.

The adjustments I made were to the lower hinge only and when these are loosened, the door will pivot on the top hinge to enable you to align it correctly before tightening up the lower bolts again.

In response to your first picture and question - there is no need to touch the trim highlighted by your green arrow (this trim accesses the fuses). The trim to remove is the one along the bottom/front end of the door aperture nagainst the carpet, where you will find a bolt that goes through to the rear of the lower hinge roughly in the direction of your green arrow in picture no.2 (although I appreciate that you have placed that arrow there for a different purpose).

The lower hinge bolt that you point to with the green arrow in the second picture is the one that I referred to that can be accessed as I described from the front wheel arch. If you stick something into this space (finger/screwdriver) past the bolt, you will find that what appears at first to be a solid obstruction preventing spanner access to this bolt head is in fact a plastic shield that can be moved away from the wheel arch side as I described in my 2011 post.

Hope that helps. It all falls into place easily enough once you take a look at things with the various trim and wheel arch liners moved.

Regards, Steve

[Dark Horse]

Well I removed the lower trim although it seemed to be caught on something attached to the middle trim so wasn't able to remove it completely. How does it detach from the middle trim?

Couldn't seem to find the bolt either in the mass of wires, plugs and padding, does anything else need to be removed for access? Bolt looks tight from the outside too so wondering if it might be the hinge has that has gotten a little bent.

[Dark Horse]

Couldn't fix this and it seemed to be getting worse so I took it to my local VW Indy. An hour later and £40 lighter and the door is fixed, it needed lubricated and re-setting plus there were some washers in the hinge (couldn't see these) that that needed adjusting.