A4 door

[rokit]

Hello every one, right my drivers side door on my 1996 A4 seems to have dropped a little, this causes a bad wind noise when driving at speed.
Does anyone know why it has dropped and if I'll be able to fix it myself,
Any help is greatly appreciated.
Ta

[darkhorse1001]

i've just sorted this on mine, the good news is you dont need any money for parts, the bad news is you're gonna have to make it worse before it gets better, as the whole door has to come off to adjust the hinges/mounts.

i moved mine by adjusting the lower hinge which is much easier to get to than the upper hinge.

first get the trim off the inside of the door, for this there are two screws (one at each end) at the base of the window on the edges of the frame. then there is one screw on the inside of the grab hande by the window switches, this one points to the rear of the car. once that is out the inside of the handle can be prised down to reveal two more screw holding the handle to the skin of the door. once all these are out you can lift the trim up, and away, from the door to disconnect the wiring plugs for the windows/speakers/mirrors and the catch cable for the lock.

now, moving inside the car, you need the lowest trim panel off the A-pillar, by your right foot in the footwell, for this there are two retaining screws, one behind a small cover.

once the trim is off you need to identify the wires going through the opening to the door through the a pillar and disconnect them form the harness at the base of the pillar, and pass them throuhg the opening to the inside of the door, so they dont catch when you remove the whole door.

now support the door in its fully open position and mark the location of the lower hinge on the door, for re-positioning later. moving to the top hinge there is a small locking bolt protruding from the hinge pin, remove it. back to the lower hinge, remove the two torx bolts holding the door to the hinge, and be prepared to support the door as you undo the last one, move the door away from the car by lifting it up to pull hte hinge pin form the lower part of the hinge. careful not to damage the rubber strip at the base of the door, when you place it down

now, the mounting for the lower hinge has two securing bolts, one undone from an opening in the inside face of the a-pillar, and one undone from the outside of the a-pillar (this is the one you can't get to with the door in position!) loosening both allows the hinge to be moved forewards/backwards, and in doing so will move the end of the door upwards/downwards once re-mounted.

putting the door back is the opposite of removal, but of course you want to check alignment before reconnecting the electrics/trim.

also the strike plate for the lock catch on the b-pillar will need moving upwards so it doesn't rub on the lock as the door is shut, for this there are two more torx head bolts that just need to be slackened to adjust the position up/down.

took me about an hour in total, good luck.

[darkhorse1001]

P.S. a second pair of hands makes getting the door back on much easier, although i managed without.

[rokit]

Thanks for the help, ill try it tomorrow.