do not buy your beer in the hood

March 13, 2012 8:48 AM

The door on my crappy car got bent. It no longer makes a tight seal, and it is supposed to rain heavily for the next few days. Can I bend it back?

To make this as brief as possible, an unhinged/angry/high/mental/whoknowswhat man opened my car door and repeatedly pushed it forward as I tried to leave a parking lot at my local hood liquor store. The window was down, and now the top corner no longer makes a seal with the body of the car. The window seals up just fine, but it is beginning to rain and leak between the window frame and the body of the car. I'm not spending any more money on this car (currently saving for the new one and running this one into the ground as it already needs thousands in repairs to the engine and body.) However, I don't want to sit in a wet car seat. The gap is maybe half an inch or so if even that. Is it possible he bent the spring in the door, and not the window frame? Any solutions or suggestions? If it helps, 2 door honda accord mid nineties.

I could tell the whole story of what happened, but I'd just rather get on and past the crazy in my life.

posted by k8oglyph to grab bag (7 answers total)

Look where the hinges are attached to the door and the body of the car. Some hinges have oval holes which give you room for adjustment. You can back off the bolts and move the door/hinges before tightening them again.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 8:55 AM on March 13, 2012

I'm not spending any more money on this car

For what it's worth, auto junk yards will often have replacement doors (same model etc) for cheap. It might not be the right color but ...
posted by philip-random at 8:56 AM on March 13, 2012

It's probably that the torquing on the hinges have deformed the sheetmetal the hinges bolt through (either on the door itself, or on the body) You'd be hard-pressed to bend it back into alignment yourself.

Take a look at the hinges and see if either the door metal or the body metal doesn't look pulled out, similar to a pop can that has been frozen.
posted by Thorzdad at 8:57 AM on March 13, 2012

Your situation is called a sprung door and it can be a fairly easy fix
posted by buggzzee23 at 9:04 AM on March 13, 2012

Of course, that fix only works on hinges and not bent window frames
posted by buggzzee23 at 9:06 AM on March 13, 2012

Thanks everyone; buggzee23 I think this is likely what is going on, (and even more likely what the guy was trying to do to the car.) I'm going down to investigate and try to fix it now. Thanks and wish me luck!
posted by k8oglyph at 4:19 PM on March 13, 2012

If you are sure it is just the window frame that's bent (the rest of the door closes right), you can just bend the window frame back into shape. Open the window all the way down, put your foot on the inside of the door, and pull on the outer corner of the window frame. Gently at first and keep rechecking the seal.
posted by gjc at 7:10 PM on March 13, 2012