door swing

[Maoule]

Are there any topics on how far the front door swings open? Has anyone modified their doors for this? The door swing on vibe remind me of a 2-door. Thanks,Terry

[star_deceiver]

There was one a while ago about the bolts coming loose... http://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id=41592Is the door feeling extra heavy? Not closing properly?

[djkeev]

Quote, originally posted by Maoule »Are there any topics on how far the front door swings open? Has anyone modified their doors for this? The door swing on vibe remind me of a 2-door. Thanks,Terry????? Is this a good thing? Bad Thing? Swings too far open? It doesn't swing far enough open? Hard to reach the door to pull it shut?? Too heavy?? Why is a 2 door swing bad by the way???Sorry, I don't understand what your problem is and how you want help to change it. I've got an 07 and the doors are just fine.Dave

[Maoule]

It opens too far, bumping into cars next to it. Ever heard the saying "never park next to a 2-door car"? My previous vehicle, an F150, didn't seem to get into other cars as the vibe.

[djkeev]

Quote, originally posted by Maoule »It opens too far, bumping into cars next to it. Ever heard the saying "never park next to a 2-door car"? My previous vehicle, an F150, didn't seem to get into other cars as the vibe.Huh, I always thought just the opposite about how infrequently I have troubles with bumping others cars.I have an 07, don't know what you are running.Dave

[star_deceiver]

Perhaps your parking stalls are smaller... seriously!!! We have a mall here that recently narrowed all the stalls!!! Pain in the rear (so I park much further away)

[Maoule]

I'll pull the panel soon and see what's to be done and post my results. Thanks.

[cmpltvertigo]

I am totally with the OP here, the door on my 03 Vibe swings way too far out. I have to be extra careful when opening the door to ensure it does not fly open and slam the vehicle next to me.

[cq358]

i think he mean the door checker rod. I like the one and Avalon, there is some "bind" when close the door, make the car feels solid.

[joatmon]

on my old vibe, the driver door check had a soft stop halfway open, and it provided friction to keep the door from swinging freely. Could open the door 3/4 way and it would stay there. My replacement Vibe's door check offers no resistance, just a stop at fully open. If I am not careful when opening the door, it will seem to jump fully open. Open it part way, and if on even a slight slope, it will swing open or closed (depending on the slope) Those door checks are an expensive part for what they do. Has anyone ever tried to restore friction to a worn one?

[cthomasparr]

I just picked up a 2004 vibe for my daughter and I noticed that the stock door check straps also offer very little resistance. Seems like all the doors are free swinging, much more so than my other 2004. The check straps look OK.. they have thickness like my other car. I think whatever is inside the door that presses on the strap has gotten tired.

I know the check straps are not cheap and I would like to try and "fix" what I have. I have read some threads about the interference with the window, so an alteration of the check strap ends are also in order.

Has anyone operated on the innards of these? It does not look like a serviceable part, but if I can break it apart and maybe refresh the springs or whatever is in there, it is worth a try.

Also, can the rears and fronts be swapped?? The rears might be slightly better.

[joatmon]

I took apart one of my door check's last fall, found that the normal resistance is provided by compressed hard rubber blocks that sandwich the flat door check bar. There is normally a ridge aligned perpendicular to the bar, on mine the ridges were completely worn away, and the rubber didn't grab the bar much at all. So, the rubber pieces can be worn to the point of useless and the bar still looks fine. I hacked the thing and fit a piece of a finishing nail where the ridge used to be, but did a clumsy job. The bit that holds the rubber pieces is spot welded together, should have drilled out the welds instead of chiseling it open. Works ok, but ugly. If I do the passenger side someday, I'll post pictures (but don't hold your breath waiting)

[cthomasparr]

Thanks for the post. Makes sense how it is done. I saw some pictures online of a Saab check strap with rubber wedge pushing a metal clip that rides the strap. I think in their case the rubber lost some elasticity and was causing the door to be difficult to open. I will pull my driver door's strap and see if I can alter. Would be fantastic if I was able to get it out without taking off the door panel, but I think that will be next to impossible.

[cthomasparr]

I guess I did save the check strap from a door that I had replaced a few years ago. I can say that the rear check straps are different than the front, although I bet driver and passenger are the same for the front and the same for the rear doors. If not the same, they are certainly very similar.

I plan on possibly using the guts of the rear to repair the front. I will post some picture when I start surgery.

[cthomasparr]

I just changed out the check strap this past weekend. I used a 1/4 drill to remove the welds and took apart my old back door strap.

The guts of the strap consist of two "rubber" blocks that I think act as the "springs" to put pressure on the strap. Each of the blocks has a molded plastic part that rides on the strap. So the rubber blocks press the plastic part onto the check strap. These plastic parts have a ridge that catches the narrow parts of the check strap to make it stop. In my front door both parts were worn pretty far back. The back door was worn also, but much better. My fix was to swap out the plastic parts from the back door to the front.

I greased with white lithium grease and put everything back together. I was going to use JBWeld to replace the small welds that I drilled out, but since the access to the part was so good from inside the door, I didn't bother.

The picture shows two of the plastic guides that run on the check strap. The one on top is from the back door and is less worn. Not sure how easy it would be to replace these parts or repair the worn part if you didn't have a donor strap