Adjusting Rear Door on '99 Impreza Wagon.

[paulbellefeuille]

Howdy!
My wife just bought a '99 Impreza wagon.. not Outback.. with 77,000 miles on it.. really.
My question is how do you adjust the rear doors?
The top of the right rear door is sticking out just enough to create a wind noise and
the trim sticks out as well. The bottom of the door is also too far inward.
It's a sweet car once we get the cigarette smoke smell out of it.

[Fairtax4me]

Is it the front or rear edges of the door that stick out/in? Im not sure you can adjust the top and bottom of the door separately, but if its the rear edge there may be a rubber bump stop in the bottom corner that you can adjust outward a bit.

 

The general fix for a door that doesn't close all the way is to loosen the strike bolt (body side) and move it inward a hair. It's possible the whole door or the dog leg (area of the body directly in from of the rear wheel) is tweaked because of an accident.

[gbhrps]

paulbellefeuille,

 

I assume that when you say "the top of the door" you are not referring to the glass. Glass alignment on Subie frameless doors requires the shop manual pages and lots of patience to get it correct.

 

Here's what we do in our restoration shop to adjust this kind of problem.

 

If its just the metal door skin you are referring to, then the door hinges are where the changes need to be made. You need to open the door fully and loosen the top hinges bolts ON THE DOOR, (NOT ON THE FRAME of the B Pillar) slightly, and push the top of the door in towards the body of the car a bit. Snug up the bolts and test the top of the door fit to the front door. You might have to go in and out a couple of times until you get it just right. Once you have that correct, tighten those bolts.

 

Then loosen the bottom hinge bolts ON THE DOOR, and pull the bottom of the door out slightly, snug the bolts and test as before. Eventually you should be able to get the door back into adjustment.

 

By the way, the only way that door came out of adjustment was because it was replaced at some time, and not adjusted correctly.

 

Just be sure not to undo all four of those bolts at the same time or you'll be jockying about with that door for quite a while until you get it aligned properly. Loosen the two bolts a bit, push or pull slightly, snug them up, and test your fit. Eventually you'll like your results. Good Luck!

[paulbellefeuille]

Thanks very much! I'll try it this week.!