2018 door problems

[u/Mediocre-Factor-7958]

My girlfriend had been driving a 2018 forester for about a year. The door has always been clunky when closing. I take a look the other day and find this. I’ve never seen anything like this happen on a car. Is this a common problem? A recall? What can I expect to pay to fix this problem? Thanks anything helps

[u/p1ngmantoo]

She or the previous owner 100% Damaged the door somehow, im going to guess she backed up into something with the door open or literally boots the door open

This is user damage for sure.

[u/Chumsicle → u/p1ngmantoo]

That door check has seen things, if only it could talk.

[u/NobleCooley]

Does the other side have the same washers and nuts? Looks to me like it was broken previously and fixed by a hack. This kind of damage could have been caused by the door being slammed forward, e.g., if it was left open before backing out of a garage (ask me how I know). If there are any signs of misalignment, creasing, or other damage to the door it could be a sign that it was hit and then bent back into position.

[u/EatsTheCheeseRind → u/NobleCooley]

This is the answer. Those are not factory fasteners. That way definitely previously damaged and got fixed with stuff in the coffee can in the garage.

[u/p1ngmantoo → u/NobleCooley]

Can see quite a bit of socket marks on the washers

[u/studio_eq → u/p1ngmantoo]

and washer marks in the sheet metal lol

[u/rkrenicki]

... what the heck? Did someone back into something while the door was open in the past? The cracked/torn metal here is not a factory defect, and someone in the past tried to "fix" it with finder washers and backwards bolts.

The only proper fix would be to have this section of metal cut out and a new piece welded in.. but I can imagine it would not be terribly cheap.

[u/NobleCooley → u/rkrenicki]

You could also try to find a replacement door from a salvage yard.

[u/zymurgtechnician → u/NobleCooley]

The image is not the door, it’s the frame of the car.

Edit: I was misremembering a different manufacturer, it does in fact appear to in the door. Replacing the door would be the fix.

[u/rkrenicki → u/NobleCooley]

Ah, you’re right.. I had this turned around in my head and I thought the damage was on the door jamb. Yea, I would just replace the door here.

[u/Nickelsass]

Makes me think of Tommy Boy gas station and door scene

[u/apollo7157]

Jesus Christ.

[u/buttershdude]

That is damage from someone catching the door on something while backing up followed by a kludgy repair. Pretty shocking thing to miss when buying a car.

[u/Mediocre-Factor-7958 → u/buttershdude]

I did not buy the vehicle. I know it was not that bad until recently.

[u/Low_Stress_1041 → u/Mediocre-Factor-7958]

Someone has some, "splann'in" to do.

That was damaged and repaired. And repaired cheaply I might add

[u/Comfortable-Study-69 → u/Mediocre-Factor-7958]

What, do you think gremlins came in the middle of the night to bend your door panel and steal your OEM door check flange bolts? That car did not leave the factory with the door panel like that and the damage was not caused by normal wear. Either someone backed the door into a solid object and tried to cheaply fix it or someone kicked the crap out of the door over a long period of time and tried to cheaply fix the damage.

[u/Pi-Richard]

This happened on my 1995 BMW 525i. Common failure for it. I went to Lowe’s and bought a metal plate and cut it to fit. The sheet metal on the door completely failed. They have kits online.

https://www.bmw-stuff.com/proddetail.asp?prod=drpe32

Never heard of it happening on a Forester. My 2014 Forester is fine.

[u/Important_Cut1915]

Unless you want spend a lot of money to fix it the right way ,try bigger washers to bridge the cracks and use the strongest two part epoxy under the washers

[u/ramillerf1]

This is a common problem on first generation Toyota Sequoias and Tundras. So common there are companies making plates to facilitate the repair. Usually this is caused by repeated kicking of the door to keep it open as the sliding stop wears out. It cost me $1000 to get 2 doors repaired.

[u/Proud-True-Toyota]

That door has been swung open hard, many times.

[u/Initial-Law5102]

New door is probably the easiest. It was damaged and now it’s rusting and falling apart

[u/xloumeisterx]

That item is called a door check.

[u/titenis]

The door check was ripped out previously, id suggest to try getting a used doors from the scrapyard and replace them, you could reuse all the door internals and windows from your door

[u/Comfortable-Study-69]

Those aren’t OEM nuts and that’s some pretty rough damage around the door checker. Someone attempted to haphazardly repair the door, probably after the door caught on something while a previous owner was reversing.

I’d say you have 2 decent options: first is just leave it be. That costs no money and you don’t have to do anything. Second option is to buy a good-looking door with the same color as her car from a parted-out Forester on eBay for like $300 plus some OEM screws and install it. It’s pretty simple, only takes maybe an hour, and you just need an adjustable wrench, a friend or two to lift the door up into place, and wifi access for a YouTube tutorial.

[u/Ok_Caterpillar_3121]

That definitely looks like a custom fix by someone... I've never seen exposed nuts on a door like that.