Hot take: I fixed a stubborn door gap with a ratchet strap and a heat gun

Had a 2008 Silverado with a rear door that just wouldn't line up after a quarter panel job, gap was off by almost a quarter inch. Instead of pulling the whole thing apart again, I hooked a ratchet strap from the door latch to a solid point on the frame, applied gentle heat to the hinge area, and slowly cranked it over about 20 minutes. It moved the metal just enough to get the seal right. Anyone else tried something this dumb that actually worked?

2 comments

2 Comments

gavinwood10d ago

That sounds like a great way to cause hidden stress cracks in the metal. You're basically cold-working it with heat, which can weaken the structure. A quarter inch is a huge gap to force, and the heat gun likely didn't get the metal hot enough for proper shaping. You might have just moved the problem to a different spot, and it could spring back or fail later. The right way is to adjust the hinge or fix the root cause, not brute force it.

webb.xena10d ago

Ugh, isn't this just how we handle so many problems? A quick fix that ignores the real issue.