Fitting a new car door

[Kentphil]

My friends car (a Ford Ka) needs a new drivers door. How easy are they to fit? I wondered if anyone on here has done this before? Is it as easy as just getting the correct door with a key and swapping it over. Colour match etc isn't important to her.

thanks in advance for any advice

 

[monty dog]

Long time since I did one, but often required a judicial degree of carefully applied force to tweak the hinges with a big prybar. Expect the accuracy of modern production means that components and fit are more accurate.

 

[1duck]

yeah easy enough, get a trolley jack as well makes it less of a stress on the person helping you with it.


(you may as well get the right colour door whilst you're on, theres always loads of kas breaking on ebay i think i paid 50 for a civic door delivered a year or two back)

oh and you can swap the lock from your current door so long as the mechanism isn't knackered...that way you don't have to bother with an extra key on the keyring...i think mine came with the original locks removed just switched the old one over.

 

[jax13]

the ease of door replacement depends a lot on the hinge type.

if the hinges are on the door itself, etch around them on the car before you remove them, especially if the fitting screws sit in slots rather than definite holes (if that makes sense) it will give you a near perfect fit first time.

wiring is easy enough as there should be the same coloured wires on each door. if they are from different years, there could be differences in wire colour but on a ka there is probably only speaker cable & potentially central locking or electric windows depending on model.

as others have said, trolley jacks (or even a couple of decent chunks of timber) for taking the weight of the door & an extra pair of hands to hold it will come in really handy & knock hours off the job compared to balancing it yourself.

make sure you leave the passenger door open / unlocked too. a mate of mine managed to lock his keys in an old mk2 golf when we did a door transplant as he didn't realise the door pin was down when he closed the passenger door to check the alignment!