I finally got my FD and while it's been kept very well, the doors take a lot of force to close. While holding the handle to lock the door it seems like the handle could break very easily.

Anyone else have this issue?

 

The cars are VERY 'airtight' and yes it is pretty hard to close the doors without using quite a bit of force. I don't recommend holding the door handle AT ALL. Use the key to lock it.
My 2 cents.

 

thats just the nature of the design these doors are notorious for being really difficult to close it by giving the black panel surrounding the handle and the key hole a good shove, you wont damage the door they wouldnt make the door hard to close if it couldnt take the abuse.

 

I just replace my door seals with one from a Series 8. There is a big big difference between the two and the newer one makes closing the door so much easier now and I don't get a squishy sound of the rubbers squashing with each time I close the door. Also I don't get that air tight sound when I open the door either.

Worth replacing the door seals is my recommendation.

 

You won't damage the door, but a lot of people have broken the door latch because you have to hold it out while closing the door in order to lock the car without using the key afterward.

 

I have the same issue,took the handle off to see if i need to replace something,but nothing looks broken. Still works

 

I always roll down the passenger side window just a bit before closing the door (from the inside of course). From the outside it is easier to close it firmly.

 

i, too, always crack a window before shutting it. helps a bit but still requires my 5 '1" wife to put her weight into it.

 

haha wow the cabin is airtight enough that it makes a difference i should try that

 

Yeah, crack a window or sunroof if you have one. It closes just fine.

 

mine are hard to shut as well..all 3 of my local buddy's aren't though!

 

Do you have the part numbers for the series 8 door seals? I wonder if they will be difficult to source.

 

If they have sunroofs, you'll see the roof pop up a bit when the door closes to let some air escape.

 

Yup, I notice it every time I close the door.

 

The way I close the door, is just to keep my hand on it the entire time it's closing.

You don't need to slam it and you'll quickly get the hang of how much force you need to use to close it.

The doors definitely do need some extra force though to close. Because of this, a lot of RX-7's have a pinging metallic sound come from the driver's side door when it's closed due to internal door parts getting knocked loose.

 

if your gangster with wiring. you can set your alarm to roll up your windows to roll up a minute or so after u arm it. BMW and other european makers do it.

 

good one. i think i will try it. lol

 

With both windows up, its hard to close the driver door. People said it has something to do with the air trapped. Thats why on newer sports cars (350z and other really small 2 seaters), if you have the windows all the way up, when you open the door to get out, the window opens automatically 1 inch, then when you shut the door, it closes the window fully.

But its weird though cause when i have my windows all the way up, the passenger door is much easier to close than my driver. Only the driver door takes alot of effort. So what i do is open my hatch, then close the door gently, then close the hatch lol

 

Weird - I've never had to hold the door latch up on the driver's side of my 93 but do on my passenger side. I, too, just crack the window to close the door with out having to "slam it" shut. Also helps keep the interior passenger side from breaking since the wife/friends don't have to slam that shut which could cause the handle to break on the inside pull area.

Tim

 

I only have to do that with my passenger door... for my driver door, I just lock it and slam it shut. I only take my car out on nice days, so I usually just pop the sunroof to the first stage, and it makes it pretty simple.

 

Hmm, maybe there's something wrong with my drivers side door latch then. I have to hold the latch open when I close the door with the lock switch down, otherwise it just opens the lock back up when I close the door. I've tried many times to no avail.

 

Then something is wrong with mine too. I also hold my latch out, I'm just careful NOT to push against it when I close the door. It's never been a real big issue.

 

Whenever I have to close the hatch, I open the drivers side door, close the hatch, then close the door again. If I dont do this, the sunroof bulges out and the hatch doesnt latch closed haha

 

Well maybe I'm one of the lucky guys that got an awesome defect! No complaints here!

 

Even when closing the hatch? What model is yours?