The door hinges on my 1995 have seemed really stiff since I bought the car years ago. Both sides seem about the same, and are much stiffer than any other car I have ever had. I have applied some penetrating lubricant to the hinges but it did not make any difference. Car is accident free.

Wondering what others have done to resolve this if they have or had the same problem? Thanks for any guidance!

 

Have the same issue in my car. Looked into it a while ago and everything pointed to "just buy new hinges". After finding out they're NLA though I kinda gave up. Would love to have a fix, or find some where that sells new hinges.

 

Question:
Are they stiff AND springy (want to spring back a bit when you release the door)? That would be due to too much friction in the hinges. If they're just stiff, but don't spring back, the issue is likely the slider..

IIRC, there are Nylon bushings in the hinges to prevent metal-metal contact. That may have swelled a bit from the penetrant. I would try some plain light-weight non-penetrating oil to see if that could work its way into the hinges and loosen them up.

I'm also wondering if someone before you owned it adjusted the hinge locations to align the doors so the gap around the doors to the body was more consistent. That could have caused the hinges to not be correctly aligned for minimal friction.

Link to lube for Nylon:
https://www.google.com/search?q=best...470&no_sw_cr=1

 

Thanks for the replies guys.

I think the problem is with the hinges, not the check link. I had the pin out for the driver side check link awhile back to fit a new door seal and the door was just as stiff. But I’ll check the lubrication on them anyway.

I also ordered some pure silicone lubricating oil, I’ll give that a try too. FWIW they are not better or worse from the lubricant I tried before.

 

UPDATE:

With a variety of actions, the doors are vastly improved and are close to what I would consider a "normal" closing door.

This is what I did:

Lubricated the hinges with some low-viscosity silicone oil. This:
This actually seemed to help a little. But during the door open and close over-and-over action to get the oil moved into the hinge pins I noticed a slight squeaking sound. Which turned out to be the door check link. So I lubricated these with some spray oil (this: Wurth spray grease), worked the doors open and closed...and suddenly the stiffness basically disappeared! I would never have imagined that the door check link could cause so much friction but it does. THANK YOU @DaveW for mentioning this. And also the nylon insert info that got me on the path to a compatible lubricant.

Next I took a look at the door striker situation. I lubricated both door strikers with the Wurth spray light grease, and noticed that the passenger door latched smoother than the drivers door. Before, I had to shut the doors so firmly that nuances like evaluation of the striker engagement was not really possible. But now it was so after finishing up with lubrication of the passenger door to my satisfaction I took a look at the striker engagement of the driver side door. Turned out that the body-side point was low relative to what the door striker needed. I adjusted it higher and improved the latch closure a bunch. I think I can improve it more with additional adjustment refinement but as it is the door closure is improved VASTLY over what it was before.

Now I am kicking myself for suffering this problem for years and years. But at least now it is solved. Really nice that my wife can get in the car and close her pass side door herself just like in a normal car.

 

Over the years, I've repeatedly lubed the sliders and hinges with spray-on white grease. That seems to have kept things moving freely.

 

It’s kind of funny, now there is actually a difference in door closure feeling if the windows are fully closed or open a bit. Couldn’t tell any difference before as it took so much force to pull the door closed.

It’s still a light door and takes a little more follow through than a typical car but so much better than before.

 

Yeah, the car is pretty airtight, so opening a window a bit makes a very noticeable difference in the effort it takes to close a door or the rear hatch.

 

Here is the original post on Wurth and why it works Waaay better than anything else in these situations.

 

Yes sir! Your post was what gave me the info on the Wurth spray grease. Great stuff.