Both doors on my Stearns kicked out on the bottom corners significantly. I had to find a before picture because like a dope I didn't take one. This is the 4th car I've owned that we have had to add turnbuckles to. This one was a little trickier because of the window mechanism. Many times you can go corner to corner. It still has to be recessed so the door panel can go back on.
While the door panels are off the upholster will use an extraction tool to clean them. I'll do a before and after. We will do the entire interior.
Where do you source the turnbuckles?
I've used hardware store turn buckles made for screen doors. Often adding to the length of the rods or shortening and flattening the ends and drilling new holes. It's a very effective fix.
Peter nailed it. This turnbuckle came from Ace Hardware. Sometimes you need to modify them. Shorten or lenghtn.
When tightening the turnbuckle does it pull the door in instantly or do you slowly move the metal over days?
You need to go a little bit at a time. Maybe over the course of 24 hours. Also depends how far you need to go.
It’s so humid out there now that you could probably steam the doors into a pretzel shape if you wanted.
It wouldn't hurt to steam them a bit when you are turning the buckle. I've never seen an issue with doing it gradually and have seen it done a bunch of times. Two things I can't stand:
1. Door that don't fit.
2. Door handle that droop.
Once you see it. You can't unsee it. My dad pointed this out to me when I was ten. The door handle tells you a lot about the quality of the restoration.
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