Thread: Defender warped rear door due to spare wheel are these pics typical?

Seen several do that.. There have even been cases where they have come away...

Your dealer is telling fibs!

Next thing it can/will do is shatter the glass...

Even the more substantial older defender and county door mounts copped this too - and it is well known to be exacerbated by accidentally backing into another car, a tree or telegraph pole


been there done that a big gum tree

But its inevitable the door will be damaged if you leave the big spare wheel on there, I think a defender spare wheel weighs about 30 kg. The old doors had a fairly substantial frame on it. But that didn't save the hinges etc which still took the load. I could see distortion on the door and the door frame near the hinges on my car. I removed the spare wheel mounting frame from the door and welded it to my swing out wheel carrier, I mounted the wheel a little lower and to the right for improved rear window viability. I think the spare has touched the ground once or twice but only lightly.

Anyone who uses a defender on a lot of corrugations or rough roads will be able to tell you about the damage. I think most would already have wheel carrier.

Thanks for the replies,
Any pics too of other problems would be great, if the dealer makes problems fixing it I will email them this thread link.
Thanks
Chris

Here is a pic of behind the door card for reference.
Post 16 on my build thread here

Yep, ours is also warped and rattled on bumps, which is why we fitted a Mantec rear wheel carrier, which stopped the noise. Should be standard I reckon.

Sent from my GT-P5210 using AULRO mobile app

Originally Posted by DiscoMick

Yep, ours is also warped and rattled on bumps, which is why we fitted a Mantec rear wheel carrier, which stopped the noise. Should be standard I reckon.

Sent from my GT-P5210 using AULRO mobile app

Could you take a pic?
Cheers
Chris

Mine was the same before I fitted a swing away carrier. It was exasperated by a minor roll over, and now it wears a perspex rear window because the frame is not quiet straight. Gotta love the agriculturalness of these things