Adjusting body / panels

[First90]

The LR boys have done some wonky assembly on the drivers side of my 2010 90. There is a slight drop in the body panels where the drivers door meets rear wagon panel and while it is only slight it is causing some problems with the door seals and the door latch (it's not nice to close) as well as not looking great. Actually, even that side of the roof has a slight dip in this particular spot.

I keep seeing more and more 90's around Melbourne that are dead straight so I need to do something about it.

I have spent a bit of time at the dealers already and I am fairly sick of them (rear diff splines and this panel thing) so I was wondering if doing some realignment of the panels would be possible at home. I have a few tools and have enjoyed fitting my accessories but is this too great a task for me in my garage??? If it was, what would I need to do it?

Thanks in advance.

[numpty]

Keep pressuring the dealer.

I had a misalignment of a panel on my 110 when I bought it. Actually had no problem with Austral in Brisbane who had the car for a couple of days with other warranty work and they had it fixed.

[Psimpson7]

I would take it back to the dealer. It is possible but its not easy to do and you may end up with other issues. (leaks / rattles) etc

[Scouse]

Are you the original owner?
If so, it's up to the dealer to sort it out for you. They might have a hard time claiming it through warranty but that's their problem if they've taken so long to fix it.

[Marty110]

with my 110 one rear door was so high that when I fitted my rhino bar mounts I couldn't open the door!! The dealer said it was my fault for not buying a genuine roof rack from them - I pointed out that there was not enough clearance for their mountings either - they eventually 'fixed it' under warranty (along with a heap of other issues) but in the end I had to get out the torx head wrenches at home and re-do it..... it's easy but the dealer should really be responsible for it.

[BilboBoggles]

Fixing panel alignment on a defender is relatively easy loosen bolts, jiggle, tighten. BUT it will never be perfect, and by playing with the alignment it's quite likely you will end up worse off with water leaks etc.

I've had 3 new defenders. The first two I went after the dealer and really pushed to get the panels and water leaks sorted. They had many goes at this, they did improve but never fixed it. BUT when they do this they use gobs of sealant, and it's quite obvious it's been played with.


The door closing issue is very easy to fix by moving the strike around.

Personally I'd leave the panel alignment as is - it may be a little ugly, but better than having one that looks like it's been to the plastic surgeon once too often.

[POD]

Important thing when aligning panels is to start from the back of the car; i.e. the rear quarter panels are pretty much fixed in place, you align the back door so that you get a nice neat gap against the quarter panel, then align the front door to a nice neat gap against the back door, the on to the front guard and align it to the front door. How it all then fits around the top and bottom is pretty much down to build quality.

[First90]

Thanks Gents, good feedback. It sounds like I should just push the dealer to get the door fixed (the passenger side is perfect but never used!). The visual effects are minimal since I fitted the safari snorkel as it breaks up the profile.

Rob.