No, I'm not talking about Jim Morrison here guys, but this IS something that is making me trip.

I love this car, everything about it (almost), it's my favorite car I've owned yet for sure and I'm enjoying the hell out of it....but...

What is with the goddamn 3 ounce doors? Especially the rear doors. I swear there is more metal used constructing a Pepsi can then in one of those doors!

Personally I don't like it, but it's minor and I can live with it, because I have the good sense to know to shut them GENTLY. I don't like HAVING to do that, but I live with it.

The problem is, when I have passengers. Does anyone else feel me here? Every time I'm going to have people in my car, I have to make sure to tell them CLEARLY, do not SLAM the doors, shut them GENTLY they are very light.

Not only is this annoying and embarrassing, but it makes people think the car is a cheap piece of crap and inevitably jokes and comments follow. What's worse is when you tell them this and they forget and slam the f*cking door anyway and then chuckle about it.

Meanwhile, I'm noticing one of the rear doors SOUNDS a little different now when you shut it. I know it's not my imagination because I've seen it happen on other cars. It's not like it's broken, but the "ring" the door makes when you shut it sounds different, thats the only door in the car that's been shut hard more than once. Maybe three times it happened.

Am I insane? I love the car, but this is ridiculous. I mean, dude.. spend $100 more building the car and use a little thicker steel and some soundproofing...something. There is a point you cross where you stop being thrifty and clever for saving weight and you start making stuff impractically fragile. The doors are teetering on the edge of that line IMO.

I am willing to do ANYTHING to fix this one issue with my otherwise perfect car.

If that means spending $1000 to have someone open all the doors and install soundproofing-- I'm ready to do that.

Does anybody know what can be done about this? Like I said, I'll spend $1000 if I have to. Whatver it takes to somehow reinforce or at least muffle the tinny ring when the back doors are shut with more than 3 ounces of force?

HELP.

 

Well I agree with you--because even when you don't SLAM the doors--you get a wierd sound from them like they are going to fall apart on you.

I hate it when unknowing passengers close the door and it makes that sound...it actually makes me sorta cringe.

BUT--the doors are an improvement on the Japanese bB...we get more sound deadening material, as well as a cross beam that reinforces the entire door assembly.

I'm guessing that we are just going to have to deal...and most people shouldn't be slamming other peoples doors anyway..I know i'm always careful with other peoples stuff--but if they aren't--it's just more of a reason for you not to give them rides anymore...

 

slam that door!

better closed than sorry!

 

i always told people not to slam my doors on all the cars. it has nothing to do with being cheap, but the doors are constructed in a way that seem to close easier then others

 

What about taking off the panel and filling it with Dynamat?

 

I know, it kind of upsets me too. Everytime the blonde gf gets into the car, she slams the crap out of the door...

 

I had a Geo Tracker before and it was the same thing, I used to call it the coke can on wheels... while it does make it feel a little cheap the rest of the car makes up for it and it is not only the xB and tracker that were made like that the rodeo(older ones) amigo, sidekick and most of the 'mini-suv' as I call them type cars which are in the 20k< market have.

 

Agreed - the doors on my '68 Bug were thicker than these...I've noticed that if you close it too hard it really sounds like it's about to pull the comic door-closes-then-falls-off-hinges sound...and cman - if you don't like her slamming the doors be a gentleman and open and close it for her

 

That's EXACTLY what I was thinking of doing!

Anybody have an idea of how hard it would be to do that. Sh*t, I'm willing to pay to have it done.

:?:

 

Buy dynamat kit, pop off door panels. Peel off backing and apply dynamat. Replace door panels. It's that simple.

I'll do it for $1000

It's typical of small cars. The door sounds hollow cuz it IS hollow. Thicker sheet metal won't change that, just add more weight to the car...

 

pop...off....door panel.

OK. I did take a look at it. I generally don't consider myself mechanically inept, but I didn't see any easy or obvious way to just "pop off" the door panel. Maybe I'm an idiot but I think I need a diagram and some instructions or I'm likely to f*ck something up.

Is it just me or does "just pop off the door panel" sound a lot simpler than it actually is?

I'm open to suggestions on how to approach this though. I'm willing to do it myself, but not without some specific directions and diagrams or photos... :?

 

I wouldn't take off my own door panels, I tried that years ago with a Nissan I had and ended up breaking half of the clips. Buy some of the super dynamat and take it into the dealer or a really good audio installer and have them do it for you. I knew someone with a 240z who felt the same, after the dynamat he said it felt like closing a BMW or Caddy door- heavy and sturdy with a nice thud sound.

 

These cars come apart easier than a Lego set. The clips are much sturdier and none of that pressboard crap from back in the day.

Talking about a rear door here, Take the screws out of the door handle and armrest, one screw each. Grasp the door panel at the bottom and tug gently. The clips will pop loose. They are just plastic fins on the edges. pull out slowly and grasp higher as you go. The panel hooks over the top at the window slightly. Reach behind and unplug the window controller. I could go pull one off and take pics but it would be overkill. Make sure the clips are pushed all the way into their mounts when you go to put it back on.

PLEASE don't pay someone to do it. You'll feel better knowing you did it yourself and when you see how easy they are to work with, you'll start taking other things apart...

 

i dynamat'd the front doors as well as my rear hatch. i couldn't stand the cheap, thin sound of the doors when i shut them. i ran out of time and couldn't get to the back doors, but i will soon enough. after i put dynamat in the doors, they feel a lot heavier and close with a reassuring "thud" instead of the coke can sound. i love it. oh yeah, and you don't necessarily have to dynamat every single flat surface you can find in the door. you just want to kinda knock on the metal and put some dynamat on the pieces that sound thin or tinny, until the sound changes to a deeper, sturdier sound. unless you really want to use $200 in dynamat, i would do it that way.

 

Should be less than 1000 though! I did the whole car for less than that! Now my doors have no road noise, and when you open the door and let the handle go, there's no tinny noise. The doors now close tightly, it reminds me of my old mercedes. They're that sturdy now!

Mike R.
rolex87

 

Exact opposite thing happens to me. People close my doors just fine, and in my Chevelle, they don't slam em hard enough. I have to tell people "slam it like ya mean it!"

In the scion, don't close the door using the force of your whole arm. A flick of the wrist ought to suffice, it does for me at least.

 

This is closer to my own experience. I actually like the fact that they close and latch so easily. I never have to close them a second time to get them to latch.

If you keep all the windows rolled up it really sounds solid. The doors feel light but it has a quality sound to it. With the windows down ...you are right it does sound tinny and rattley.

Nest.....whenever you have passengers have the windows all up and maybe it will work better for you.

Sean

 

Well, if you want a lightweight car, the parts need to be light! If they made the doors heavier, then the structure would have to be heavier, the engine would have to be larger to propel the added mass, you'd need more gas to push the thing along, etc. etc.

Simple, just help your passengers into the car and shut the doors for them!

You need new friends, preferably ones that don't drive Buicks and who will respect your desire to take care of your car. If they slam, they can be pedestrians!

George

 

Um... WTF is this in "drag coefficient" now. What do doors have to do with coefficient of drag??? Better yet, why is there even a section for this? The xB is hopeless in that department LOL.

I hate when mods do this. This thread will be seen by 1/100 as many people now that it's been arbitrarily stuck in some obscure section probably no one ever looks at.

Well whatever.

I'll reply even though the thread will probably end here in this limbo section.

I disagree. 10 more pounds of metal framework or even insulation in each door would make all the difference in the world and 40 lbs isn't going to measureably affect performance. It's cost cutting. It's not a big deal, but it seems like an odd oversight considering how high quality the rest of the car appears to be as far as interior etc. It's hard to beleive these doors are "beefed up" from the JBM Toyota Bb! The sheet metal must quiver when a light breeze hits it on those.

Uh yeah. That's not an acceptable solution.

It doesn't even take a slam. Pulling the rear doors shut with the amount of force you would use on the average mid-sized car generates an unhealthy sounding *clank* pull the doors slightly harder than that and they sound horrible like they are going implode.

It's not my friends, it's the doors. Most people aren't accustomed to riding in a car where you have to shut the doors gingerly with the tip of your pinky to keep them from sounding like a bowling ball hitting a kettle drum. If it takes special attention to shut the doors in your car then something is wrong IMO. Maybe in Japan they expect this and are used to pulling the doors shut with the force of a 5 year old girl, but not here.

I don't expect a Buick, I'd be happy with doors 75% as sturdy as the ones in my Volkswagen Jetta were. I understand this is a light, small car. It's certainly much sturdier than the delicate Echo it's based on, but unfortunately the doors are about the same as the Echo.

Like I said though, relatively small deal. This car is still a fantastic value and probably has fewer compromises than anything else I've owned, even though it's by far the least expensive car I've had. Really well done. I think the doors probably never occured to them, they probably figure whatever reinforcing they did was sufficient and for most people it may be. I'm just not used to >3000 lb cars I guess.

I am very enthusiastic about this dynamat thing though, it sounds like exactly what I need. It would be nice if dynamat had specific directions on their website for removing door panels on this car. The rear doors sound simple from what ScionicMan said, but I'd want to do the front doors as well. I'll pack as much of that dynamat ____ as will fit in all the doors I'm ready and willing to do it, just not having any luck finding a take-a-part guide with a drawing or pics anywhere on line. I'm not keen on paying the dealer to do it at all, I'd much rather use that money for coilovers and wheels/tires than paying someone to do what I can do myself, especially since I'll be very thorough about it and do it right.

So I wonder where I can find some take-a-parts of the doors... like a schematic. I've looked all over the place for em.

 

ok .... all of the doors have 2 screws .... 1 in the latch and 1 in the pull handle .... remove pull handle ..... pull on panel (start at bottom since there is a better edge). installation is the reverse.

there is 1 "fakie" screw on leading edge that just pops out with rest, just make sure that when you put it back on that you insert this one seperately.

if you need pics .... maybe you shouldn't take your car apart (don't be offended .... just play it safe )