Just had a Homer Simpson "doh" moment...
A month ago my N reg Micra was involved in a prang. As I had only 3rd party insurance, to keep repair costs down I bought a replacement wing, headlamp and bumper from a scrapyard. I then got the parts fitted at short notice by an el-cheapo, back street, "cash only" motor repair/scrap yard.
All was well until, depending on the weather, the driver door began to scrape the newly-fitted wing when at the extent of its opening travel. Paint was eventually being scraped off the door at the wing-side edge.
I tried to fix this by loosening/tightening the nut fastening the wing panel, and bashing in the wing slightly with my palm, with no success. Until this morning.
Aah, Eureka, I thought! "The contact twixt door and wing panel is only very slight. Obviously it needs just a millimetre or so gap opening up. A miss is as good as a mile."
I took a piece of thin card, folded it a couple of times. Popped it in the gap between the door and wing panel. And slammed the door. The wing panel did not "budge over" as I expected. The door edge did not "budge back" a millimeter as I expected. Instead, the door skin bowed out at the wing-side, making the hinges visible when closed. And on opening the door just a quarter of the way, the door starts to scrape the wing panel. Getting in the car involves the door crunching into the wing panel, slicing into it like a can opener. In fact the door will only open half-way.
Doh! My first task is to flatten the bow in the door panel back a bit. It won't go back by hand, by knee or by kicking it. I guess a rubber mallett is the right tool for this, but I don't have one. Any ideas?
Thanks Bruce