Hey, MB World family.

My door hinges on the driver side needed to be replaced because it lost its resistance and would not stay open in any position if the ground parked on was not completely level.

I took it to the dealership to replace the hinges to the tune of $1000; but, the dealership did a poor job painting the hinges and aligning the door after install resulting in me having to slam the door to shut it, excessive wind noise and water penetration into the car when it rains. I took it back to the dealership and the service advisor agreed that the paint work and alignment were poorly done.

After a week back in the shop, the dealership tried to tell me that the water and wind noise is because the weather stripping needed to be replaced and quoted an additional $1700. So… if approved, replacing door hinges would end up being a $2700 job.

Keeping in mind that I did not have any wind noise or water penetration into the car prior to the repair so I declined the additional repair for fear that the door was still not aligned or gapped properly. Low and behold, I got the car back and the door is still poorly aligned to the naked eye and I can see where the edge of the door is now chipped from the dealerships attempt to reinstall the door.

At this point, I refuse to take the car back to the dealership and am looking to any of you who may have instructions on how to align the door myself. In an attempt to describe the issues, the bottom half of the door is too close to the body and the top half of the door is too far away from the body which is the culprit for water entering the car and wind noise. And, the door is too far from the front fender and too close to the door striker/latch.

 

Before doing anything myself, I would raise this issue with the general manager of the dealership and then the district manager of Mercedes Benz. Shoddy workmanship is totally unacceptable.

It would be helpful if you identified where you are. And I assume it's your SL63 that has the problem. Was the door ever damaged? Mercedes has some of the most robust door hinges I've ever seen.

 

Covered some hinge/door info here:
https://mbworld.org/forums/sl-class-...oor-creak.html

Beware, these doors are heavy! I always use a fixture to hold&align the doors.
Next time I’m in the WIS, I’ll post up the section on door alignment here.

BUT, you already paid for the repair! The paint chip is unacceptable. As is the failure to properly align the door.
The repair is incomplete and bordering on incompetence.

Besides @JettaRed suggestions, If you paid via credit card I would consider threatening them with a charge back. I’d be pissed 😡

You may need to take it to another dealership (if possible).

 

You’re correct. I’m referring to the SL63 and I’m in Atlanta, GA. The sad part is that the service advisor at the dealership told me that the shop manager signed off on the repair.

There was no prior damage to the door. As you know the doors are heavy. One day I was exiting the car and went to open the door with the usual amount of force required to open it and the door flew open. At that point I knew something was wrong… then I began to notice that the door would close on my legs when parked in any of the parking garages in the city since most of the spaces are on an incline. As you can imagine, trying to exit the SL while holding the door so that it doesn’t close on your legs or holding the door so that it doesn’t swing open and hit the car parked next to you as you exit was not fun.

 

Thanks. I saw the post you referenced and tried to torque the screw at the joint of the hinge before taking it to the dealership. I ultimately decided to take it to the shop for the repair since the hinges needed to be body color painted before install.