2006 lincoln town car door not sealing properly

[figure8repairs]

Hello everybody. 2006 Lincoln Town Car owner here. I had new driver door hinges installed at a shop, they weren't able to align it properly and I took my car to a 2nd shop. The 2nd shop got it latching much better but now i'm hearing road noise and it seems the door weatherstrip isn't sealing properly. One of my weatherstrips is damaged, but i don't think that's the cause of the problem because it has always been like that and was fine before new hinge installation. I've taken a video and some pictures of both doors to compare. Any insights on how to fix this, i'm thinking the door needs to be adjusted still to get proper sealing of the weatherstrip. Maybe someone here can help?

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdgywDOLVog
Drivers side: https://imgur.com/a/9acnNrc
Passenger side: https://imgur.com/a/TJ3AeFP

Also, here is the thread i posted on lincolnsonline forums... Sagging door fixed, not sealing all the way on the way - Lincolns OnLine Message Forum

Thank you and happy holidays everyone.

- Figure8Repairs

[TonyC]

Sorry nobody got back to you about this issue. I only noticed your post now. I've had recent experience similar to yours, with my right-front door, which took me quite a lot of effort to line up to satisfaction after I removed and repaired the lower door hinge–which was a need for 23 years at least. Long story.

From what I saw in the video, it looks like your door is off alignment at the lower hinge, where it attaches to the door itself. The shops, especially the first one that did the hinge swaps, did not bother to properly align the door to the rest of the car, maybe because they didn't want to go through the frustration that usually comes with door alignments (an act of laziness on their part). I dare say they cheated by altering the striker alignment just to get the door to shut properly and get you out of their hair.

You'll likely need to have the door shifted inward at the lower hinge, then have the striker realigned. That is a tricky job, I have to say; but with patience you can do it.

---Tony

[Dan Szwarc]

Make sure that the bushing isn't missing on the striker. Compare the driver door to the other three. Sagging doors destroy the plastic bushing and it goes unnoticed because... well... we don't pay attention when stuff happens slowly over time (or inherit a problem).

If the bushing IS missing, you can replace the whole striker for less than $30.

[Mike]

I agree with TonyC. You can tell the door isn't adjusted properly. That's all hinges first striker second. But it looks like that bushing is also missing (I see thst eas a screen shot from the video). It'll never seal the way it is. Since two shops have failed now you might have better luck at a dealer. That's the sort of thing that they need to adjust sometimes on new cars even so they should be familiar with it.
Do you know how the gaps were before? Fit and finish like that isn't the best on them to begin with.

[TonyC]

Yes, Dan's point is valid also, something I forgot about because Frankenstein does not have that. But I do remember that with a friend's old '95 Thunderbird. If that piece of plastic is missing, the door won't feel secure even though the latch is fully engaged.

---Tony