How to really align falcon doors?

[Sledworks]

Hello, I have a model x and the falcon doors do not align with the body. The forward portion of the door is fine, but there is almost a half inch gap in the rear where it needs to close more. I have had the car recalibrate the doors, but they still have a gap. Is there a way to really adjust them, instead of having the car try? Besides taking it to the service center...

The doors were forced closed manually, which threw it off. The only adjustments I have been able to retain are manual adjustments. Just looking for the correct way

 

[P85_DA]

Just looking for the correct way

Take to SC

 

[Sledworks]

Take to SC

I want to know how the service center does it. It shouldn’t be an unknown mystery... I have also heard stories about the service center making it worse, and I’m confident that if I knew the procedure I would do a better job than most techs at a service center.

 

[TexasRat]

Apparently it's really hard to align. I'm not confident that I'd be able to do a better job than them. There are two points of alignment that need to be adjusted. One of them is fairly trivial, which is how far "in" (towards the body) the door folds. The second one seems to be harder but I don't remember what type of adjustment it was (SC told me, but that was almost a year ago at this point).

The only reason I had them fix the alignment was because it was gouging out paint (though that wasn't reproducible, it could have been a one-off situation). The FWDs have never been the same again. I think they are worse than they were before. Not by a ton, but I can notice it if I spend a second to look at it.

I just don't look at it anymore. Enjoy the car for what it is. Precise fitment and fit and finish is not one of the things.

In short, unless the FWDs were damaging your upon closing, I would not have the SC touch it. You're gambling with the outcome.

 

[Sledworks]

I got them aligned. I adjusted the latch, and then was able to torque the door manually so everything lines up. When I started, there was a gap I could stick my finger in, and now it is a near seamless line. It is a day and night difference in how the body lines flow.

 

[aesculus]

I got them aligned. I adjusted the latch, and then was able to torque the door manually so everything lines up. When I started, there was a gap I could stick my finger in, and now it is a near seamless line. It is a day and night difference in how the body lines flow.

This sounds promising.

Can you be a bit more specific? When you adjusted the latch what gap/alignment did you improve? Where did you make these adjustments and how? A picture would be great.

I assume when you meant that you manually torqued the door you got both arms around it and just twisted? What did that achieve and how much effort did you have to exert?

 

[LTR2018]

SC or mobile tech can align so the door handles are perfect. If the top glass piece is off from level, they can take that glass off and put in shims to make it level. I had a mobile tech who used to work on the Model X line in Fremont do this and it fixed it all! Ask the SC. A good mobile tech should be able to do it.

 

[LoveMX]

Hello, I have a model x and the falcon doors do not align with the body. The forward portion of the door is fine, but there is almost a half inch gap in the rear where it needs to close more. I have had the car recalibrate the doors, but they still have a gap. Is there a way to really adjust them, instead of having the car try? Besides taking it to the service center...

The doors were forced closed manually, which threw it off. The only adjustments I have been able to retain are manual adjustments. Just looking for the correct way

Pictures would help people answer your questions better I think. Since SC is too busy these days they may just refer you to a 3rd party vendor or Tesla body shop, if there is one in your area.

I presume you took delivery recently? Did you notice this at delivery?

 

[MXWing]

I got them aligned. I adjusted the latch, and then was able to torque the door manually so everything lines up. When I started, there was a gap I could stick my finger in, and now it is a near seamless line. It is a day and night difference in how the body lines flow.

And thus a cottage industry was born!

You could certainly make your Model X payments aligning doors for other owners.

 

[clyjr]

When I asked them about aligning my doors, they wouldn't do it...

 

[365gtb4]

Collision Auto Body Repair in Temecula aligned my drivers door after I bent it. It is better than the factory alignment.

 

[Sledworks]

It was a bit of work. My doors acted like they needed to close more, as the gap at the rear fender was significantly greater than anywhere else, big enough to stick my finger in. The front part of the door was fine though. I adjusted the latch on the car, where the door connects. I set it back about as far as it would go, and a bit to the side to give more even door gaps. When I closed it after that the front part of the door was in too far, and the back was still out too far. There is no adjustment to fix that, so I opened the door, had someone push up on the low side, and I pulled down on the high side. I was able to tweak the door enough to make both sides close with an even gap. It took a fair bit of effort to tweak the door; I started out gently and pulled progressively harder until I could see slight progress. I would close the door to check pretty often.
And to line up door handles, I adjusted the hinges on the front doors. They have a pretty pathetic range of adjustment compared to other high end cars I’ve worked on, hence the poor body lines. If they built more adjustment into body panels, door latches, and hinges, most of the build quality complaints would be non existent.

Hope that makes sense!

 

[aesculus]

Hope that makes sense!

Yes. Thank you.

Just one small question:

How do you go about adjusting the latch? I have not looked at that significantly but it did not seem obvious at first glance.

BTW I have looked over my doors and they seem to be about as good as they can be. I totally agree with you on the hinge adjustment comment. All the hinges should have a good deal of adjustments. I suspect after taking the factory tour that Tesla convinced themselves that the robots would build perfect cars. Maybe but there is a ton of humans involved in writing the robot code, assembling the cars and also temperature differences during production could alter everything too.

PS: I have restored many concours cars and I can tell you that aligning doors is probably the most difficult task and also the one that judges look at most.

 

[azriaziz]

any pics of the latch or adjustment points?

 

[Yinn]

Hello, I have a model x and the falcon doors do not align with the body. The forward portion of the door is fine, but there is almost a half inch gap in the rear where it needs to close more. I have had the car recalibrate the doors, but they still have a gap. Is there a way to really adjust them, instead of having the car try? Besides taking it to the service center...

The doors were forced closed manually, which threw it off. The only adjustments I have been able to retain are manual adjustments. Just looking for the correct way