Oil Canning in Driver Door at Handle

[Mr Stay Puft]

The driver door oil cans at the handle and I am not sure how to correct it. I attached a video of what it is doing. Is this something people have dealt with before? It seems kind of strange the door is so weak at that point. Is it missing a stiffener or something? The video appears to be too large to upload so I posted it to youtube.

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[SquareRoot]

So watching your video made me walk outside and look at mine. Appears to be normal. Yours is just more apparent because you have a shiny paint job. The bad part is once you see it, you can't unsee it.

 

[Mr Stay Puft]

Thanks for checking. Weird the panel is that soft there. The passenger side doesn't do it on mine to nearly this extent. When the car was shipped the mover was a larger gentleman and apparently had trouble getting between the truck and the side of the transporter and leaned really heavily against the handle to squeeze by. It was popped way in when I got the truck. I had paintless dent removal take out most of the dent but now it oil cans like this. I may try and come up with some kinda stiffener on the inside panel....tbd.

 

[nvrenuf]

Are you sure it's not an aftermarket door shell?

 

[Mr Stay Puft]

I am not. I don't believe it is, but I am not sure how to tell.

 

[SquareRoot]

So it's possible yours was made worse by Fat Albert playing Houdini as you say. That would mean the metal was actually stretched on the door panel. This takes us into the world of bodywork. The metal needs to be shrunk. That usually involves heat and quenching to get it to pull back together. There are shrinking discs but either way, that area will have to be repainted. You have reminded me about the two extra doors I have. When I salvaged them I manhandled them into the back of my truck. I had a small Nissan with a camper shell on it so they wouldn't fit in the vertical position. By lifting them flat, I unknowingly stretched the door panels. Now my once pristine spare doors oil can just like yours- only worse.

 

[Mr Stay Puft]

The good news is it's popped mostly out and doesn't look that bad if you're not looking for it....and it's a truck after all. I just make sure to pull and push from the right side of the handle. If I make a stiffener that works easily I'll post it.

 

[SquareRoot]

The good news is it's popped mostly out and doesn't look that bad if you're not looking for it....and it's a truck after all. I just make sure to pull and push from the right side of the handle. If I make a stiffener that works easily I'll post it.

I'll be interested in your stiffener idea. You can't put anything horizontal to the panel inside the door or you will block the window. That area behind the door handle is already a double panel.

 

[Rickf]

What about a piece of 1/4" bar stock panel bonded out of the way of moving parts?

 

[Vetal4]

What about a piece of 1/4" bar stock panel bonded out of the way of moving parts?

Maybe you could run from the mirror bracket and catch the bold right on the inside of the panel….

 

[SquareRoot]

Or just fix the sheetmetal?

 

[Frankenchevy]

Now I am curious to check mine. I never noticed that before.

 

[Doppleganger]

Mine was exactly like this when I got it. I tried the heat/cold stunt and it sort of worked....but where it was stretched was right where you'd always be pushing or pulling it. So I added a thin patch plate from a hardware store - with 3M panel adhesive. Worked like a gem and is rock solid now.

I also had some major oil canning on the roof from hauling my stripped cab to be soda blasted and the 50mph air rushed into the open interior light hole and stretched it. About 100 dabs with a spot welder and cold wet rag tightened it back up just fine.

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[squaredeal91]

Wow^^ pretty slick

 

[Mr Stay Puft]

Doppleganger,
Very cool, that's along the lines I was thinking but with a bent edge flange to increase rigidity. Something like this.

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However, the flange is gonna have to be pretty short. I though there was more room between the panel and the window because when the window is down there is plenty. However, as Squareroot pointed out, when the window is up there is barely any clearance with the supports at the bottom of the window.

I also noticed the existing reinforcement in the door area there isn't bonded to the panel out at the edges:

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So I can slip the stiffener in a little way but not all the way to the screw. I think bonding the existing support out at the edges as well as using something like you did or something with a small edge flange might be enough.