bending /pulling the bottom of a door outwards

[carl0s]

I suspect the bottom of my door is slightly bent in, after my altercation with a small wall.

It's fine really, but if I could be bothered and wanted to do a better repair next time, I am wondering if there is a tool that is like a very very wide vice-like jaw on the end of some big grips, so that I could use to bend the bottom of the door back out?

It's just a few mm on the trailing edge of the door. I'm not sure hammering would work on such a wide area properly. I could obviously apply filler to increase the thickness of that part of the door but I'm thinking about bending really.

 

[the snooper]

if the edge of the doors should be straight just get some lengths of timber either side and use clamps where it needs to be straightened

 

[carl0s]

Here's a picture. See how on the left it's flush, but the right it's not.

 

[cumbriasteve]

Hard to tell without a photo but we used to realign doors with a bit of timber placed where the door was going inwards and then slam it against the wood..a bit of a heathen way but it often works well.

 

[carl0s]

Hmm.

good ideas.

Thanks :-)

(picture uploaded now)

 

[gordon stephenson]

A piece of wood would be my recommendation too, but go easy on the slamming, more of a firm push with varying degrees of force until you get the result you are after, A couple of mm should not take too much effort at all.

 

[500e]

Our Wallace had a pair of glass pliers, & a set of 2 Moles with polished angle welded between them & a piece of soft leather protected paint.
Have used wood blocks as well, block under door to ground & jumped on sill to get doors to sit in aperture, lots of ways to tweak things

 

[carl0s]

I'm trying to picture where the wood would be in the above picture. If I slammed the door against some wood, the wood would bash into the door sill or side skirt or something. I am totally with the wood idea, but I'm sort of only able to see how I might get two pieces of wood either side of the door and some giant mole grips or something (like what Snooper suggested up top)

Or do I need to be doing it with the door wide open and something very solid to knock/slam (lightly) the door against, with the wood going in between of course? If so I'm just not sure what.

 

[carl0s]

if the edge of the doors should be straight just get some lengths of timber either side and use clamps where it needs to be straightened

Are you suggestig very firm timber that will itself straighten the panel when the clamps are tightened, or just any old timer and use the clamps to pull out in the areas that need pulling out? Can you see the pics now? I'm not actually sure the door should be straight all along so I think I need to be able to just pull it outwards at the right end of that door bottom.

 

[the snooper]

you are better off using 2 pieces and some g clamps as you have total control of how much you move the door skin

 

[carl0s]

Yes this sounds like something I can see working for me. Not too unlike the mystical tool I was referring to in my question. Thanks ;-)

 

[the snooper]

if the length of the door isn't totally straight use smaller pieces of wood to move the bent part out slowly

 

[500e]

Easily made
Our Wallace had a pair of glass pliers, & a set of 2 Moles with polished angle welded between them & a piece of soft leather protected paint.
Have used wood blocks as well, block under door to ground & jumped on sill to get doors to sit in aperture, lots of ways to tweak things

 

[pedrobedro]

Don't get technical, hit it from the back with a rubber hammer. You could grip it with a pair of door skinning pliers and bend it out a bit at a time but if you don't have any they are not cheap things.

 

[steveo3002]

id leave it unless you want to get involved repainting it

at the bodyshop it would get slammed against some wood or a rolled up welding glove , but theres a chance it will need painting

 

[graffian]

A piece of wood would be my recommendation too, but go easy on the slamming, more of a firm push with varying degrees of force until you get the result you are after, A couple of mm should not take too much effort at all.

As above, I just stuffed a bit of wood or a glove in one side and leaned against the door to bend it, even when I was 11 stone specimen I never found a door I couldn't bend.
Unless your going to repaint it I wouldn't try localised pushing/bending, like with pliers.

What are pliers like, for reskinning, I always hammered the skins over?
I painted a reskinned door for a fester, the bloke had used pliers and it need a skim all the way around, it had deep marks from the pliers.

 

[Screwdriver]

Looking at the picture, your door has actually bowed in slightly. If you don't get it right first time, you'll never get it straight. I rather suspect you'll put it a crease or a sharp bend on your first attempt leading to a much more expensive repair. Worth finding out how much a garage would charge for a simple straightening job before you need to know how much a new door skin and a respray will cost...

Screwd.

 

[baconbarm]

 

[vdubz]

The bit your looking for is at 27:10

 

[MG David]

That made me laugh!