door dings caused by window regulator

["Walter" <Whalt@xxxx>]

I have noticed the same dents in every DeLorean car door that I have looked
for them including both the passenger and driver's doors. These dents on
every car are located approximately in the center of the door just below the
molding. On some cars it is much more noticeable than others, but I have
noticed them on perhaps more than a half dozen cars so far. The dents
protrude outwards and appear to be coming from the tubes of the window
regulators hitting the inside of the door as they over-torque at the end of
their travel.

My car is no exception. I have rather noticeable dents on both doors. I am
suspicious that it is the OEM window regulator that is at fault and not the
heavy duty replacements sold by the vendors. My driver's door still has the
OEM window regulator, and the passenger door regulator was already replaced
before I got the car. Since I have owned the car for over a year now, the
dents in the drivers door has gotten worse! Yet the passenger door does not
appear any worse.

The driver's side window gets more use (since I actually do use it for a
toll booth window and to have security gates scan a bar code which I refuse
to stick on my car. I don't recommend throwing change through that little
window, though. The last time I tried it, both quarters missed the basket.
I had to get out to fetch them. The funny thing though, I was so close to
the basket that my door wouldn't clear it. I couldn't pull much forward
since the gate was closed, and I had trouble backing up since the guy behind
me was already up my a... But I did make out like a bandit once I got out
and started picking up quarters that everyone else lost.) Okay I get side
tracked too easily....

So I suggest to everyone who wants to keep their pristine doors dent free to
not use the OEM window regulators anymore. Or if you do, be very careful to
not run the windows all the way up or all the way down without taking your
finger off the button immediately. I hear that the OEM regulators do not
stop automatically, and this is partially the cause of why they tend to
prematurely self-destruct.

Before anyone accepts this as the gospel truth, lets have some input from
the other DML'ers.

I have yet to take my driver's door apart, but by peeping in through the
front door light it looks like I have an OEM window regulator in there. DMC
Joe showed me how to pull the light out and look inside, and he said that it
looks like an original. My passenger door definitely already has the heavy
duty regulator, but it went bad shortly after I bought the car. It filled
up with water because no one removed the drain plug when they installed it.
(Read more about this in the archives.)

Walt Tampa, FL