can i bathe the door catch in white lithium or________.

video example

 

If you can find it this works awesome. I don't use it on brake hardware.

White lithium grease to be blunt sucks. Hit those rust areas with Fluid Film.

 

i know about fluid film, but will it make the noise stop?

 

wd40 works, also generic versions
if the sound is just due to a bit of rubbing its great.
if the sound is something serious then hiding the sound just masks the symptom and doesnt address the underlying issue.
unless theres been some door damage id just squirt in some wd40

 

can wd40 and fluid film be mixed? the plan is to wd40 then FF a week later.

 

dont know. might as well just wait. the wd could prevent the ff from getting where it needs to go.

 

From watching the video it seems the groaning starts as you begin to pull on the door handle, before it "pops," and as the door is swung open. Seems there may be multiple points of noises. I would pull the door panel off and examine everything up close and adjust/lube/fix as necessary. I don't think this will be as simple as spraying "the door catch." First find out what's causing the noise then determine what spray/lube to use from there.

 

youre right, but im afraid that ill find rust that will requires a body shop. (i will take it apart once i have time)

another thing ive noticed is it changes based on temp/weather. when its really cold, the door can be difficult to open.

today it was cloudy and 83, and it operated like normal. when i recorded the video is was sunny and 95.

 

could skip fluid film and just put in wd40. easier, quicker, less expensive. so FYI when the sun hits the door it heats up and parts expand. different parts expand at different rates. a CTE issue can cause this. also the parts expand in certain directions. ive seen vehicles that the doors hit the fenders when in the sun a few hours and opening then at night no rubbing at all. I actually checked one out yesterday afternoon, had paint rubbed off the front of the passenger door where it hit.

 

CTE is coefficient of thermal expansion. https://ctherm.com/resources/newsroo...mal-expansion/ differences in CTE between parts that are close together can cause them to hit each other and croak at one temperature and not at another temperature.