im sure otheres have this problem. My rear driver side door looks a bit uneven. IE. the lines on the door panel is not perfectly lined with the rear corner panel.

My car is never in a accident and I tried to adjust it but its not going to happen.

Is this normal?

 

My front passenger door doesn't perfectly line up with the rear door but I don't mind.

It's not normal, though.

 

Well is it normal for a car to have uneven body panel lines?...not really, but as sad as it is technically yes it is normal on the Acura TL. I have owned 4 3rd gen TL's and they all had some sort of panel alignment issues. Not horrible, but noticeable nonetheless. We are talking about cars that have never touched anything in their life. No accidents, no repainting etc etc. This way right off the showroom floor. My most recent TL an 07 TLS 6mt had a pretty nasty gap between the rear drivers side door and the rear quarter panel. This vehicle has never been in an accident whatsoever. I have also seen many TL's at the dealerships that all had alignment issues as well. The most common place I have seen these issues at is exactly where mine had it. Drivers side rear door.

Here is a picture of my TL. This picture clearly shows something goofy going on between that door and the rear quarter. I knew this would bother me so I was able to tweak the door and get it perfect. In this picture you can clearly see how the gap is larger towards the top half. Turns out all I had to do was add a very small spacer washer between the top two door bolts and the hinge and it leveled the door perfectly with the rear quarter panel. Problem solved! How these kind of issues can pass final inspection at the assembly plant is beyond me.

 

LOL I would have never noticed this if someone had not pointed it out. Im not ocd but....

 

While my door gaps are OK I have gaps where the rear bumper meets my rear quarter panel on both sides. This has been discussed before, but it really pisses me off. At low temperatures everything lines up perfectly, but when it's hot out, the bumper curls and it looks like it's out of whack, even when fastened by the clips which are supposed to hold everything in place...

 

Interesting. I know that I can ignore those mis-alignments when I'm shopping and don't have to worry that the car could've been an accident.

 

Ever looked at the trunk alignment of an American-made car? Most of the time, it'll be quite off center. Kinda funny.

 

The funny thing is the american made cars I have owned dont have any of the panel alignment issues that these Acuras do. My wife even thinks its pretty bad how my Acura which is supposed to be the high end version of her Honda Accord has gap issues and her cheap accord doesnt. Oh well, I was able to fix it myself relatively easily, but I certainly cant say I remember having to align any body panels on any of the american cars I have owned.

 

The 3G TL is an American-made car. Made in Ohio.

 

Good point :-) Either way to answer the OP's question yes the TL's do sometimes have some panel alignment/gap issues. The good thing is they can be fixed without too much trouble if its something that bothers you.

 

I can remember my sister's first car was a new Dodge Stratus coupe and the trunk was so off center it leaked. Just minor quality control things that are sometimes over looked, I suppose it can happen on any car.

Very true.

 

just so u guys know, over time the frame and many hard turns, the frame does twist and flex a slight amount. one thing that is notorious is the slight bending of the roof at the corner of the sunroof. the harder u corner ur car, the more you speed up this process. stuff like stiffer sway bars and coils do make the car handle better but keep in mind that stiffer suspension transfers the stress onto the frame

 

Door shell alignment can be tweaked by adjusting the striker (on the body, not door) and the stoppers on the door.

It is normal for the front door to be like 0.5 mm inward (as in not flush) compared to the fender to avoid the hard vertical line of the door skin getting hit with debris. Same for rear quarter alignment with rear door. Its like a built in door edge protection without the actual edge guard. Would look better if they installed a thin clear edge guard (like on the rear lower skirts) and made them flush

 

Mines at the exact same spot.. Can you be more detailed about the washers to re-align?

Feel free to pm me.. but it might be cool to let others know with the same issue..

 

Sure its very simple. All you need is two washers that will go between the two upper door hinge bolts and the door itself. This will angle the door down just enough to re-align the rear door with the rear quarter panel again. Open the drivers side front door so you can gain access to the rear door hinge bolts. Remove the two upper bolts, and wiggle in the washers between the rear part of the hinge and the door. Then re-install the bolts and tighten. Open and close the door then check out the fitment and alignment. If its still not enough for you do some more tweaking. You can loosen the lower bolts as well and do some pulling and tugging to get the door exactly where you want. For me all I did was a little tweaking of the door and the two upper washers and I was all set. Dont forget that you have to ensure the rear door still remains aligned with the front door as well. It might take a little time but you will figure it out.
I just took this picture to show how my panel is aligned now. I added the red lines to show the ciritical points that were really off on my door originally. With the addition of the two washers my door was angled down so this panel lines were aligned perfectly.
If you need anything else let me know or PM me.

Here is the new picture after tweaking the door. Its perfect now!

 

I can remember back in the day when our vehicles were being assembled in Japan. Those were the days. We had a legend, an accord and a prelude and all 3 were perfect and didn't have any issues of their lifetime whatsoever. I believe the initial reason for moving the assembly plants was for cost. Many other car makers do it too these days, yet we're still paying what seems to be the same US price for new vehicles and now the assembly seems to be going downhill. Although my 4g TL doesn't have issues, except my driver door is definitely misaligned and has already been fixed once. I just had a loaner TLX with 565 miles and I inspected it just to see what if any mistakes were there. And to my surprise this new car had misalignments like crazy, especially on trims. I miss the days when imports were really imports :/

 

Thanks for the 6 year soapbox post!

 

Back from the dead!

 

My rear pass door ''bulges out''slightly in the same manner on where the door meets the rear quarter.Have to stare at it but you will notice.Meh...