Rear Door Hatch Bulge/Crack

Bodegas · 04-08-2008, 05:54 PM

So a local FJ'r and I were talking about bulges and cracks and my bulges under the hood. He had never heard of this problem, BUT he has had a crack where his rear door hatch meets the body. He said a vertical crack. In a brief conversation, he had it "fixed" by Toyota and they were only going to fix it once because it seems abused. I could not believe what I was hearing. My FJ is in the shop as we speak getting new aprons welded on so I couldn't even check for a bulge. His rig was a later model 07

**enricosonic** · 04-08-2008, 06:01 PM

What is he, wheeling with the rear door open? You mentioned that the Toyota dealer said it looked 'abused' - do you know the guy well enough to agree/disagree?

Bender705 · 04-08-2008, 07:00 PM

From what I've heard, the main theories on causes for fender bulges are:

- Jumping or, for lack of a better term, high-speed off-roading
- contact with the bumper
- forceful door-opening/wheel bottom-out

not sure on which of the above theories is correct or incorrect- probably a grey area. Never heard of rear door hatch cracks/tears/etc.

Hopefully Toyota acknowledges and corrects the fender bulge issue- I currently do not have an issue, but I read these posts closely, and feel for everyone out there who has had one.

**puulboy** · 04-08-2008, 08:06 PM

Quote:

Bender705 previously said:

From what I've heard, the main theories on causes for fender bulges are:

- Jumping or, for lack of a better term, high-speed off-roading
- contact with the bumper
- forceful door-opening/wheel bottom-out

not sure on which of the above theories is correct or incorrect- probably a grey area. Never heard of rear door hatch cracks/tears/etc.

Hopefully Toyota acknowledges and corrects the fender bulge issue- I currently do not have an issue, but I read these posts closely, and feel for everyone out there who has had one.

If you are following this so closely. Why do better than 30% of all the inner fender bulges in the survey happen on stock vehicles?
I guess all those stockers must bend thier doiors back while they slam them.
My point is .. You summation is totally incorrect.
We don't need to cloud this issue with mistated facts
IMHO

NorCalCruiser · 04-08-2008, 08:12 PM

I have not heard of this yet, I'll keep my eye on it.

tibaal89 · 04-08-2008, 08:22 PM

Interesting.... I'll check mine out.

After thousands of miles with a bicycle or two strapped to my spare tire, the door does sag down a little bit when it's opened... when you close it, it kinda pops up into the right place.

fjTeddy · 04-09-2008, 05:45 AM

I have the same thing you can see the paint starting to crack over the handle on the back door. Looks like its not strong enough and the lip bends when you close it. At Rausch one of the quebec crew had the same thing. Will see if it gets worst but for now I can live with it and dont want the dealer to keep it for weeks and come back to see they did touch up paint on it. Thats how good the service is in Quebec.

wesayso · 04-09-2008, 05:55 AM

Quote:

Bodegas previously said:

So a local FJ'r and I were talking about bulges and cracks

**Crotalus** · 04-09-2008, 06:11 AM

Quote:

fjTeddy previously said:

I have the same thing you can see the paint starting to crack over the handle on the back door. Looks like its not strong enough and the lip bends when you close it. At Rausch one of the quebec crew had the same thing. Will see if it gets worst but for now I can live with it and dont want the dealer to keep it for weeks and come back to see they did touch up paint on it. Thats how good the service is in Quebec.

Pics? I guess I don't fully understand where the cracks or bulges might occur. I am considering carrying my Hi-Lift jacks on my rear door - if this is a problem, it's probably not a good idea.

jhaydeno · 04-09-2008, 06:26 AM

Quote:

puulboy previously said:

If you are following this so closely. Why do better than 30% of all the inner fender bulges in the survey happen on stock vehicles?
I guess all those stockers must bend thier doiors back while they slam them.
My point is .. You summation is totally incorrect.
We don't need to cloud this issue with mistated facts
IMHO

Puulboy, why don't you sum it up for us then? From what I have read in passing I would have to agree with Bender - doors opening, fast, rough terrain, and wheel bottoming out are the theories people have posted. Nowhere did he say anything about stock vs. nonstock; my stock goes fast over rough terrain and the suspension bottoms out!