Nick’s Tech Tips: A striking problem with your Doors

This week in the shop, we encountered a particularly extreme example of what often happens to door strikers on Bugeyes (and all Spridgets up to 1963). Unfortunately, it’s something that can be prevented with the proper maintenance, but when things are allowed to deteriorate, this is ultimately the end result.

Over time, door strikers can go from looking nice and new (right) to a chewed-up mess (left) if your door latches aren’t properly maintained. Note: the screw mounting holes are the same distance apart on the new part as they are on the old one, they look like they are different due to the angle of the photo.

One of our most recent additions into the showroom earlier this week exhibited hard-closing doors and a rattle coming from the body when going down the road on its initial test drive. After some quick investigative work, it was determined that the striker plates were the source of the rattle. The strikers on this particular Bugeye were EXTREMELY worn, meaning the door wasn’t securely latching closed in its intended position, and lateral movement was allowed to occur. This is not only annoying, but also potentially dangerous, as a worn striker can, in some cases, allow the door to fly open on corners when leaned against (or when the car flexes), and this is potentially catastrophic news if your Bugeye doesn’t have seat belts fitted. (We sell 3-point retractable seat belts you can install, they are available here… but let’s fix the latches first.)

This little pin in the door hinge is the main culprit behind excessively worn door strikers. But how?

So what is it that causes the strikers to have a groove cut into them this deeply? The answer is simple: a lack of door latch maintenance. The door latches on Spridgets through 1963 are a very simple lever-driven mechanism. You push the lever down, and a pin retracts, allowing the door to be opened. There are no exterior door handles to complicate things; it’s a direct link from lever to pin. Part of the regular maintenance schedule for a Bugeye is to lubricate the pin in the latch, to allow it to freely retract when you close the door. When those pins aren’t lubricated, they don’t retract on their own, and they carve a canyon into your striker plate.

A simple squirt of lubricant on the door latch pins every few months will dramatically extend the life of your strikers!

So make sure to lubricate your latches! All it takes is a little bit of your favorite penetrating oil shot into the area on and around the latch pins every few months. Squirt a little bit of 3 in 1 Oil, WD 40, etc. around the pin and cycle the lever up and down a couple of times; that’s all it takes! Doing this will dramatically extend the life of your door latch mechanisms, including the striker plates. A little lube goes a long way!

Should you need to replace any of the components of your door latch system, we offer the full range of parts you will need to refresh your doors! Check out our parts catalog or click the photos below to get your parts today!