I have wondered for years as to why there should be a handling benefit to fitting one of the various door stoppers available - although don’t doubt there are many converts out there.
When I read one review that talked about significantly less rattles from the stiffened chassis - I got to thinking… My car rattles badly on the hard left bumpy turns, but not so much on the right hand ones. I was about to buy some new stoppers to see if it cured anything - so I did more reading on what type to buy - and started to thing about what the actual problem was that we are trying to cure. Most people seem to think the hard plastic ones will not flex as much as the OEM rubbers ones, hence the stiffness, but the reality is the OEM ones are steel, with a rubber coat.
So I got to measuring mine - and found that they are significantly smaller than the cup they fit into. So I took the driver one off and put it in the cup for this photo where you can see that it is not exactly a tight fit.
I then looked closely and could see the rubber was damaged and worn
I figure that 15 years of use has resulted in a sloppy fit, when maybe once it was tight. That slop giving room for the door to move around and cause its internal to rattle. Logically the passenger door has not been opened and closed as frequently as the driver door, so it may be a bit tighter, and not prone to rattle… Makes sense right?
I thought about squeezing either the cup or the stopper in a vice to bend them to make a tighter fit - but that felt crude. Then I thought about wrapping with insulating tape to fatten up the stopper. Then I had a brainwave, and made large rubber bands out of an old motorcycle inner tube and put these around the stopper. Perfect fit.
Then to position correctly, I put the stopper back on the door frame but left the screws just loose enough to allow the bump stop to move slightly, then opened and closed the door a couple of time, then tightened it up. I also did the passenger side - well why not…? Wasn’t a big investment in time or money.
The acid test… I went for a forty mile spin and it was obvious there was an instant improvement to the rattles. Very nice result. As for stiffening the chassis and allowing “substantial handling improvements” - well… I felt the car was better and had I just fitted a brace or new shocks or something I would have been immediately pleased. But in all honesty, I am pretty sure the handling is the same - but FEELS so much better because the rattling inside the door is gone making everything feel more safe and secure. And that feeling could easily translate to greater confidence that things are not on the limit and therefore, that handling has improved.
