The rear passenger side door on my MK2 hatchback has a deep dent that has been there since I bought the car.

I found a place breaking a near identical car that has an undamaged door with matching paint colour and trim.

They say that they can supply and fit the door at a cost of £50, leaving the removed damaged door with them. This is not a problem as I live in a flat and have nowhere to keep the removed door, I assume that they can still sell the parts like the door card and window glass.

Is it as simple unplugging the electrical connector, unbolting the door and swapping another one on? Am I right to assume that the door electrics are basic enough that nothing needs coding or programming? The LX has manually wound rear windows, so the central locking and speaker are the only electrical parts on the door.

 

 

It should swap without problems. 

It's only when doors with modules in them get swapped that problems happen. 

I agree it should work fine.  But even if it’s the same colour you might find it looks a slightly different shade when on the car up against your other panels due to different weathering it’s undergone over the years. There’s kind of three potential differences.  The colour tint,  the level of metallic effect, the level of shininess. 

Thanks for the replies.

I know that the colour will not exactly match with panels from two different cars. I would have to see the donor door next to my car to see how different they are.

 

 

£50?? I'd snatch their hand off! LOL That's less than a tank of petrol, take the offer before they change their mind 😁

Yes I also thought it sounded incredibly cheap. 

I am considering doing it, that is why I wanted to know if there were any possible problems that could arise.

Loose doors can be had on ebay from £20 up depending if they have any damage.

The Zetec ones with body coloured handles and trim seem more common as Zetec seems to be the most common MK2 trim level. It took a while for a trim/colour match for mine to come up as the colour is apparently not as common.

 

 

 

Doesn't sound particularly cheap to me.  When I used to break cars the doors were always a pain to get rid of as they're obviously not postable so local buyer's only and the colour limits the scale of potential buyers even further...

Generally scrapped them, even in near mint condition.  I remember selling a pair for a tenner a few years ago though...the buyer was disgusted that a local breakers was asking £20 per door!

 

 

 

2 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

Doesn't sound particularly cheap to me.

 

Tom, don't forget, you're handy with a spanner, many of us, myself included, aren't! Hence to get a guy that when you drive in, then drive out again with a 'new' door fully fitted, £50 to me is a bargain!

3 minutes ago, StephenFord said:

Tom, don't forget, you're handy with a spanner, many of us, myself included, aren't! Hence to get a guy that when you drive in, then drive out again with a 'new' door fully fitted, £50 to me is a bargain!

Not any more I'm not...  

Full doors only take 5 minutes to swap though, literally 2 bolts, check-strap and an electrical plug.  

I'm not saying it's a bad price btw, if it's local and in the right colour then that's half the battle with a door!

 

I was finally able to find a door with matching colour and trim after all this time. 

Swapping the doors was easy. It is possible for one person to do as the hinges are in two pieces with vertical pins on the car side that the door can be dropped onto.

The position of the hinges on the car body can then be adjusted with the rear door closed and the front open. 

The paintwork on the replacement isn't perfect but a local bodywork place I have used before gave it a quick polish. It did come out a lot better than it was after that. The colour match is close enough. 

I did have to change the speaker in the replacement door as the originals always seem to be burnt out.