Door replacement question: Take hinges off the donor door or off the car body?

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by weapon, Jun 27, 2026 at 1:00 PM.

  1. weapon

    weapon Junior Member

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    One of my prius got hit and ran earlier this month. Not a ton of damage but badly dented up the skins of both the drivers side doors but no structural damage beyond that. I would use a PDR service but the other driver scraped the paint down to bare metal so it will need paint work.

    Got lucky and found a set of nice near complete set of used doors from a junker in my cars color ($260 for both). Fixed any minor scratches and then cut/polished. Will still need to swap over some of the internals but they are pretty much ready for install when the time comes.

    Question:
    Is it better to leave the hinge on the body and mount the door to it?
    or
    Remove the hinge from the body and use the one already on the door?

    How do you assure alignment is correct once mounted?

    The irony of this question is that the donor front drivers door has no hinges and the driver back door does. So I am going to have to use both methods either way. (y)
     

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    #1 weapon, Jun 27, 2026 at 1:00 PM
  2. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    Then you should read a body manual from Toyota about adjusting the doors most all models very similar . Camry Corolla Prius Avalon . Not the same but very similar and the door adjustment procedure is almost identical.
     
    #2 Tombukt2, Jun 27, 2026 at 1:03 PM
  3. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    You'll want to have a good floor jack and some jack stands around
     
    #3 Tombukt2, Jun 27, 2026 at 1:03 PM
  4. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    If you have a choice of the hinges on the car or those on the door, maybe compare which are less worn?

    For some of these things, the factory bolts may have heads that are conical underneath, fixing the hinge adjustment to its one original position. If the door doesn't look properly aligned after installing that way, such bolts can be replaced with flat-underneath versions allowing adjustment.
     
    #4 ChapmanF, Jun 27, 2026 at 3:51 PM
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