Jeff,

There is a pivot point at the base of the arm that carries the track slider on the rear of the sliding door. There is a spring that is supposed to swing that arm to right angles to the door as the door begins to open, which has the effect of  pushing the door outward from the body. It sounds like your arm is not doing it's pivot thing, or at least not as far as it's supposed to. You should try a few drops of oil on the pivot of the arm, and check to see if the spring is broken.

The Bentley book tells how to remove the door from the body, and it's surprisingly easy once you know how. Try pulling the door and inspecting the sliders and rollers. While you're at it clean and lubricate the door tracks, rollers, latch etc. If it hasn't been serviced in a while you'll notice a great improvement in the ease of sliding the door, making it much easier to close.

Nick Wilson
Mendocino

'82 Westy
'88 Jetta
Previously owned '57 Porsche 356 coupe, '59 beetle, '62 microbus camper, '66 21-window sunroof microbus camper, '70 Westy

At 11:06 PM 6/24/01 -0500, you wrote:
>My sliding door panel rubs against the wheel well whenever I open it.  The
>door panel appears to be attached securely but I keep rubbing off the new
>paint that I've been applying (along with a little bit of rust and body
>filler, sigh).  Anybody else with this problem?  Any suggestions?
>
>Thanks
>
>Jeff
>85 Westfalia
>69 Notchback (now up and running)