I'm pretty sure the added weight is fairly insigificant even if the entire
outer door panel were covered, as it would still be less than adding an
aftermarket speaker in the lower position as some have done. Most of us
probably contribute more to hinge wear by neglect by not lubing them, myself
included... :-)

On Fri, Apr 9, 2010 at 12:12 AM, Janne Ruohom�ki
<janne.ruohomaki@gmail.com>wrote:

> On Thu, Apr 8, 2010 at 7:55 PM, Jake de Villiers
> <crescentbeachguitar@gmail.com> wrote:
> > Yup, that's what a Vanagon needs for sure - 300-400 extra pounds of
> > road-hugging weight!  =)
>
> One thing to remember is that all the weight added to the doors
> increases the wear on door hinges. The further away the added weight
> is from the hinges the greater the stress is. I have not put anything
> on my doors yet, but I definitely will use some before I put the door
> panels back. I dont have long time experience on my vans hinges yet,
> so I cannot say how much the added weight affects. In order to reduce
> this wear I will try to install mine so that most of the weight is as
> close to the hinges as possible.
>
> And keep Your hinges well lubed! (I'm sure Scott agrees with me on this)
>