Direct answer: align a classic door in this order — rebuild or replace worn hinges first, set the door position at the hinges with the striker removed, achieve even 4–5 mm gaps and flush panel faces, and only then fit and adjust the striker. Doors misalign for two reasons: worn hinge pins, or someone using the striker to hide a hinge problem.
Start with the hinges
A worn hinge pin gives the door a few millimetres of slop that no adjustment removes — lift the open door by its trailing edge and watch the hinge; movement means rebuild or replace before anything else. Hanging a new door on worn hinges wastes the door. Fresh hinges and pins cost less than an hour of frustrated adjustment.
Remove the striker
The door must hang purely on its hinges while you adjust — a striker pulls the door to a false position and lies to you about every gap. Take it off and put it in your pocket.
Set position at the hinges
Loosen hinge bolts to finger-snug, position the door, nip up, check, repeat. Work one axis at a time: fore-aft gap first (even margin to the front panel edge), then height (swage lines aligned with the quarter or fender), then in-out flush at the skin face. Shims behind hinges handle what slotted holes can't. On the trucks we cover, 4–5 mm of even gap is factory-correct; chasing show-car 3 mm gaps on a working 4x4 body invites paint chips at the first flex.
Check against gravity
Close the door gently — never slam during adjustment — and sight the gaps in raking light. A gap that tapers wider at the top rear means the door has sagged: raise the lower hinge or shim the upper. Tapering narrower means the opposite. Adjust, close, sight, repeat; patience here is the whole skill.
The striker comes last
Only when the door hangs perfectly does the striker return, positioned so the latch engages without lifting, dropping or pulling the door. If the door moves as it latches, the striker is fighting your hinge work — move the striker, never the hinges.
When the door still won't gap
Check the aperture: sagging bodies (rusted sills and pillars) move door openings out of square, and no hinge adjustment fixes a parallelogram. Measure the opening's diagonals — unequal means structural repair before door alignment.
Related: doors · hinges & hardware · welding guide