Hello!

I removed the wheels from my Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme 71 convertible today and took them in for repair / further inspection due to small rust issue.

When the vehicle was on four jacks and all wheels off the ground I noticed that the doors were quite tough to open, not impossible but there was certainly resistance.
The margin between the door and the rear quarter panel was also a bit more wider than usually. However, by looking at vehicle from a small distance I could not see any clear bending of the frame.

My question is: is bending like this normal? And should I be worried?

I will attach an image of the locations I had the jacks put on.

 

“A” body/full frame Convertible “ends” sag when not supported by the suspension and will close the gaps if lifted at one end, especially the front. Not likely to hurt anything, but.

Unless necessary, I won’t even put them on a 2 post lift, again, not likely to hurt anything but it hurts me to see them sag.

Roof, especially with post, adds a lot of integrity that is missing on convertibles, despite boxed frame and a few extra braces.

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Did not even think about this, thank you for the insight

I will try to refrain from bending the frame, seeing it hurts me too

 

Yeah, that’s normal for convertibles. I recall not being able to open the door when I had the front end up in the air to replace the springs.

 

Happens with T-Top cars also

 

It happens with any car. If you jack or support the car at a location other than the tires, the car will deflect differently. Nothing is infinitely rigid. This is only a problem if there is so much rust that things start to permanently deform or worse.