Difference Between Butterfly-Style Car Doors | Car Door Designs
When we think of Lambo doors, what most of us imagine is but one of several different types of vertical doors — that is, doors that primarily open upward instead of outward. Lamborghinis and other model sports cars are best known for being designed to feature vertical doors, but the truth is many types of cars may be right for an after-market Lambo door installation.
As we’ll see in the list below, vertical doors come in several distinctive designs that mainly differ in where the door’s hinge is placed, and which direction it opens.
Scissor Doors
The original Lambo Doors, scissor doors tend to open straight up in a rotational fashion, like the hand of a clock. These open via a hinge placed toward the bottom front corner of the door. This type of doors will prevent you from getting in or out of your vehicle in places with low overhead clearance, but since their introduction, their original space age cachet has never wavered.
Gullwing Doors
Most associated with the DeLorean sports car of Back to the Future fame, gullwing doors open on hinges placed at the top of the door. This means they open upward, resembling a large bird unfolding its wings. Hence the name gullwing doors, also sometimes called falcon doors.
Butterfly Doors
Due to the unique car door designs of scissor doors and gullwing doors, installation of these style Lambo doors may be less comfortable to operate in certain model cars. Butterfly doors offer similar Lambo style with hinges placed at the top forward corner of the door, with sophisticated mechanisms that allow the door to open both out and upward. When opening a car with a butterfly door, you’ll employ a more natural motion, as though you were moving the door out of your way.
Suicide Doors
A fourth approach to Lambo style car door designs involves using so-called suicide doors. These are essentially doors that open on a rear hinge. Traditional suicide doors open outward, just like conventional car doors, except the swing out towards the rear of the car, instead of the front. Some scissor door and butterfly door installations place a hinge toward the rear of the car to achieve the same effect, Lambo door style.
Dihedral Doors
Newer and less common car door designs, dihedral doors employ highly engineered devices called synchro-helio hinges. These allow the door to swing open like a conventional car door, but attaches to a rotating hinge so that while the door opens out, it also swings up. This allows it to open like vertical doors without requiring as much vertical space, with the more natural movement associated with outward opening doors.
Ask about Lambo Door installation in San Diego County
Car Audio City can help you figure out which style of Lambo Door works best with your vehicle. Call us at (619) 474-8551 for installation advice and quotes today.
