Door Armor MAX 5 Piece Door Reinforcement Kit, Anti Kick in Door Security

[Important: be sure to read my edit at the bottom, added 7 years after this original review.] I installed this in under 30 minutes with no problems at all and without having to make any other modifications to the door other than removing the existing strike plates (more on that in a minute). You should be aware that the directions say you'll need a long 9/64" drill bit capable of drilling three inches deep. I had a couple 9/64" bits, but they were only three inches long. After chucking them into the drill, only a couple inches actually stick out. So I went to two hardware stores where I got weird looks for asking for such an odd bit, and nobody had ever seen one. So I settled for the more common 1/8" bit and it worked totally fine. If you're fortunate enough to have a set of vix bits, starting the holes with a 1/8" vix makes the job even easier, but it's not necessary. The satin nickel finish on the Armor matches my existing hardware perfectly, so I didn't need to paint the Armor. However, the long panel that covers the doorknob side of the door jamb wasn't fitting quite right over my existing strike plates so I had to remove those. The bare wood that was exposed looked pretty bad. It was only visible when the door was open, but I'm kind of a perfectionist so I ended up painting those two spots. I wish that the instructions mentioned whether or not it's okay to remove the existing strike plates. The Armor doesn't fit quite right with them still there, but leaving them in place would probably lend more strength to the door. The steel is so strong, though, that I'm confident it is fine. I also think they should change the instructions to require a long 1/8" bit instead of 9/64" - it's much easier to find and works perfectly well. Also, the instructions assume your door has three hinges and tell you to put the Armor over the middle and bottom hinges - but I have nine foot ceilings, so my door is taller than average and has four hinges. I had to think for a while about which two to protect. I finally decided on the middle two so that it would be more resistant to shoulders as well as kicks, since it's unlikely anybody could provide a lot of kicking force to the bottom quarter of the door. The instructions should advise on what to do if you have four hinges, or it should come with three hinge plates. These three complaints are so minor, though, that they don't warrant docking the product a star. I'm super happy and feel that my door is far more secure, and the price is great. _____ Edit seven years later! This happened a couple years back but I didn’t think about this review at the time. I was going over some of my old reviews tonight and realized I needed to tell this story! We had overnight guests staying in our downstairs guest room, near the front door, the night after Christmas. At about 1am there was a terrible crash that shook the house. My wife and I wondered if they’d knocked down a bookshelf. I figured I shouldn’t go down and ask because I didn’t want to embarrass them, and if they needed help they’d call for it. Well, seconds later, they are running up the stairs saying, “I think somebody just tried to knock down your door!” So I check the security camera that points at our driveway (we didn’t have a Ring yet so no camera at the door). Three guys in hoodies standing there. One walks towards the front door, disappears from view for a few seconds, and then all three run off. I look at the front door and find a foot print right where you’d expect one from somebody trying to kick it in. This product saved my family and guests from a home invasion conducted at night with cars in my driveway. These men knew we would be home and tried to break in anyway. That means they were most likely armed. I’m convinced my door armor saved our lives that night.

This product comes with everything you need to harden your entry point doors for your house. I purchased one for my front and rear doors. The front door installed easily, and protects the door jamb and above and below it with metal about 3.5 feet-ish long. There is a pice for the door itself where the door knob is, and also for two of the hinge area's. All screws get replaced with there's which are more than long enough. Pay attention to the instructions and do it right the first time. Once complete the door had a bit of 'spring' to it closing it the last inch and shut. I imagine this is because of the thickness of the metal. There is nothing skimpy or thin about anything here. My back door installed fine, but due to the way the home builder did the hole for the door tongue enters the latch plate, I had to dremels some of the metal out to get a smooth door closure The door frame would move when it became really cold or warm requiring some more careful dremeling so it worked in all temperatures due to the frame of the door shifting/swelling? Once finished, the door tongue goes into the hole in the latch plate fine. As with the other door, there is a bit of spring when closing it the last inch or less. I think if someone wanted to kick my door in, they;d damage their feet before they got the door open. Nothing is going to splinter or give way. I recommend this product, and if I ever buy a new house, these wil g in right away.

I bought a Door armor max and installed it with no issue on my front door with Schlage oversized electronic door lock. It was a standard metal door in a standard frame and I had the entire thing done in an hour. It would have installed quicker but I dont really know what I'm doing when it comes to stuff like this, so it always takes longer than it should at first. Also I had some serious issues with the specialty bit they supplied to drive in the large screws. Thats one of the things I took a half star off for. The bit lasted 3 screws, then warped in a spiral. After that I decided to pre drill the screw holes. Luckily I had an extra bit that was the same size in my garage and I was able to finish the door. My first impression was it install easy, the bit supplied sucked and the metal seemed bendy. Still theres no doubt it reinforced my door so I went on amazon to buy 3 more. What I ended up doing was buying another Max, 1 mini, and 1 door reinforcement product from another company. It was less than half price and looked very similar to the door armor mini. I left a review for that kit on amazon yesterday. It was indeed cheaper and the metal looked 50% thicker than the door armor kits, but the sizing was weird. I tried the other 3 doors that I wanted to armor up and each would have taken modifications that I'm just not willing to do. I set that other kit into the corner. The day after that kit arrived my door armor mini was delivered. I just installed that on my side door. The mini worked perfectly because I really had no space to install hinge jambs anyways. I had that full kit installed AND I screwed in 4" screws in all the hinges in less than a half hour (I do learn as I go along). I didnt have to make any door modifications (standard door, oversized deadbolt), it went quick and smooth. My only complaint was that little bit they supplied. I learned my lesson after last time and I used a sharpie to mark holes and pre drilled each and every hole. Still I only made it about half way through the screws before I had to use my old garage bit again. I'm still awaiting the 2nd max I ordered but I dont anticipate any issues with it. I have to wonder about the special bit and the screws with the oddly shaped screw hole. At first I thought that it was oddly shaped so that the screws wouldn't be stolen (like lug nut locks or something). Then I realized I could only be so lucky as to have a burger break my door down and then spend a twenty minutes taking the screws out of the door to steal my $90 reinforcement kit. No, I dont think thats the reason. So I have to wonder, whats up with the funky screws and the weird weak bit. I have dozens of phillips head bits, none of them ever twisted like that bit. I've driven 4" screws into wood with a phatty phillips head bit. I just dont understand. Had I not been able to find a similar size star bit in my garage I would have had to stop installation and this review it certainly read more angry. Anyways, Its a good kit. Worth the elevated price over the competition since it fits each of my doors and the competitions one didnt. Just make sure to drill out all your holes and maybe purchase a selection of star bits if / when yours twists. I plan on buying 1 last mini kit for my final door.

Product: I purchased this product after buying a house that has a back door that opens directly in to one of the bedrooms. I wanted to reinforce the door frame for peace of mind knowing it could not be kicked in since the back of the house is relatively out of sight for someone to easily do so otherwise. I am very pleased with this product. The metal is very thick and solid. Having the option of multiple color finishes was nice to be able to match the color of the door to blend well. Even if the color didn’t blend, fully installed, it doesn’t stand out much anyway. (Pics below are in an unfinished room and of an unpainted door so it is deceptively noticeable). Installation was relatively easy, with one exception. The 9/64” drill bit you will need to screw the plates in (not included) needs to be much longer than the regular length bits you can find readily available at a local hardware store. Since the screws are so long and thick, they tend to bind and not be able to be screwed in fully unless you buy an abnormally long drill bit for your pilot holes. I purchased a “Bosch BL2636 Black Oxide Drill Bit, 9/64 Inch by 6 Inch;” also on Amazon and it worked out great with a little muscle. After getting the proper drill bit, installation only took about 30 minutes, moving at a slow pace. Packaging: The pieces came in a long box and were wrapped well in padding and plastic; so much so that it could have been thrown around in a delivery truck at the metal pieces probably wouldn’t have been scoffed in the slightest. Overall I am happy with this purchase and would recommend it for the price. From the research online I had done beforehand, it is about $20 to $40 less expensive than most other products that are comparable. After full installation and inspection, I am confident that it greatly enhanced the security and strength of the door. I will be purchasing again for other entryways in the future.

I have installed these kits on all three of my exterior doors including a French door. The French door application was a little creative. Overall the product is easy to pretty easy to install. On my front door I had to pound the beveled lip a little more flat as the deadbolt hole was a little farther back than the lip allowed for. After flattening the lip the installation went smooth. Keep in mind you will need at least 1/16th of a gap between the door and door frame for this to fit without rubbing. For the hinge side protectors you will need a bit of a gap within the hinge itself for the protector to fit and still allow the door to close unhindered. One of the biggest pros to this whole system is that it blends in with the door and door frame very well. So friends and family will never notice this security device unlike some unsightly door stopper type devices. On my French door I installed the strike plate portion on the top of the door frame, so the dead door side post goes through the strike plate at the top. Before this was just a hole drilled into the door frame wood with no strike plate at all. I had to make a minor modification to get this to work. I then installed one hinge protector each door and then sunk some 3 1/2 inch screws into the remaining hinges. This is probably the weakest of my doors but is a lot stronger now. While I am not willing to give my door a good kick to see if the product works. The overall build quality has given me confidence that this product has truly made getting through my exterior doors a pain in the butt for intruders and will give me extra time to respond to the threat. This is a great product and I recommend them to anyone looking to beef up their door security with an easy to install good looking product.

Our leaders have made it clear that criminal activity is ok, so I'm strengthening my home. Got a lot more ammo too, but that's another review. Anyway, I installed this on our front door in about 20 minutes. It's solid now. Had to laugh at the tiny screws that held in the existing striker plate. An 8 year old girl could kick those out. Now, of course, if someone wants in bad enough, they will find a way in. But this will stop the punks looking for a quick entry. I feel so good about this, I'm getting another one for the side door. 2 small cons: 1) It's great that they supplied a torx bit, but it's not robust. It sheered off in the head of the 2nd screw. Fortunately I had one (because I'm a man) and used it to complete the job. 2) Mrs. Stain isn't thrilled about how much shows. I don't mind it but she doesn't like it on the front door. Here's what you see when the door is closed...2 little plates next to the knob and the dead bolt (these actually show on the outside too), a little strip about 4 feet long on the striker side frame, and 2 little strips on each side of the middle and lower hinge. She'll get over it.

We moved in to a new house recently, and I decided the exterior door hardware needed to be upgraded. The strike plates and hinges were attached with 1/2” long screws, which is ridiculous but seems to be common on newer houses. Basically we had privacy doors, one good kick would probably be enough to pop them open. After looking at some options I decided to try the Door Armor product. I initially ordered one set to try installing on the side door going out of the garage, because I wanted to try it out on a door where we weren’t really worried about appearance (which my wife was particularly concerned about). Shipping was prompt and the product arrived well packaged and in good condition. One note about that, the long (40”) door jamb reinforcement piece appeared slightly curved but it turned out the metal is pliable enough that it flattened down just fine when screwed into the door jamb. Installation was relatively straightforward and trouble free. I would say this job requires basic handyman skills. The first set I installed took about an hour, but that included gathering up tools and beer breaks, ha ha. There are a couple of things you need to be really careful about though. First is getting everything lined up properly, and marking where the screws go in with some precision. This is where a helper can be handy. The second thing is DRILL DEEP ENOUGH PILOT HOLES FOR THE SCREWS. Sorry to yell with all caps but this part is really important. These are long (3.5 inch) screws, and only 1/8” diameter. Without good pilot holes there is a pretty good chance of breaking the screws or stripping out the head when trying to drive them in. The first set I installed I only had a standard length drill bit that would only go in maybe 2”, and getting the screws driven all the way down got a little sketchy. For the second set I bought a 6” long bit, it cost $3.00 and I highly recommend it for this project. Once installed, the only thing that can be seen from outside with the door closed is the pieces that go over the edge of the door to protect the lock sets. With the door open the large jamb plate and the hinge reinforcement plates can be seen, but they are not obtrusive or ugly. The color we got matched our door hardware pretty well. When my wife saw what it looked like on the garage side door, she gave me permission to install this on our front door, so I have now installed two sets. I feel a lot better now knowing that if someone wants to break in through our exterior doors they will probably need to bring a battering ram or a sledgehammer instead of just kicking it once or twice.

I love this product and I recommend it to people in real life a lot. If you install it, you'll feel safer and rightfully so. As mentioned in many comments here, there are few weak points on a door, and this system addresses them pretty well. I installed this on two similar doors in my house. There are a few problems still: 1. The screws. The length is great, the matching paint is great. The problem is that you can't really drill a hole that long and then you run into the problem of damaging the screw heads. If you're unlucky, you can get stuck with a screw sticking out of your door frame. 2. The long piece's corners sticking out. On one of my doors, this wasn't a problem. On the other door (or with the other Armor instance), the edges stick out as you tighten the screws. I guess I should do what someone said here: drill a new hole to line up the edges better. 3. Incompatibility with the usual door handle strike-plate. The problem is that the normal strike plate for the angled bolt of your door handle has a lip so that the bolt closes easily. Now, that lip doesn't fit under the lip of the long piece of the Armor. You have two options. You either remove that piece and have to give a little push to your door each time you want to close the deadbolt, or you have to be creative. I didn't expect this problem on the first door I installed the armor on, and I had to come up with a strike plate after the fact. For the second door, it was "easy": I sawed off the lip of the original strike plate and put it back behind the Armor. I really think this "lipless" strike plate should come with the set as you can't get any in a normal hardware store. Again, if you have a wood door, I encourage you to buy the Armor but get ready for some issues to overcome.

This is great purchase if there's an entrance that needs a little but more security. We had a door that wasn't visible from the road around the side of the house that we felt could use some extra security. The install took 20 minutes, and added substantial strength to the door. with longer screws and more metal to disperse and impact/force it adds confidence and another layer of protection! I'm really happy!

Love this product. It actually works. Someone trying to break into my house. The deadbolt lock bent and jammed the door from opening. Door Reinforcement Set actually stopped the person from breaking in. You have know idea how happy I am to find this product.

Great product, huge security improvement. Easy to install. Wish there was a way to adjust the strike location after install but just make sure it’s bang on when you mark holes for drilling as you can’t adjust in and out after install. Mine was close but seal on door has tiny gap that air blows in as result.

I am very happy with my purchase. I'm the new owner of a new house that had it's garage door kicked in while the house was inhabited. It goes to show how easy a normal door is to force open. I was looking to beef up my garage door and with the Door Armor installed I feel confident this will not happen again. Installation was easy; the hardest part was to remove and reinstall sections of weather stripping in the door frame ( needed for cold Canadian winters ). The screws provided are long and adds strength to secure the door. Didn't even need to pre-drill holes. I did purchase another one to install on my front door, and I also installed a patio door security bar. If you are looking for a simple way to beef up home security and keep intruders out, this item works great!

Excellent product. Hubby had to make some adjustments with the door jamb but in the end it went in perfectly. The screws holding the hinges on were barely 1 1/2 inches. The new screws are 3 + inch long and certainly make the door much more secure. You don't have to be an ace carpenter to install this. A very good investment & provides peace of mind. Highly recommend.