...project paint door handles black is under way.
coat of primer is on, ...will send photos once I get one door handle done.

 

Finished the passenger side, going to start on the drivers side tomorrow evening, ....then wait a week or so to let everything dry really good then wash the entire car.

My assesment of the passenger side is this, had I taken it to a body shop, had them remove the handles and spray everything proffesionally the results would be a 10. Not taking off the handles and masking and painting myself i'd say the results are a solid 9 to 9.5. It came our really nice, ...i think to anyone looking at my car they'd look perfect, ...it's only if you get up really close and really study the handle that you can see some overlap of paint on the rubber molding, ...i did remove all of this w/ an exacto and small pointed awls (I think they are called awls). I like the results and am going to move on to the driver side ...will post lot's of photos as soon as I am done.

as far as durability, ...hard to tell, ..thinking that a molded cover would be most durable? ..paint can be scracthed and dented especially on a door handle? ...yet I dont' see this peeling or flaking.

I do LOVE the way my gloss black passenger door handle matches the gloss black mirrors and roof of my car.

 

Can't wait to see the pics man. I'm sure they look great!

I wanted to make a comment regarding durability when using vinyl. At least from my experience with Lyle's work on my front grill surrounds and headlight rings, I drove 400+ miles on I-5 and I heard lots of rocks hitting the front of my car which made me cringe. But when I got to my destination and checked everything out, the only thing it needed was a good scrub down to get all the dead bugs off. The vinyl held up like a champ.

 

hey Silhouette, ...just noticed in your sig that it says "blacked out by Vinyl Styles" ....did you have Lyle black out your door handles? -if so, in black or CF to match the scuttles?

just curious.

 

okay, as promised photos!

overall I love the way this looks, ...the black just seems to match the rest of my car so much better than the chrome handles did. Ideally it would have been best to remove the handles and then paint, but that would have been a PITA and was unsure that i'd be able to actually remove and put everything back together the way it came from the factory ...i hate removing interior body panels and such, ...they never seem to fit right when you put them back and some piece of plastic always seems to get damaged.

SO,
I painted w/o removing, just masking on outside. My car is still really dirty and I don't plan on washing for a week or so until the handles have a change to really harden.

...here are some closeup images ...the only area that didn't come out idea is where the paint meets the rubber trim. In most areas it came out perfect, yet in a few areas there was some overlap of paint ...in removing the overlap (w/ exacto and small pointed awl) I scuffed up the rubber trim. -once everything is cured I will see if some black wow or something will better blend the rubber trim. -it's only in one area and actually I didn't notice it until I looked at these photos. Looking at the car the handles look perfect in my opinion. If you study the handles really close you can see some flaws. -Yet minor in my opinion. Oh, some of the dust and artifacts on my handles is just that, dust and dirt. Like I said I really don't want to touch them until they really cure for a week. -I'd hate to make a finger impression or something!

 

..more photos

 

Those handles came out awesome. I wish when we got our Chili Red with the black top/mirror caps last month that the handles would have been black as well. I guess it doesn't matter now. My wife has gone nuts with the Union Jack theme so the mirror caps have been changed and the car is at BMW this morning getting the Union Jack door handles put on.

Thanks to this website I didn't even attempt to change the door handles myself. Funny thing is though I ask them how much they are going to charge me for this and the SA says 105 Euros. So I inquire about the oil changes as we don't get free oil changes in Germany and he said bring your own oil and it would be about 70 Euros. So let's see a 10 minute oil change is 70 Euros and 4 hours of door handles is "only" 105 Euros? I just agreed and left my car.

 

Great job on the painting! Having just painted my scuttles, definitely don't handle the "handles" for 3 or 4 days...a week is better. Even though the paint is dry to the touch, it still hasn't cured and can smudge...I made this mistake 3 times while trying to wetsand my scuttles!

On my R53, I had painted the handles professionally and they lasted about 2 years before beginning to chip and need some touchup. Vinyl is certainly more durable, but paint looks great!

 

no vinyl shop in my area does door handles

 

haha i made that mistake by changing the door handles. i took on the job with my dad to change from the chrome handles to checkered. the job took at least 3 hours. it was a paain in the A$$. we got them off easy but having to reach into the little inside of the door and hook on this tiny hook like piece to a little spot was the worst. eventually my dad drilled a hole in the side of the door where the rubber flap covers and we fished a line through there and got it. never doing that again.

 

Thanks, I am very pleased with how they turned out. Yes, I've too screwed up paint jobs by either wet sanding too quickly or clear coating too quick. It's been a week of curing in very HOT weather here. ...I am going to a car show (entering my MINI) in 2 weeks, so will finish the handles after the show (sand and clear coat) ...that will be a total of 3 weeks cure time, ..that should be good. ...taking them off would be ideal, yet what a pain in the butt.

Yeah, I may go that route at some point, ...i'd sand these back to metal then have them wrapped. Yet having them wrapped I was quoted $325. Wrapping them is an option if I want at some point. I can always sand the paint back to metal and have them wrapped!

 

Good luck in the show, hope you place!

 

i bought the plastic dip spray can and is it normal thta the first spray is very thin as if u did not spray at all? how many layers do i have to do it?

 

I did my headlight rings,gas cap,scuttles and door handles today, 6 coats on each, the first coat was very thin, almost like water. I had no runs, the headlight rings were the hardest to do, the door handles were pretty easy as was the gas cap. Not sure how long they will hold up, but I am planning on a total paint job next spring so I am ok with the way it came out and also if it does not hold up to well.

 

i think i iwll just buy it from there... heheh..

does anyone know what they mean by standard and no keyhole( 2 passenger)??? mine is a 2005 mcs conv with no keyhole on my door handle..


Standard Door Handle Cover Set

Includes black out trim

$60/Set

options: standard/ no keyhole ( 2 passenger)

http://www.aestheticreations.net/moldedparts.htm

 

did u spray the door handle when its on the car or u took it off?

 

Do it on the car...removing the handles and putting them back is extremely time consuming and frustrating.

As far as painting goes, I used up about 3/4 of a can for my gas cap and headlight rings. I started off by dusting them and just kept spraying more every 15 minutes or so throughout the day. Probably ended up with 20 or more coats on the headlight rings and gas cover. Make sure to cover everything. The edges are prone to peeling, so cover it well.

For the door handles the difficulty will be in masking around it. When you spray the Plastidip, it will adhere to the masking tape, and as you remove the tape, it lifts the Plastidip too, so you have to carefully cut it free with an Xacto.

Richard

 

-Thanks, you can bet I won't place, there are some very extreme MINI's and Mini's there (I entered last year). I go to have fun and show support for the Mini club I am in (Redwood Empire Mini's). -our club is invited to participate in the show every year, ...they actually pay each participant w/ $150 in gift certificates. It's a great opportunity to geek out on Mini stuff! I did get quite a few compliments at the show last year. ..wish you could join ..maybe next year?

YES, after painting the handles, I VERY CAREFULLY cut right at the edge where the handle meets the rubber grommet around the handle. If you cut over the rubber or too far in on the handle that would be bad, ...you've got to cut right at the edge. (I am assuming paint and not plasti-dip ..as I am not experience using plasti-dip). If anyone wants I can take some realy closeup shots of where the paint meets the rubber on my handles, ..just let me know and i'll post some.

 

Standard handles have a key hole on the drivers side and no keyhole on teh passenger side.

No Key hole have no key holes on both sides, ...I believe this is if you have the "comfort access" option of door handle.

just check if you have a key hole on your driver side, if yes, then you have standard doors.

..by the way, the covers look nice, and if my paint doesn't hold up I will be getting some, ..yet really wanted to paint mine black to get a gloss look and also wanted them done in time for the car show I am attending next week (the covers had a 3-4 month wait time). ..that would put me at about Christmas! -would be a nice gift though.

 

how muhc of a area do u have to cover up when u spary the door handle? i dun wan to see lot of very tiny black dots all over my car...

 

Depends on how windy the area you are painting in is. If you are worried, just get some cheap plastic drop cloths from Home Depot and cover the car. I mean you probably only need to do the door and window, and maybe slightly in front and to the rear if you can spray it so you only get the handle without much overspray, but throwing a drop cloth over the whole thing will ensure you have no issues.

 

If I wasn't going on vacation I'd totally go, but next year should be doable. Maybe next year I'll save up enough money to get a JCW aero kit and we can enter in the identical twins category.

 

I just saw this post, sorry for not answering sooner. I ran out of mod-money the month I went down to Lyle's so I didn't get the handles done. It's on my to-do list for next month. I was leaning towards black but I'm going to ask him for some sample pics of CF to see what that'd look like. Gloss black is dope though.

 

Gas cap was the only thing I removed, rings, door handles and scuttles were done on the car in ny garage. I covered the area with towels, and then used the scotch blue painters tape, worked perfect was actualy able to re use the tape as I did one door at a time, I did an area about 9 or 10 inches around the handles, no over spray at all, the plasti dip is pretty easy to work with.
I also used a high wattage shop flood light to help with the drying.