alright. ive blacked out almost every piece of chrome on my car except for these damn door handles!

from the searches ive done, everybody says its a b!tch to take off the handles and paint afterwords. has anybody painted the door handles while they're still on the car? and if so, how did it come out looking?

 

Mask, spray plasti-dip, score around the edge with xacto knife, unmask, done. Looks great, easy, quick, easy to re-do if every needed, won't chip, texture matches the black plastic trim.

 

Whats the best way to mask? Masking tape? Painters Tape?

 

yeah i had to take off my handles to put in checkered flag ones. fml. will never do that task again. it took me and my dad a good 4 hours from start to finish. and the day before we tried for about an hour n a half and failed. we eventually had to drill a hole in the door metal under the door panel itself to unscrew and tighten the old and new handles. definitley just paint them while theyre on it

 

Hmmm. What if I try to paint them with krylon fusion glossy paint? I kno there is a higher chance of chipping but I previously painted my gas cap and side scuttled with this stuff

 

Lyle (Vinyl Styles) can wrap em up for ya. Two years on mine and they still look perfect.

 

i did it on my car... while on it... actually turned out very well... that was last year and all... i'll get some of the pics.....

 

thanks for the info guys.
that would be awesome if you could get some pics up dunphyj. i'de appreciate it. your car looks amazing btw

also, any info on how to get the damn power washers off without chipping/breaking the plastic pins that theyre hooked on?

 

I dipped mine like Blimey Said. but may be wrapping them in Dry Carbon Fiber, and doing it while still on my car.

Removing them is a real bi'atch.

The key to using dip is:

Light coats,
Not in direct sunlight
Get around the inside corners best you can as you are essentially making your own spray on wrap, it sort of helps to prevent peeling at the edges.
Be careful when removing the tape......it bonds to that as well and will peel up as you pull tape off :(

 

I am manning up buying a set having them painted then putting them on. Someone decide my MINI handle was their door stop and dented the crap ot of mine. I still haven't decided if I want them white or blue like the car.

 

how much does the dealer charge to install new handles? -they do offer checkered, flag, etc... -they also may have some quick tips on how to remove and install?

 

Nothing quick about this job -- you have to remove the glass to get to the handle. The real trick is to re-install the glass, getting aligned with the door and the window dipper working again, no small feat, but it can be done with time and patience.

 

Not necessarily. I followed the DIY instructions posted by onionjello and was able to swap out the handles without removing the windows. I should note that amazingrando was who posted the final steps in his Remove/Install Exterior Door Handles post.

It took about 2hrs per door, some sweat, and some blood, but it was do-able as a solo-project.

 

Being in the bodyshop business and having 3 coopers in my shop right now, I DREAD the door handles. What a PIA.

My suggestion to anyone that is painting them make sure you remove them.

Though I don't know how you plasti dip handles while on the car (does it come in a spray now? or does it come with a really HUGE container to turn the mini on it's side and therefore allow you to dip the entire car? ) but I think if you try to scuff and paint the handles, chances are you'll start to see them flake at some point.

I personally would wrap them before removing them sonsabitches.

If you do paint them, make sure you sand them well with a scotch brite pad (I borrowed a special one from a guy that had them custom made... they actually scuff the chrome) and then acid etch them before applying primer or paint.

My .02 worth....


Mark

 

If yopu have patience then order the plastic covers from Aesthetic Creations. It will take a while but they are pretty decent quality. I had mine painted at a body shop and came out pretty good.

 

That's what Dave did.

 

...this is definitely the next mod for me ...trying decide which path to take w/ this. My gut is telling me to do it right and take them off, sand and paint.

 

Hey Eric, if you're gonna paint them anyway, you ever think about going body color for the door handles? Whichever way you go, good luck!

 

If you paint, then there is no going back. I did all my black out with plasta-dip, as it was the fastest, cost efective way and have the door handels on order from AC. Over time I will replace it all with the molded parts and my wife will never notice.

Jim

 

-since the rest of my trim has gone black and not body color I am going to make my door handles black as well. -thanks for the good luck wishes!

Yes, and i've already painted the rest of my trim (headlight rings, joey mod, gas cap, tail light rings, etc) ...and have not regretted that decision in 1.5 years since painting those items. What I like about painting vs plasti-dip is that I can get a gloss black which matches my grill surround, mirrors and roof ...plasti-dip is too flat looking for my tastes on my car.

So, I am definitely doing the door handles. I bought paint and am all ready to go. I may begin tomorrow. My plan is to mask real well and do the job w/ the handles on the car. I spoke a guy who has lot's of automotive paint experience, his feeling was that it would be fine w/o removing provided I do a really good mask job and prep everything. He didn't think it would flake, etc.. ...so going to give it a try.

 

My covers from AC arrived yesterday (month) and fit perfectly. They did not need the black out tape they provuded. This is the best way to go IMHO.

Jim

 

are your covers flat black or gloss black, ....since all my trim is gloss black I am hesitant to put flat black covers on. According to their site they don't sell the covers in gloss anymore. -Glad you got your covers in only a month!

 

I normally order from AC and then forget about it until the items arrive. Their quality is top notch and I can trust that. Their items only make my car "look" better not "run" better, so there is really no rush. I have a mix. The grill, head light and tail light chrome is flat and the belt line is gloss. You really can't tell looking at the car at all so my new covers are flat. I believe if you put Armorall on them they would look gloss.

Jim

 

...hmmm, would love to see a photo? ...I am going to go ahead and paint a gloss black and IF that doesn't work out for some un-forseen reason, then i'll take the paint off and put a set of AC flat black covers over. -sounds like a good plan?

 

..so far I've had great success painting all my parts gloss black with enamel automotive spray paint. ...only trouble I ran into was w/ my joey mod, yet got that resolved. (wasn't a paint issue so much as a masking tape issue, yet all is fixed).