The other day one of my license plate bulbs burned out, so I picked up a replacement. When removing the bulb cover from the boot handle, the plastic of the handle that holds the bulb cover in place broke. Now the bulb cover will not go back on securely.

Are boot handles all one piece, or is the trim (body color, chrome, carbon) a separate part? I'd like to keep my existing body-color trim and just replace the "meat" of the boot handle where the plastic broke, but I don't see boot handles broken down like that on realoem (though some images look like the piece is just trim).

I ask in here rather than the stock problems forum because I figure you folks are more in tune with the particulars of something frequently replaced/modified like a boot handle.

 

Although in reality I am sure it is different pieces I don't think you can purchase the pieces.

It may be glued together so that it will not come apart but you might be able to get the cheaper primed unit and then pop it apart and put your painted part on the new inner pieces.

If you are close to a dealer go in and see if they have one that you can look at and see if it can come apart.

 

If you can separate your painted trim from the guts you could try a local junkyard - maybe they have something with cosmetic damage that you could buy to use for its guts.

 

The boot handle is easy to remove (4 torx screws + 1 electrical connector). If it were me, I'd remove it and see if you can repair the damage (jbweld or a stainless screw etc.) before I bought a new handle (about $100).

 

For something like this, I think I'd rather throw $100 at a proper replacement than spend time experimenting or junk yard diving. My main concern that lead to the question was having to get a new body-color handle and finding it didn't match the rest of the car because it hadn't been exposed to the southern Arizona sun for 3 years.

According to the parts department, boot handles are ordered as one, but the trim is not attached. So I figure I'll pick up a chrome boot handle (actually cheaper than a primed one ), replace the guts, and have my pick of the original body-colored trim or shiny chrome.

Too bad the carbon handle is so expensive.

 

I'd glue the tag lens back into the handle, and worry about it later.