Hillmandj's guide to repairing interior door handles (Pics)

hillmandj

Guest
I decided to redo my interior door handles as they were looking really shabby as you can see from the picture.


First remove the top part by inserting a screwdriver behind the plastic trim and carefully twisting/ levering until the clips pop out (if you move the screwdriver around the plastic trim you can feel where they are- this way you wont snap any!!)


once clips are all pooped out you can get your fingers behind and wiggle/ slide out, also you need to have the door handle pulled out to remove the top one.


Now do exactly the same on the bottom part of the trim, be a little more careful, as this one is a little harder to remove without snapping the clips, (if you happen to brake one it shouldn't really matter to much so long as you don't brake too many!!)


Now, removing the electric switches, This is really simple, just insert a small flat screwdriver down one side and sort of move outwards until you feel the switch click out of place, then just pull out.



Now its time to remove all of the horrible rubber coating, i removed mine by using fairlly rough sandpaper, its quite an annoying long job. Once all of this is removed you need to keep sanding until the plastic is smooth and there is no rubber and no scratch's in the plastic. (I spent about 2 hours sanding, the more effort you put in here, the better the finished job will look- so dont rush) Finishing with some wet/ dry.


Once completlly sanded down, give a quick wash with warm water and dry off with clean cloth, now ready for paint. You can undercoat if you like, i never bothered with undercoat, i just put a nice few coats of paint direct( i used Matt black)

The painted product!


Now ready to put back in, firstly insert the switches, these just simply push back in.


Then push the bottom part back in first, if you just line the plastic trim into position, then press down to push in all the clips, you can feel when they are all in.


The finished project. I personally think these look so much better now, i wasnt sure about the been black but now ive done them i love them.



A really simple job, that makes so much different, the more time you spend sanding and painting the better the finish will be, just experiment if the paint only lasts a couple of month's then there's no harm in trying again, Try different paints or undercoats!

All you need:
Screwdriver (Flat)
Smaller screwdriver (Flat)
Sandpaper(Various inc wet/dry)
Undercoat (Optional)
Sparypaint (try differant ones) i just used ordinary one!!


Hope this help to people with same problems!
 

hillmandj

Guest
thanks guys.....

You doing some colour coding or just your window switches?
 
Good guide!

I bought new handles / handle inners from the dealership, but they turned up scratched a bit (even though they were sealed new and everything!) - waited so long for them I couldn't be bothered to take them back!

Literally, I think you only have to look at those handles and they scratch - good job yours will last MUCH longer than the ones that come stock.

(You should get people to send their handles etc to you, do the same job you done on yours - I know i'd pay!)
 

sirjimalot

JIM-MAN
Aug 10, 2005
534
0
County Durham
TIP: Use thinners to remove all the rubbery coating, literally takes minutes. then prep for paint,but dont use to much cause it makes the plastic soft!
 

hillmandj

Guest
Just the window switches LED mate, Im working on a tutorial to do most of the interior led changes

Ahhh, this will be good, ill keep an eye out for this, i bet it will look well nice after there all done.
 

hillmandj

Guest
ahhh quality mate... glad it turned out out... makes so much difference dont ya think??? unlucky about cracking the plastic.... yeah make sure you get the pics up.... :)
 

Martyn1989

Active Member
Jul 22, 2009
55
0
Cheers for the guide, I think I'll give this a go tomorrow.

I'll post some pictures up in a few days if all goes well.
 

Martyn1989

Active Member
Jul 22, 2009
55
0
Pictures as promised...

img1614h.jpg


img1613r.jpg


img1615z.jpg


I'm quite pleased with the outcome to be honest :)
 
Progressive Parts, performance parts and tuning specialists