powder coating door handles
 

So my daughter's all-black 2009 Touring just had some gorgeous new 19" gunmetal wheels installed (still waiting for center caps), and now the only shiny bits left to spoil the stealth look are the door handles. I already asked my body shop how much to remove and replace these, and located a great powder-coat company, but not sure if they're suitable for powder-coating. If they are, I'm sure we're not the first to do this. Photos? Thanks.

Look up member ZCarMan, he's got blacked out door handles on his blacked out Z. :)

can you powder coat plastic? :confused: i would check with Mike the powdercoater.

i think you need to paint it.

True, paint.

I had mine painted, and I'm a powdercoater. You can coat some plastics, and I do some underhood stuff, but it needs a special application process and has to be able to not melt at 375 degrees, so I didn't want to try it with mine.

You'll need to paint it.

B@t

id vote for paint man.... the door handles go through much less stress anyways.... no heat or risk of debris hitting them since they were so far up.... if it where wheels we were talking about... id say powdercoat all the way.... :tup:

Hydrographics is an option.

Mine were painted. They matched the paint perfectly.

http://i1232.photobucket.com/albums/...terProfile.jpg

Plasti-Dip baby.

ftw

I will add though, that if anyone wants to be a guinea pig and risk their handles to the heat, I would be more than happy to powdercoat them for free, so we can see if they can be done.

I does have 2 sets....

When I had my wheels powdercoated, they told me they couldn't do the door handles because they would melt... But I would be interested in the results ,lol

thats my stock answer too, but until you try, you never really know. Like, I know for a fact that the intake manifold and fuel rail covers from a corvette can be powdercoated. The intake bridge and other plastic covers can't, and melt at around 250. The valve covers and intake manifold from a VQ35HR can be powdercoated. The engine cover from a 350Z melts at 220.

Corvette wheel centercaps can be powdercoated, Nissan can't.

When coating plastics, its all trial and error.

I had my 350z handles painted and they held up for the 7 years of owning it. The only issue when you paint the handles is when the handle is closed it hides the back/underside of the handle so when they paint it make sure they spray inside there too.

If you dont know what i mean when you open your handle you will see a small spot underneath that if the handle was painted laying normal this spot would not get sprayed....

Mike, i can bring a set of door handles over sometime if you'd wanna try.

Sure!

Chris said hes comin over some sat to do his S bar. ill prolly make it out same time then.

:tup:

B@t™

we'll find out if they melt on saturday!

Did they melt?

I ended up not making it out there fella's. sorry. I'll talkt o mike about going another time.

What is the going rate for painting a pair of door handles? I will remove them and take them to the painter to save some time.

I was quoted at $400 for removal, prep, and paint and then reinstall. Seemed kinda high so I didn't do it, I'll jus remove them and have them painted.

Jus to give you an idea. I'm sur there's better deals to be had... :tiphat:

I removed mine myself and had them painted for $95.

Baker did mine. It was part of all the other work done, but I think it was $200.

I paid 395 for removal, paint and reinstall of my door handles and taillights when I got the car.