Door Handle Easy and reversible Mod

[XPLRTHIS]

Would like to know also how difficult it was to do the grille? Did you remove it prior to laying the plasti dip or did you just mask off the front end? Handles also, how do they hold up?

 

[PHOTOGRAPHER]

/\ Id be interested in knowing about this as well.

I definitely want to do this. A step by step for plastidipping the door handles, front grille and back bar would be awesome.

Thanks.

 

[2013 White Sport]

I'm Plasti dipping my Sport handles right now (on coat 3). I took some pictures and will post when I finish. Based on others advice, I AM spraying the back of the handles (as best I can) to avoid creating a lip for the plasti dip to begin to peel. I do have the 402A package with the touch sensitive door handles, but they still worked when I masked over them to test with the painters tape, so I am not expecting any issues with that.

 

[QwikEVO]

Whatever designer thought chrome door handles were a great idea needs to be drug behind the shed and put to pasture.

Why couldn't we have had color-matched handles?

Or even on the Sport, where damn near everything is blacked out...couldn't we have had black handles?

 

[DefinitiveCars]

Has anyone priced out getting black handles from ford? Im assuming that there are black handles even with the 402A on non sport models?

I am not happy at all with how mine are holding up over the past week. I sprayed the backs as well as I could, but it just peeled right away for me.

I am going to try one more time, but after that, the handles are coming off and getting sprayed for real.

D

 

[QwikEVO]

I don't think the black handles come on anything but the base models...so they wouldn't have the touch sensors...

 

[2013 White Sport]

I'm Plasti dipping my Sport handles right now (on coat 3). I took some pictures and will post when I finish. Based on others advice, I AM spraying the back of the handles (as best I can) to avoid creating a lip for the plasti dip to begin to peel. I do have the 402A package with the touch sensitive door handles, but they still worked when I masked over them to test with the painters tape, so I am not expecting any issues with that.

Here are a couple of pics of my Plasti-Dipped handles:

First coat:

Masking:

Close up of driver's door:

Finished Product:

The drivers door was the toughest to mask, and when I removed the masking for in the keyhole, it did peel against the sticker I used for masking a bit. The peeling was just at the edge inside the keyhole so I doubt it will be an issue, but think I will try a bit of thinner on a Q-tip to smooth the edge and seal it.

The masking around the push-button for locking the door is not centered (at least on my Explorer). One side has a larger gap than the other (larger gap is on the side of the button closest to the engine). One the larger gap side, the masking is easy and I had no issues when removing the masking. However, on one small gap side, I had a tougher time removing the masking, and it did want to peel so I used an exacto knife.

I'll see how they hold up over the coming weeks. It also has not been above 50 degrees since I did them last night, so not sure how well it has cured yet, but did not have any issues using my handle today.

 

[DefinitiveCars]

Looks good. I am going to do mine again this weekend. I found it hard to get a nice even coat, but I think it was that I wasent cleaning the nossle between coats.

D

 

[2013 White Sport]

Looks good. I am going to do mine again this weekend. I found it hard to get a nice even coat, but I think it was that I wasent cleaning the nossle between coats.

D

I would try again. I put on 7 coats, and cleaned the nossle before applying each coat (hold can upside down and spray for ~5 seconds & also wipe the tip).

I'm putting on my HIDs tomorrow, and added the shark fin last week. I'm really liking it.

 

[DefinitiveCars]

Wow, you did 7 coats! It seemed that after 4 coats mine got too thick and started clumping up in certain areas. I was honestly going to go with less coats this time, like 3. I also thought that less coats would be less of a difference from the dip to the plastic back of thhandle. I feel like a lot of coats made a ridge back there that my hand pulls on when opening the door...

Also, the shark fin mod have jheard about. Im going to search for a link now. I'm assuming you guys are just replacing the antenna with a fin. Great idea.

Thoughts?

 

[JarHead1833]

Looks great! Did you happen to spray behind the handles?

I used 4-5 coats. Mine are holding up well but I do have a slight peel starting on the rear door (daughters door). I will be fixing that soon.

 

[2013 White Sport]

Wow, you did 7 coats! It seemed that after 4 coats mine got too thick and started clumping up in certain areas. I was honestly going to go with less coats this time, like 3.

I would suggest if you can cover the door handles in 3 coats, you are applying the coats too thick. Each of my coats was as thin as the first - basically a 2 count to spray from left-to-right (or right-to-left), three times on each coat. First pass was angled downward from the top. Second pass was straight on (main part of door handle) and the third was angled up - to cover the bottom.

I also thought that less coats would be less of a difference from the dip to the plastic back of thhandle. I feel like a lot of coats made a ridge back there that my hand pulls on when opening the door...

If you can feel a ridge from the Plasti-Dip you definitely applied too much. You should be able to see how thick the finish is by your peel (assuming you didn't mask all the way to the handle).

Looks great! Did you happen to spray behind the handles?

Once I got to coat 4, I started adding another pass from top to bottom in the center of the handle to try to cover the back of the handle as best I could. It's very hard to spray back there, but on mine it looks like it has the equivalent of 2 or 3 coats on the back of the handle.

Also, the shark fin mod have heard about. Im going to search for a link now. I'm assuming you guys are just replacing the antenna with a fin. Great idea.

Thoughts?

The shark fin is the antenna replacement for the stock antenna. It was $81 shipped (from Visual Garage) and color matched to your vehicle. They are all custom made, so it may takes a couple of weeks to get it, but I ordered mine on the 10th and received it on the 21st. It's super easy to install (maybe 15 minutes - most of which is prep work). It looks great, and I have noticed no reception difference or loss.

 

[Alaa]

LOL there you go!!! Buy as much as you can..it works like magic!!! Just painted my entire front grill with plasti dip....

I really like what you did to your XLT, I have one same color and already decided to copy your work here in Baghdad. please provide some details like brand and size of rims and tires, mods to lights and other useful info. thank you.

 

[peterk9]

I really like what you did to your XLT, I have one same color and already decided to copy your work here in Baghdad. please provide some details like brand and size of rims and tires, mods to lights and other useful info. thank you.

FYI, member bodybump has not been on here for 2 years. Last post was April 2, 2015. You can always try checking his posts to see if they have any of the info you are looking for. Just click on his message count in the margin. Good luck.

Peter