My buddy has a 03 Mini cooper S. He is in the process of blacking all of the accents out, and he asked me to help. When he painted his door handles, it was a 3 hour job that was done in his garage. First, we put plastic wrap all around the body within a few feet of the handles with blue painters tape. Next we sanded the handles 3 times with 3 different grit levels of sandpaper. Make sure that there is NO shine left on the chrome. Next spray the first layer (of 3-4) and let dry 30 minutes between each coat. Being as he blacked them out, he went with a paint that is called Plastidip. It is special paint that can stand up to the elements if applied properly. I believe however it only comes in black. You can get it at Lowes, or Home depot for like 6 dollars a can.
The paint has been on there and various other places on the car and has stood up perfectly to the Florida heat, rain, and weekly car washes for almost 4 months already.

But anyways, just sand the handles, or any other chrome pieces down until they are not shiny, and clean them really good for great adhesion.

 

no need for sanding? is there a diy for taking that whole trim piece off? or is it self-explanatory?

 

for what its worth, my drivers side door handle, the chrome has started peeling off. no idea why, but ive cut myslef on it a few times opening the door. i just cut it offwhere its sharp, its not noticeable cuz its on the bottom of the handle. i was debating on painting, but havent yet.

 

hey its a bit off topic, but not. But I found this picture just now while browsing the forums. Its not painted handles but its painted chrome window trim, it was posted by big mike.



Does look pretty sick though

 

that looks hot..... i wonder would black trim look good on a dif. color tho

 

yea i'm thinking the samething. I guess we can always adobe it.

 

i hate chrome i did the chrome trim already too and yea im trying to do my door handles

 

my trim is black...

i think for it to be set off it really needs FPR door handles though.. sorry for crappy pics...work phone..

 

my trim is black too. i used vynil though

 

^hows the vinyl holdin up? i was thinkin it shouldnt be hard to paint

 

so i decided to email a canadian dealership about the a spec door handles and it went like this:

Hello, I'm from the U.S. and I'm looking for the 03 TL A-SPEC color matched door handles in Night Hawk Black Pearl. I'd appreciate any information you could give me about possibly getting them shipped to me. Thank you for your time! -Darryl

In which they replied:

Hi darryl,

Here are the prices you asked for $92.44 each and you need 4-of them.The price on shipping I don’t know because the size of the boxes come into play.Anymore question please e-mail me back

Thank you

Andrew Pye

Acura of Hamilton

im going to email them back to make sure we're talking about the same thing, cuz thats ridiculous

 

are part numbers the same in the US and Canada?

 

so basically 100 each shipped? fawk that..lol. Ill paint mine. Body color, or black to match the window trim..hmmm..

Ill be doing my window trim soon as well.

I hate chrome..it belongs on Hardly Davidsons, not cars.

 

i like his brakes

 

its great. you can see more in my album. it hasnt faded. its that 3m stuff thats for outdoors (30 years). ts really easy to apply and really easy to remove.

 

^it does look good.... you buy it online? if so if you got a link for me id appreciate it

 

i had the door handles painted 2 months ago and was supposed to go back for the
window trim but never had the chance. Im washing the car tomorrow so I'll snap
some pics and post. Looks great, no regrets at all

 

according to some in here.. thats a half ass job...

i'll be posting pics up after they paint mine.

thanks for anyone who helped. and good luck to anyone else trying..

 

Ehh. It worked out fine though. And looks great too. Maybe next time I'll take a different approach

 

I hate chrome as well. but the handles never really bothered me. But anyways. Did anyone try to take the handles to a media blasting shop? Im pretty sure any one that power coats can take the chrome off. They usually sand blast or glass bead the chrome. The only true way to take off chrome is to re-dip it back in acid or media blast it off. I did a lot of research on taking off chrome. its a pain in the ass. Its also very bad for your health if not done right. Its copper plated and then nickel dipped. Even if you sand the chrome it will not really last for a long time. you really need to take the chrome off. I attempted to re-build a set of wheels in my garage and I had a set of really bad chrome wheels. No matter how much you sand them it is really had to take it off. I used 80 grit sand paper with a sander and it did not even dent the nickel. If its steel it sticks really good. If its aluminum or plastic its really hard for chrome to stick. Thats why the surface needs to be treated good if not it peels. I would try a media blasting company. If the chrome does not come off the paint will eventually fade or chip off. Then you might have to redo them all over again. just a suggestion.

 

hey, I know the a specs has painted handles but do you guys know if the grill is painted or did this dude paint it?

 

^ i think it was just the handles and headlights.. never heard of the grille.. i could be worng

 

The grille comes painted as well

 

Looks sick

 

that aspec is nice... i wish our cars came w/ sidemarkers =/

 

yea i'm 50/50 on installing sidemarkers, I want them, but I dont know if I want them forever

 

so im probably going to be ordering the vinyl this week..... im just not sure with the abp, existing trim, and tints.......... which would flow better... gloss or matte black vinyl?????

 

btw if you guys are looking for the vinyl....

this guy is sellin it fairly cheap just the right size for trim

http://www. e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=259436

 

wow his car is murdered out, gangsta!

 

i agree that flat black is money with the wheels... if you click the link to see the gloss black he did the same thing (changed his chrome trim to black) looks great

 

we find out about it when they raise the price

take pics after you do it!

 

lmao will do i just ordered it and i was lookin at the previous trim so i bought the gloss

on another note im talking to him about makin us come pre cut, color matched vinyl sheets for our door handles

 

show him this thread!

 

Hey fellas!

I'm andrew from karbonwerke over on e90post and Anthony expressed some interest in some vinyl for the trim and door handles.

As my thread on e90post states that we do have matte and gloss black vinyl, we do carry a variety of other colors. However for color matching the door handles, that may prove a bit difficult as I can't exactly match the color of your car. Even if it gets close, it'll still look off.

I think the best bet would be to sand it down and have it painted at your local paint shop.

As for the trimming, you can always email me anytime with questions and if there is enough interest on the forum, i may join as a vendor.

Regards,
Andrew
sales@karbonwerke.com

 

i jus emailed you...^^^^^^..i think you should stay....

 

I checked my mail and haven't received anything.

 

you should definitely stay. the 3rd gen guys have blue bat morbile. we need someone who can do vinyl work and wraps for us.

i would love some of the stuff you made for the bimmers.


Also guys: i used flat black trim. but thats because im on the fence about going satin black with matte clear on my car

 

^^ stayyy ^^ :gheyhug:

 

new vendor

 

wow..thanks for finding this abptltypes02. Im going to order the gloss for my trim so it matches the b-pillars. I just wonder how it would look with gloss black door handles...