DIY: Painted Door Handles, Mirrors, & Rear Spoiler - Lots of Pics
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Honda User
Joined: Feb 2004
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DIY: Painted Door Handles, Mirrors, & Rear Spoiler - Lots of Pics
Put this on another forum, so sorry if you already have seen it. Well, I wanted to make my ugly car a little less ugly with the little bit of Christopher Lowell inside of me (the non-gay part). I decided to paint the black door handles, black mirrors, and black rear spoiler on my eg hatch. But, I find it hard to start a project like most of you I'm sure.
A problem set my car undrivable (safely) for a few days until the shop could get me in; busted head on lower control arm bolt trying to install Tein SS's:
This gave me the time I needed to start painting. And you know that every good DIY starts with a beer... (an 18-yr old beer for me :P )
This is how it looks stock:
I first took off the door handles.
This is done by opening the door and unscrewing 3 screws with a philips screw driver. One is in the door cup (see red arrow), another is a plastic screw (far right red circle), and the last one too me forever to find which is behind the door handle (top left red circle). Make sure your window is rolled down, it will make it easier to take the panel off. Then take off the window handle by popping off the C-clip behind the handle (see lower red circle). It is a little tricky at first but just shove a screwdriver behind the handle and watch for it to pop off.
Then there are some metal clips behind the interior door panel, but just pull on the door panel and they should come undone (might have to pull hard). Then roll the window back up by just putting the handle on temporarily (without the C-clip). You can also take off the black interior piece behind the side mirror now. It is held on by one metal clip behind, just pull on it. Then you will see what is below. You will have to cut the plastic with a razor where the door handle is.
Now you will see the back of the door handle. There are 2 10-mm bolts (red circles). Then there is a loose C-clip (left red arrow) that holds the door lock. After the C-clip is out the lock just pulls straight out. Then you will have to pull the handle pole out. It took me some twisting and pulling to get that out, just play with it.
Then your door handle will be out.
Then you can take off your mirror by 3 screws that are now showing on the inside of the door panel because you already took off the black plastic cover.
Now you can move on to the rear spoiler. Pop the hatch and under the glass there are 4 10-mm bolts - you can't miss them. Take those off and disconnect the 3rd brake light. The spoiler and a metal piece comes off together.
I tried to take the spoiler off of the metal piece but I started breaking plastic clips that held them together :crook: so I just taped off the metal part when I painted.
I used good 'ol rattle cans because I didn't want to spend $75 on paint & clear coat. I have a sprayer that I can use but I don't have any money right now, and it was too much of a hassle borrowing it from a friend, so I went with the Dupli-Color spray cans. I would recommend a sprayer for better results though. I went through 3 cans of universal primer, 3 cans of frost white, and one big can of clear coat (could of used more frost white but the Advanced Auto Parts was all out =( , it was fine though).
I primed after I cleaned the parts.
Then painted and clear-coated.
I let them dry overnight just to be safe. It pretty much took me the whole day to do it all, but I am very slow when I work. I also had to go to the store 3 times for more paint :hammer:
It turned out not-to shabby for those cheap rattle cans. Paint matches pretty close, my car is dirty though so I couldn't tell too close. I think they will match real well once the car is washed and waxed.
The results:
Door Handles
BEFORE
AFTER
Mirrors
BEFORE
Other side - JDM no mirror Y0! :P
Painted Spoon style mirrors instead.
AFTER
Rear Spoiler
BEFORE
AFTER
Whole Car
BEFORE
AFTER
That pretty much wraps it up. After paint drys, install everything how you uninstalled but in reverse order.
And while you are painting, you might as well paint those windshield wiper arms. There are 2 14-mm bolts that hold the arms on. Take the wiper blades off the wiper arms and grab a can of black spray paint. I used high temp paint because that is all I had but it turned out great. Now the sun doesn't reflect and blind me when I am driving. :thumbup:
Windshield Wiper Arms
BEFORE
AFTER (Yeah, I know a bird took a dump on my car... I told you it was dirty)
Hopes this DIY at least helps one person out. Thanks guys! :thumbup:
A problem set my car undrivable (safely) for a few days until the shop could get me in; busted head on lower control arm bolt trying to install Tein SS's:
This gave me the time I needed to start painting. And you know that every good DIY starts with a beer... (an 18-yr old beer for me :P )
This is how it looks stock:
I first took off the door handles.
This is done by opening the door and unscrewing 3 screws with a philips screw driver. One is in the door cup (see red arrow), another is a plastic screw (far right red circle), and the last one too me forever to find which is behind the door handle (top left red circle). Make sure your window is rolled down, it will make it easier to take the panel off. Then take off the window handle by popping off the C-clip behind the handle (see lower red circle). It is a little tricky at first but just shove a screwdriver behind the handle and watch for it to pop off.
Then there are some metal clips behind the interior door panel, but just pull on the door panel and they should come undone (might have to pull hard). Then roll the window back up by just putting the handle on temporarily (without the C-clip). You can also take off the black interior piece behind the side mirror now. It is held on by one metal clip behind, just pull on it. Then you will see what is below. You will have to cut the plastic with a razor where the door handle is.
Now you will see the back of the door handle. There are 2 10-mm bolts (red circles). Then there is a loose C-clip (left red arrow) that holds the door lock. After the C-clip is out the lock just pulls straight out. Then you will have to pull the handle pole out. It took me some twisting and pulling to get that out, just play with it.
Then your door handle will be out.
Then you can take off your mirror by 3 screws that are now showing on the inside of the door panel because you already took off the black plastic cover.
Now you can move on to the rear spoiler. Pop the hatch and under the glass there are 4 10-mm bolts - you can't miss them. Take those off and disconnect the 3rd brake light. The spoiler and a metal piece comes off together.
I tried to take the spoiler off of the metal piece but I started breaking plastic clips that held them together :crook: so I just taped off the metal part when I painted.
I used good 'ol rattle cans because I didn't want to spend $75 on paint & clear coat. I have a sprayer that I can use but I don't have any money right now, and it was too much of a hassle borrowing it from a friend, so I went with the Dupli-Color spray cans. I would recommend a sprayer for better results though. I went through 3 cans of universal primer, 3 cans of frost white, and one big can of clear coat (could of used more frost white but the Advanced Auto Parts was all out =( , it was fine though).
I primed after I cleaned the parts.
Then painted and clear-coated.
I let them dry overnight just to be safe. It pretty much took me the whole day to do it all, but I am very slow when I work. I also had to go to the store 3 times for more paint :hammer:
It turned out not-to shabby for those cheap rattle cans. Paint matches pretty close, my car is dirty though so I couldn't tell too close. I think they will match real well once the car is washed and waxed.
The results:
Door Handles
BEFORE
AFTER
Mirrors
BEFORE
Other side - JDM no mirror Y0! :P
Painted Spoon style mirrors instead.
AFTER
Rear Spoiler
BEFORE
AFTER
Whole Car
BEFORE
AFTER
That pretty much wraps it up. After paint drys, install everything how you uninstalled but in reverse order.
And while you are painting, you might as well paint those windshield wiper arms. There are 2 14-mm bolts that hold the arms on. Take the wiper blades off the wiper arms and grab a can of black spray paint. I used high temp paint because that is all I had but it turned out great. Now the sun doesn't reflect and blind me when I am driving. :thumbup:
Windshield Wiper Arms
BEFORE
AFTER (Yeah, I know a bird took a dump on my car... I told you it was dirty)
Hopes this DIY at least helps one person out. Thanks guys! :thumbup:
Administrator ☂
Joined: Jul 2002
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From: NY
Originally Posted by Bluto
Hmmm, they are working for me. Are they working for anyone else?
Check with your host.
__________________
9Y0 Cayenne GTS
E46 ///M3
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9Y0 Cayenne GTS
E46 ///M3
YD4 MDX - SOLD
EG Ferio - SOLD
FA Ferio - Returned
www.NelsonLee.net
Senior Member
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 1,979
Likes: 0
From: New Jersey
good job man. Did you buff out the clear coat yet with some fine cut polishing compound? Wait 25-30 days since you put on the clear and buff it out with the compound. It'll bring out the shine and make a huge difference. Don't forget to wax it!
