is ford ever going to go back to the color matched mirrors and door handles vs the black plastic

to me the black plastic looks cheap...just another way for ford to save money and charge us more

any info on this would be greatly appreciated

 

I agree about the plastic looking cheap...

Over the weekend I went to Fun Ford Weekend in CA, and saw an F150 that was on display from a local dealer. They had installed a 6" fabtech lift, Eagle Alloys, 35" tires, and some cool looking billet door handles made by Grippin. The handles replace the stock plastic exterior levers, and use the stock plastic cups... The contrast of the two materials really stood out, and made that area of the truck a lot more appealing...

I plan on getting them for my truck, but the price tag of $150 for the pair will make me wait till xmas...

 

I totally agree about that that plastic. The same goes for all that plastic, not just the handles.
I think the chrome/billet handles are really cool, but that is not something I want to attract attention.
I will be painting mine for sure. I painted all that plastic on my Lightning and it made a world of dffierence.

Josh

 

I agree, the cheap looking plastic is just sad. I plan to paint the door sockets dark shadow grey on my white two tone FX4. I also want to get the chrome billet handles to go in the painted socket.

 

dz is in the process of painting his handles (if he's not already done with it).

RP

 

I wasn't going to post any pictures until I was done with the truck, but here is a picture of my F150 with the tailgate, door buckets and handles, side-view mirrors painted.

First pic of my truck posted on this site:



The truck has a 6" fabtech lift on it now (waiting on the rims and tires to come in) and is getting a new head-unit, speakers, custom sub box and amp rack put in the back.


-Chris

 

jellytheory,

Very nice!

More info. please: Did you paint the handles & mirrors yourself or did a professional do it?

 

Did the handle come out of the bucket? Was it easy to paint the backside of the handle?

 

Hi John,

Thanks! I had a professional body shop paint them. I had painted some door handles on my first car ('97 cavalier) and the paint ended up with hairline cracks in it after a while. So, this time I figured I'd let a body shop give it a go.


-Chris

 

Looks great! I am curious though, how much did it cost to have done, if you dont mind?

~Colby

 

I painted some of them on the older style trucks. Clean them good, then spray a flex additive, primer/sealer, and then paint. I used the good quality stuff for a nice finish. Here is a pic of my handle, which was the first one I painted.

 

That looks EXCELLENT Jelly!

 

I definately like it...

Now I need to get rid of my crhome bumpers, paint my mirrors and door handles thank a lot man....

 

Looks great, really sets off the white truck.

Thats gona be next on my list.

 

That sucked. I just typed in a really long reply and it dissapeared when I tried to post it. Oh well. This one will be a bit shorter.

Loosebolt - I was told (and shown) by the body shop that painted them that the pin that holds the handle in place was either hard to get off or broke easily (I don't remember which of the two it was). They said that they couldn't just order the pin to replace the one the broke, instead they would have to order the entire door handle from ford. Since the shop had a 2004 F150 door handle painted already at the shop and they showed it to me, I said the way they did it (keeping the handle on the door) would be fine too. It looked great and only when you put a mirror inbetween the bucket and the handle could you it wasn't painted 100% on the back side of the handle.

Bullitt4711 - Thanks! And, I don't mind at all. It cost me a little over $500. I probably could have got it done for cheaper if I shopped around some more. One plus was, the shop I had it done at had an extra set of F150 door and tailgate handles that I was able to use for the week it took mine to get painted. So, I was able to drive my truck around instead of keeping it in a garage since it wouldn't have had door handles. The guys that did the install and un-install said getting the door handles done was a major PITA and that they would probably charge more for the next person that came in. In the end I ended up paying what it was worth for me to get done so I was happy.

Loosebolt - See first comments for your first post. Nice handle!

Rockpick - Thanks!

Claytucc3 - Thank you. Every once in a while I will wish I had gone with the chrome bumpers instead of the two-tone paint all around. But then I think that there are fewer two-tone trucks out there like mine than there are the all white with chrome bumper trucks. Then, I'm happy again. I think that the beige color on bottom is going to look even better once it's lifted and has the Mud Terrains and rims on it.

04 Red Lariat - Thanks! I'm sure it will look great when you get it done! Just don't paint the handles white though!

For reference, here is a pic of my truck 10 days after I bought it and a few days after getting tint put on it. This was before the door handles and side-view mirrors were painted:




-Chris