Has anyone checked into painting their door handles & what was the outcome?

I have a White 05 XLT SCREW, and I want to get rid of those ugly black handles, so I stopped by a local body shop the other day to check into having them painted to match my truck. Too say the least, they didn't seem interested in tackling the job. The guy told me about a Hummer that he just did the same work on and the effort involved. First, they have to clean the pieces with some kind of chemical that will extract as much oil as possible from the plastic, then they have to prime & sand & prime again before they can paint. After that, he said the paint job still can't be guaranteed because of the risk of oil that may still be in the handles could result in the paint popping off later on.

He didn't give me a quote on my truck, but to have the work done on the Hummer, which included 11 pieces, was $1,100. That's a bit much for me.

If I had only one thing that I could change on my truck it would be the door handles. To me, they stick out worse than a horse fly on a wedding cake.

I really want to go the LT Handle route, but I do not have a keypad on my truck, and from the other threads that I have read, it looks like it can be a bit of a headache to get the keypad working on an original non-keypad truck. Plus you will loose your keyhole on the passenger side.

Some aftermarket company really needs to come out with door handle buckets that are paintable.

I wish Ford hadn't cut corners with the door handles.....My 98 F150 had factory painted door handles and it cost less than my '05. Why the heck couldn't they paint the handles on the 04-06 trucks.

 

DUDE! You are like 45 minutes from me! Nice to have another NC'er in here! I'm a little west of Winston salem off 40 is you know where that is. $1,100 is rediculous! I put a set of white LT handles on my grandfathers XLT and he got his programmed after a few trips to the dealer but they CAN do it, it's just a matter of getting them to find the information. I actually painted mine to match because they don't make them in True Blue. I ordered a set of silver ones and sanded them and got the paint shop at work to shoot them and they came out perfect. Lucky for you they make the LT's in white. I think you will be able to get it programmed somewhere and not having the keyhole.....to me isn't THAT big of a deal and it's a hell of a lot better than getting them painted to match and paying an arm and a leg!

 

My dealer said he would paint my mirrors and all five handles to match my truck for $350 I will post pictures when done

 

What kinda grille is that^^^^?? I like it a LOT!

 

looks like your standard billet grille to me. i had one just like it, mine was T-rex

and the lincoln handles is definately the way to go

 

anyone have a estimate on how much it will cost to get the two front door handles and a tailgate ordered from lincoln ?

 

Go to fordpartsnetwork.com and click the link for parts request on the left. Tell them you want a driver's, passenger's, and tailgate handle prices, availability, and color that you want. They will respond VERY fast! Back when I got mine it was roughly $45 for each front handle and $25 for the tailgate. I believe the driver's handle is up near $80 now though.....

 

Matt '05,

^I have read several of your posts and never noticed you were an NC'er as well. Oh yes, I have been trough Winston Salem a few times. Last trip was through that area was about a year ago, although I do make a roadtrip with a friend of mine a couple times a year to grab some Lexington (NC) Bar-B-Que.

As far as the handles, I am still going back and forth with getting the LT Handles. Loosing the keyhole on the passenger side is no big deal, but if I am going to have a keypad....I would at least like for it to work.

 

do you have power locks factory? if so you can get the keypad to work.

Im in NC too, Matt is heading up my way in Jan for some Dyno tuning fun

 

Oh yes!

Lexington BBQ is awesome . You go to Tar-Heel-Q? Right there on 64? That is THE place for good Lexington style BBQ. And like ^ said, the keypad can work with some programming from the right dealer.