Painted door handles are going to cost a fortune to paint

[jaruss01]

I spoke to a couple shops about painting mirror caps and handles on the BL and hitting a wall. Most reputable guys said it shouldn’t be sanded and painted, or won’t last. It starts it’s life as plastic. Need to order OEM paintable then get it painted.

So I’m looking at Ford parts for other trucks. What I’m seeing is the following:

Front handle primed with passive entry is 120-160 depending on car or if on sale. It goes to 190 with passive entry and passive start (which I don’t think we have). It’s a different assembly and you need to pay to have the button cut out and inner part. Not sure if you could modify a non passive entry handle. You’ll see the front Bronco handles have buttons. Probably the same for tailgate handle.

Rear handle primed is 40-50. Much simpler.

let’s say
140/ea for front
50/ea for rear
140 for tailgate.

That’s 520

plus let’s say 300 to paint. 820

then I assume mirror caps and painting is another 200-300

and honestly, I think you’d have to beg a paint shop to do such a small job for that price since most the costs are going to Ford for the parts, not to the body shop for the labor or sanding/painting plastic handles. I could easily see guys wanting 500 to remove, paint, and install. Especially because it’s a car they’ve never worked on or seen.

so 1000ish on handles plus mirrors

ouch. God damn you antimatter blue

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[Beach_Bum]

Sounds like you are back to OBX.

 

[jaruss01]

Sounds like you are back to OBX.

Haha. Deep down I knew I would get F’ed on the handles which is why I figured money would be better spent on an OBX sas compared to a Badlands. But after seeing 35s is way too much.

guess I gotta live with the unpainted handles...can’t have everything. All good.

 

[Beach_Bum]

Haha. Deep down I knew I would get F’ed on the handles which is why I figured money would be better spent on an OBX sas compared to a Badlands. But after seeing 35s is way too much.

guess I gotta live with the unpainted handles...can’t have everything. All good.

You can still get the OBX squatched. Take off the 35's and wheels and sell them for a profit over and above the swap of the buyer's 33's. In NJ there should be plenty of potential interested buyers to accommodate your #SkinnySquatch desire.

 

[Silver-Bolt]

Your painter is 100% correct. If you attempt to sand and paint the stock black handles it will look terrible and won't last. Painting small parts like these is a huge pain in the ass. A shop can't charge enough to make a profit on these types of jobs.

 

[Ripcurl]

Doesn't seem worth the cost for something that sees as much daily abuse as the door handle

 

[lowmpg]

Why not simply wait, and order colored OBX handles from the dealer for whatever model you buy?

 

[mestuntman]

Does this really warrant so much attention. Who gives a crap if the door handles are painted or not? Not even the first order for a new BRONCO has been filled and you are stressing about a door handle. WOW I wish my problems where that small!

 

[NeighborDave]

Anyone considered wrapping the small bits? From what I understand you can get wraps of any color. I expect Bronco OEM colored wraps wont be far behind the Bronco's release, if they don't already exists thanks to the Sport. Wrap all the parts you wished were body color painted and call it a day.
Am I missing something that makes this not an option?

 

[jaruss01]

Anyone considered wrapping the small bits? From what I understand you can get wraps of any color. I expect Bronco OEM colored wraps wont be far behind the Bronco's release, if they don't already exists thanks to the Sport. Wrap all the parts you wished were body color painted and call it a day.
Am I missing something that makes this not an option?

Wrapping guys said no. It’s slightly textured and will looks like crap. You need the OEM paintable parts

 

[Vigor]

Haha. Deep down I knew I would get F’ed on the handles which is why I figured money would be better spent on an OBX sas compared to a Badlands. But after seeing 35s is way too much.

guess I gotta live with the unpainted handles...can’t have everything. All good.

Funny because I'm the opposite. Would prefer the badlands unpainted handles. Breaks up all the paint color on the body of the vehicle.

Wanna uh, trade? Haha

Does this really warrant so much attention. Who gives a crap if the door handles are painted or not? Not even the first order for a new BRONCO has been filled and you are stressing about a door handle. WOW I wish my problems where that small!

Sounds more to me like @jaruss01 wants what he wants and is using this forum to find answers, as it should be used for.

 

[jaruss01]

If you change your paint from Area 51 to AMB, ill give you $500 on top of the swap. haha. But honestly, swapping handles would be a nightmare, logistically. So you go without handles for a week, and crack the window open? What if you dont have a garage, or need the car. Conversely, are you going to meet up with someone locally and carve out half a day to sit there swapping each others handles. probably not happening. I love unpainted handles on Area 51 BL, but not for AMB.

 

[Vigor]

If you change your paint from Area 51 to AMB, ill give you $500 on top of the swap. haha. But honestly, swapping handles would be a nightmare, logistically. So you go without handles for a week, and crack the window open? What if you dont have a garage, or need the car. Conversely, are you going to meet up with someone locally and carve out half a day to sit there swapping each others handles. probably not happening. I love unpainted handles on Area 51 BL, but not for AMB.

Yeah I'm between a51 and Oxford white and likely won't know until order time. But yes honestly any kind of swap might be more of a headache than I'd want to take on!

 

[jaruss01]

Yup. This thread is to contribute to the forum so they know what these costs may end up being. If they are very particularly over this stuff it could weigh in on which trim they pick.

 

[jaruss01]

You can still get the OBX squatched. Take off the 35's and wheels and sell them for a profit over and above the swap of the buyer's 33's. In NJ there should be plenty of potential interested buyers to accommodate your #SkinnySquatch desire.

Not a bad idea actually, in theory. But don’t want to mess around with the geometry. A sas downgraded to 33s will probably drive worse than it would with 35s since it wasn’t setup that way from the factory.

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