Exterior Door Handles Modded - 1LE Themed

[Nick S]

Well first of all I have to give credit to SUKXOST for his inspiration with this mod as he did a custom hood wrap on his 1LE hood that gave me this idea.

So I purchased some used black door handles from a salvage yard and then had some custom sized 1LE letters made to fit on the door handle. Then I applied the letters on the door handle and then put a vinyl wrap over top of that to give a multi-dimensional look.

So to make this thread worth anything....here are some pictures. I didn't upload any before pics because I'm pretty sure everyone knows what a Victory Red Camaro looks like with stock door handles!

I like that the letters are subtle and are not really that visible from a distance. It's just one of those little details you can see when you get closer.

[scottc]

Very nice man!! What a cool idea, looks great!

[Nick S]

Originally Posted by scottc

Very nice man!! What a cool idea, looks great!

Thanks! Again I have to give SUKXOST credit for inspiring the idea with his hood wrap but I just took that idea and applied it in a different area of my car.

[miller8907]

Looks awesome. Yeah SUKXOST's hood has put many ideas into my head too. How hard is wrapping the handles? I was thinking about wrapping mine black.

[ZL153]

Looks great.

[Nick S]

Originally Posted by miller8907

Looks awesome. Yeah SUKXOST's hood has put many ideas into my head too. How hard is wrapping the handles? I was thinking about wrapping mine black.

Well I won't say that the handles were really hard to wrap but since it was my first attempt at wrapping anything there was definitely a learning curve for me. I bought extra wrap material so I could start over a few times if needed (which I did 3 times!) It does take some patience and finesse to get them wrapped all the way around since there are so many curved surfaces. You'll definitely need a heat gun. I asked about using a hair dryer and was told that probably wouldn't get hot enough but I think a hair dryer might work for the door handles. Sometimes the heat gun seemed to get it too hot too fast. The material definitely gets very stretchy and feels much thinner with heat. But I think the heat of a hair dryer would probably get it hot enough for you to work with. But it was a good excuse for me to get a heat gun!!

I would recommend getting an extra set of handles that are painted black already though. I don't think there is enough of a gap between the handle that you pull and the keyhole piece to put vinyl wrap on those two surfaces and still be able to allow the handle to function without binding. So if you leave your handles the stock color other than black I think you will see the exposed OEM color in that crack. Although I didn't try to put any wrap material on those two opposing surfaces so maybe if I would have tried it would have worked. It just looked really narrow in that gap and I figured two material thicknesses might be enough to cause an interference.

Plus once you get one set wrapped it only takes like 5 minutes or less to swap out the door handle pieces. And no you don't need to take the inner door trim panel off. There is one plug in the end of the door you have to remove to expose a screw head. Pull the handle all the way out (like when you open the door) and hold it there. Then turn the screw CCW for a few turns and the door handle will become locked in the open position. Then you pull the keyhole piece out (or the blank piece on the passenger side). Then you slide the handle towards the keyhole and rotate outward at the same time. The handle comes out really easy and quick. Only part I had to swap over was my key lock cylinder so I just had to pop my keylock cylinder cap off and put my newly wrapped on over it. Piece of cake!

[Nick S]

Originally Posted by ZL153

Looks great.

Thanks!

[miller8907]

Thanks for the pointers.

[purv24]

Looks great, simple and sweet

[Black Knight]

Looks awsome .subtle mods are the way to go

[fif_gen_powa]

wow looks really good, liked it on the close up pics but wasn't sure how it would flow with the entire car. have to say it looks so good that its like thats how the 1le should have come oem from the factory

[DriftinSSRS]

Nice work

[Nick S]

Originally Posted by jdubzzz44

wow looks really good, liked it on the close up pics but wasn't sure how it would flow with the entire car. have to say it looks so good that its like thats how the 1le should have come oem from the factory

Wow thanks. That's kind of what I was trying for was more of an OEM look for how the 1LE should have come from the factory!

[BLK1LE]

Looks great! Bad ass car man.