Colour Coding Door Handles

From THE Corrado Forum Knowledge Base

You Will Need...

Philips Screwdriver

Spray on Primer, Paint & laquer - Halfords is your best bet, you will need to know what colour your car is. There are a few types of primer available depending on the colour of your car. All 3 will cost you between £10-15 (from Halfords)

Hair Dryer (or similar)

Wet & Dry paper (selection)

Taking the handle off

First you need to remove the door card. There are 7 screws located along the bottom of the door, up the rear & front side and by the speaker. There are also screws behind the grip handle on the inside. Pull the panel off the internal grip and undo the screws so that it comes off completely. You will know when you have taken all the screws out because the card will come off!

Unpeal the door membrane (it'll stick back on after). At the bottom you will see where the cable for the central locking pump connects, disconnect it.

There is one screw on the rear edge of the door that is holding the handle in place, take it out. Push the handle towards the front of the car and it should just pop out from the rear. Carefuly pull through the cable for the central locking & your handle is free! Sometimes the cable runs through a plastic bracket inside the door, it can be unclipped by taking the rectangular plastic cap off the side of the door and flicking it out of the bracket.

Preparation

The handle can be held open by jaming a screw in or (as I did) a piece of screwed up newspaper. You will also need to cover up the front of the lock if you aren't using de-locked handles, I made a mask for it but if you really wanted to you could remove the lock barrel entirely.

First you need to clean the handle with a solvent, making sure you get all the inground dirt and mould off, don't cut corners here. Next take a fairly coarse wet & dry paper and give it a really good rub down (400), you might like to use a slightly finer grade afterwards before priming (800) If the surface is a little rough the paint goes on better however.

Painting

Follow the directions on your can of primer. Give it a good shake and spray from about 20cm back. Try to get an even coverage and think about what will be on display once its back on the car. After the first coat leave it for 10-15 minutes then give it another good coat (while its tacky). After the second coat leave it to dry overnight, no really, the colour will go on a lot better if the primer is dry.

Rub down the primed handle with kitchen paper. Before spraying the colour coat on try warming the handle with a hair dryer, this way the paint drys on contact and wont dribble. Spray the paint on in 2, 3 or 4 thin coats building it up each time until you have even coverage. Leave 20mins between coats. Leave this coat to dry for at least 24hours!

Take the finest grade wet & dry that you have (1500) and using plenty of water give the coloured handle a light rubdown. This is important to take the glossy finish down to matt, the laquer provides us with plenty of shine to colour match. Dry with kitchen towel.

Spray the laquer on in thin coats and be sure to leave it 20-30 minutes between coats, it takes a long time to dry. 2 coats should be enough don't over do it or it can become cloudy. Now leave it all to dry for as long as possible, at least 24 hours, if you touch it any earlier you WILL leave fingerprints in it.

Refitting is the reverse of removal :)