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Auto Paints & Painting Equipment Technical

How to Paint Door Handles to Match Factory Paint

You may recall we’re helping a friend build a tribute to the iconic green Mitsubishi Eclipse from The Fast and the Furious. As with any movie car replica, attention to detail is key. Matching the body color on parts like door handles ensures your replica looks professional and cohesive.

Here’s a step-by-step guide to painting the door handles for this project. Even if your project is neither fast nor furious, the process should be pretty much the same.

 

 

Materials Used

Step 1: Prep

We’re working with two types of handles: a factory black-painted handle and a raw plastic aftermarket handle. The preparation steps are nearly identical. We start with a grey scuff pad to abrade the surface until all shiny areas are dulled. This step is crucial for creating a “tooth” on the surface, ensuring strong mechanical adhesion for the paint. Pay special attention to corners and crevices to avoid weak spots.

Wipe the handles thoroughly with a pre-painting prep cleaner to remove dirt, oils, and debris. This promotes chemical adhesion between the surface and the paint.

Door handles are tricky because they have hidden areas that are only exposed when the handle is open. To ensure full paint coverage, wedge a trimmed mixing stick or similar tool into the spring mechanism on the backside of the handle to keep it open.

Carefully mask any areas that shouldn’t be painted, like rubber gaskets or mounting points. On the factory handle, masking the rubber gasket instead of removing it can prevent damage.

Step 2: Primer

Mount the handles securely, ensuring that your setup doesn’t block paint access to critical areas. For example, use the keyhole as a mounting point. We used Eastwood 2K Aerospray Epoxy as a sealer. For best results, we applied three coats, allowing each coat to flash for about 30 minutes. The epoxy adheres well to scuffed paint, metal, and plastic, making it an ideal primer for this project.

Step 3: Base Coats

The paint for the Eclipse tribute is a tri-stage Kawasaki 777 green, requiring a white undercoat before the lime green topcoat.  We reduced the OEM Select Base Coat 1:1 with reducer. A detail spray gun is our preference for precision, especially on small parts like door handles. We applied three even coats of white, allowing proper flash time between coats.  Once the white base was dry, we sprayed three coats of lime green.

OEM-Select-Tri-Coat-Cans
Can of white undercoat (left) is included in the order for the Kawasaki Green topcoat (right)

Step 4: Clear Coat

We sprayed 2K Aerospray Gloss Clear to seal and protect the paint. Starting with a light tack coat, we followed it with two to three wet coats for a glossy, durable finish. Before handing them back for reinstallation on the vehicle, we made sure the handles cured fully .

Tips for Success

  • Focus on adhesion. Proper surface prep and cleaning ensure the paint withstands UV rays and weather conditions.
  • Test your equipment. This project is a great opportunity to experiment with new tools, like a detail spray gun, for small parts.
  • Patience pays off. Take your time with each step to achieve a professional-grade finish.

 

 

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