Who has painted their mirrors/door handles like a sport?

Hi,

I have been thinking about painting my mirrors and door handles white to match the truck ( I like the way it looks clean on the sport models).

Has anybody actually done this? My buddy works at a body shop as an estimator, and told me if can bring him the two mirrors and four door handles, he can color match them 100% painted for not too much money.

The mirrors don't look too difficult to take off (I could be wrong) But the last time i monkey'ed with taking off door panels to get handles off was not pretty. That's why I am wondering if anybody else has and how finicky are the inside door panels to take off and remove.

Thx

 

I didn't paint the door handles ... I replaced them with color matched one.

I have painted the windshield prayer nozzles and am right now painting the tailgate latch this morning.

I don't have a problem with the mirrors as I tinted the front windows to 35% ... that look I like.

Door handles:



Sprayers:

 

Where did you get those door handles from ? I am guessing it would be cheaper to just have my buddy's shop paint them, rather than buy color matched items. What do you think?

 

The door handles are four pieces. I assume you have remote key so the passenger side does not have a key hole. If not than you'll have to check it out.

Got them from Toyota of Dallas ... parts@toyota-dallas.com , like I said four pieces .... $94.51 delivered. As you can see they match perfectly. About a five minute job .... easy as pie. I told my wife over a beer .... even she likes them NOW.

 

I paint matched mine myself. I would definitely suggest doing, especially if your buddy is going to do it for you professionaly in a shop. As you can see I also painted the mirror "bracket" or "arm" or whatever it would be called, which the sports do not have. I think it looks awesome like that, virtually nobody on here has that.

The door handles are surprisingly the easiest thing in world to take off! no door panel removal needed. open your door, pull out the small round black plug, and unscrew the one bolt (it should NOT come all the way out, just let it hang in there). The lock machanism comes right out and the door handle just pulls out, not straight out like you're trying to open the door rather slide it towards the front of your truck. SUPER easy. I rolled down my windows and drove around for a couple days with them out while I prepped and painted and let them cure. just reach inside and open your door that way. Good luck!



I painted my front grill surround too by the way...

 

Nice job/look on the white AC .....

 

Thanks! I really like your windshield sprayers... looks like I can go ahead and add that to my project list

 

looks great! I was just thinking about doing the same thing....

 

Those mirrors look wicked clean. What paint / primer /clear did you use? And what did you use to prep the mirrors?

 

these look sick someone needs a how to part, and make it a sticky. i wanna do this but dont know how many coats of each, and how long to wait in between.

 

There is a write up somewhere on here on how to remove the door handles, it looked pretty easy. I'll see if I can find it.

 

k thanks

 

As I said earlier this morning I was color matching (it is funny how we have gotten away from saying painting) the tailgate latch. Shadows hide the true look .... which is perfect ..... .

 

This is exactly how I want mine to look. The mirrors weren't too difficult to take off you say? I want to paint the entire bracket as well.

My buddy said if I bring him all 6 pieces (4 handles and the 2 mirror parts) he guesstimated about $100 max. But they color match better than you can ever imagine. My truck is only a month old, so I want to do it sooner than later so all the paint can fade together over time.

Having bought the truck during model year end, I got a really good deal. There weren't any "sport" models available, but at the same time I wouldn't have paid the price either. But i will say, the look is really neat. If i found a good deal on a sport hood, I will pick one up.

I have to upload a picture of a hood this same buddy painted. He took first place in some competition for the entire region. They simply gave him a small (about 1/2 scale) car hood that didn't fit any real vehicle and it was up to him how/what he wanted to paint. He ended up painting the Joker from the latest bat-man. I'm not that big into those movies or anything, but it was the nicest work of paint I have ever seen on an auto part.

He told me he would only charge me $500 to do the same if I brought him a clean hood. I'm not big into too much flash on the taco, but damn tempting. I will upload a pic soon.

 

I got the paint and extra handles.
What are the steps to do the job.
Prep on the plastic, any clear on top, plastic flex stuff needed?
Talk us through the process please.

 

How did you not destroy the camera in the handle? I couldn't do cosmetic work if my life depended on it.

 

Camera? Shit ... I forgot about that!

 

Paint, believe it or not, is all rattle can. It's all about the prep work and how you lay down the paint. Paint I got from ebay seller Spraycansunlimited, perfect super white match. granted they are really expensive spray paint cans, but they're as close as you'll get to a professional spray gun. In as short of an explanation as possible, the steps are:

1. rough up mirrors/handles whatever it is you're painting, with fine grit sandpaper.

2. wipe off with paint thinner or vinegar or some other cleaner to remove oils/grease from your hands and fingers DO NOT touch the parts you will be painting again without using a cloth or something.

3. Spray a couple coats of Bulldog Adhesion Promoter! let it get tacky inbetween coats (5 mins) and don't let it dry completely before you primer, you want it to be tacky when you start step 4

4. Primer, a few coats, 5 minutes or so inbetween, don't let it dry completely but it shouldn't be glossy wet. let it dry completely (1 hour in the sun?). Wet sand with scotch brite pad or extremely fine grit sandpaper. this is an important step, it gets rid of the orange peel effect, keeps it smooth. after wet sanding spray it lightly with water to get all the dust off and then again let it dry. now you're ready to paint.

5. lay down as many coats as you think are necessary, not too heavy, maybe 3 coats, with 10 mins inbetween, same thing should be tacky but not wet but not dry. lay down a final coat thicker than the rest but not too thick to where it drips, this is the hardest part and it sucks! this is where you get your gloss and shine, its not all from the clear coat.

6. Clear coat - same process, let the paint get tacky then lay down a few coats, 5 or 10 mins inbetween.

7. let it cure overnight or all day, even if it is dry to the touch it will be soft and delicate and should not be handled or re-installed.

8. That's the poor man's route to painting! obviously getting them painting professionaly like the OP is a better route, cus you're still going to spend close to $100 on supplies when buying nice rattle cans, primer, clear, sandpaper, 3M tape (did I mention tape off everything you DON"T want painted haha).

There are plenty of other threads explaining those same or close to steps, read through a few of them to educate yourelf and then go for it. Thats what I did. I've never been a do-it-urself guy until I got some stand up jet skis and I just started teaching myself how to tinker, paint, etc.

It is extremely easy, as I wrote about in an above post. you don't even need the writeup, I explained it in a few sentences, it truly is cake!

Tailgate handle looks good! I did the same, just don't have pics of it for some reason

$100 and no headache of literally spending an entire saturday to prep and paint AND having it come out professionaly done, thats a damn good deal!

There you go, process I used explained above.

This has to be my longest post yet!

 

Just kidding. 3M blue painter's tape .... just take your time .... slow and easy ..... make sure everything you don't want painted is taped/papered/covered.

 

Great details!!
Quick questions, what type or kind of primer, clear coat, and is the Bulldog adhesive promoter the brand name?
Thanks again