How To: PTM Handles the EASY way
 

On my last F150 i went thrpough the work of removing my door panels and everything to remove all my handles, and since the prep wprk takes awhile i was driving around with no door handles on certain doors for a straight week. Heres how i did it the easy way.
*Prep work, about 10 minutes. Spray time for primer, base, and clear, about 2 hours.
Materials needed:
Spray Max 2K primer in a spray can-20$
Spray max 2k Clear in a spray can-20$
Reduced auto body paint in a can.. any paint shop can make it for about 20-25$
Grey scour pad or 600 grit sand paper
Stainless Steel Handle covers from Ebay (dont do chrome,. covers cost me 60$ shipped)
-Scuff down the handles until the shines off with the sandpaper or scuff pad. It will look like brushed stainless when it is ready
Attachment 528631
The one on the left is prepped, the one on the right is obviously still shiny
This next part i didnt take pics for because its self explanatory.
-Wipe down handles with reducer, alcohol, prep, whatever.
-spray two even coats of primer, lets it flash dry (meaning wait til it has no shine on it.. people will argue about wait time but u can spray base on wet sealer if you want)
-spray two coats of base.. or more.. wait abpout 30 mins
-Spray your clear coat. I waited about 20 minutes in between coats, and did 3 wet coats. no runs.
Attachment 528632
Wallah! nice and wet.. out of a SPRAY CAN. Spray max is the ish my friends.
Allow at least 10 hours to cure.. i usually let them dry over night.
at this point u can sand imperfections out of the clear if u have any, this clear can be cut and buffed no problem.
Heres the finished product.
Attachment 528633
Attachment 528634

Pros: Cheap, quick, easy, and very good looking mod for your truck
Cons: The handle cover has a tiny gap in between the cover itself and the body.. literally a few millimeters. Also, the area behind the pull handle is obviously still plastic.
My verdict: Totally worth it. This mod costs right around 120$ and looks great. For the price that a body shop will charge, it wont look much better than this. So why bother? I will never remove handles again!
Hopefully some of yall give this a try. :thumbsup:

I was thinking just the same thing the other day, for people with an XLT or so. Definitely the next best thing. Looks good. Great idea for those looking to do this mod. Definitely worth doing on an XLT chrome package with the black bezels. I'd definitely do it if I had one. Great write up.

Thanks alot bro! i definitely think it was one of the best mods ive ever done on any of my trucks.. its so much easier and looks great.. and cheap!

I'm looking at doing this with my XLT chrome package but I'll just do it the hard way since the black bucket behind the handle would be obvious on my silver pickup. Great idea though :thumbsup:

How much work is it to remove the door handles? I have the XLT with the chrome handles, not the buckets. I was thinking of masking off and painting it on the truck.

I commend u for doing it, cuz i would still use this method for any color truck! i will never take all the handles off again, it was too much of a PITA ha thanks tho!

Only 3 handles :thumbsup:

Plus I'll do it on a Sunday when I don't have to drive mine anywhere and can do it all in one day

they look good, but has anyone thought about just brushing them with 600 grit and putting them back on looking like brushed stainless?...maybe put a clear coat on them too...

Its a huge Pain to remove the handles because u have to remove all 4 door panels and the cables that attatch from the inner pull handle to the door handle.. then u have to remove the 2 or 3 screws that hold the handles on.. get ready to spend a couple hours on it. you could paint it on the truck, just be careful not to damage the truck during the prep

i just taped mine off on monday and painted. not ptm though as i have the black plastic buckets with chrome handles, so i just painted handles a satin black to some what match the buckets. I will tell you this, it was a pain to tape it all off, i kind of wish i seen this before monday LOL

on a side note, i did my front grill surround at the same time, i sanded down a bit, washed, adhesive promoter, primed, then auto body mixed PTM spray can paint, then did some clear, but it came out rough feeling, not glassy like the truck. What went wrong? it seemed baby smooth until the PTM paint.