Does anyone else offer black out door handle and gas filler cap covers besides Asethetic Creations? Which is now not offering any MINI stuff. Is there any site vendor/sponsor that offers these? Before anyone just tells me to plasti dip mine I already have and it didn't last. I've even considered buying the Putco covers and painting them myself. Thoughts?
I think others have bought those ridiculous checkered handles from MINI, sanded them, and painted those. Probably not cheap since it is a MINI part
From my reading it seems that most people are buying these or these and refinishing them. Took at look at the Euro version of the car on RealOEM, which, I know doesn't have everything anymore, RealOEM is slipping, but the only whole assemblies are chrome with them also showing the same checkered or Union Jack ones as an accessory. MINI has a black door handle from the factory available?
Those are the PUTCO brand covers. These are the ones I'm thinking about buying and painting them Jet Black to match. Realoem.com is a pirated version of ETK some hacker put on the internet. It hasn't been updated since the spring of this year. BMW is actually trying to have the site closed down. Well I have the use of the ETK and under a Euro version there is no black covers shown under an R56 or another other model. It would have been awesome if MINI had black covers for the handles and gas cap with the Blackline kit. Yes the Union Jack, Black Jack, and Checkered handles are the whole door handle assembly.
These are the ones I use and they fit perfectly. You can paint them with Plasti Dip or Krylon fusion it you want them glossy black. The gas cap cover can be done a few ways with Plasti Dip, vinyl, or paint its all about the prep. Plasti Dip is easy and will look great as long as you warm it up before you spay it. Also if you mess up it just peals right off. Vinyl is a PITA and is not worth the time. Painting the gas cap is all about the prep because you must really scuff ALL the chrome so you can get a sand-able primer to stick and be able to sand it smooth. If you can't get a primer to stick your paint job will just flake off in a few weeks or one pressure wash. I have done a few of these mods for friends and the results are great with Plasti-Dip. The key is to warm the can in the sun for a few hours or put it in a pot of hot water (not on the stove) and spray thin light coats. PD will spray very thin like water when it's very warm just like a "candy" like paint such as nite shades. Oh I just though of another way to make your gas cap glossy black..... Powder coating, but that that will cost some $$$$.
Wow.. Never heard of heating a spray can before.. I've had both parts dipped for 6 months with no issues. Use window cleaner or mild soap and clean off door handles. Tape around the edges, spray 1 extremely light coat and follow up with two medium coats and carefully remove tape while dip is wet. The gas cap is gonna be a pretty much the same but you'll need to remove it from car.. Open your cap look under the top inside edge of cap there should see a tab you can pry down with a small flat screwdriver. Stick the tip of screwdriver in and pry out a little and then turn cap counter clockwise. The cap should rotate off the car, once you have it off clean it and dip it with same process as handles. I have all my trim dipped and it looks flawless, you just need more practice. All my trim was done with a can but I did my jcw wheels with spray gun and air compressor.. It can be done.. If this fails you can always scuff up your parts and use paint instead.. Sorry for punctuation I'm using my phone to type this
I might swap the chrome gas cap assembly from the S to Justa. Paint the Justa's filler door. IDK...Might just pd them again.
A couple of UK web sites to look at to get the parts you are looking for. I have purchased items from both sites NewMINIStuff.com Genuine MINI Parts for JCW John Cooper Works R50, R52, R53, R56, R55 CLUBMAN, R57 Cabriolet, R58 Coupe, R60 Countryman, Genuine MINI Parts and Genuine MINI Accessories.
I saw both the pieces I'm looking for on there Howard. But I don't want to replace the whole door handle.
I got my CF ones from ebay for $70. I cant remember the seller but they were from china. Pretty good product though. 18 listing but none just black, R56 Door Handle Covers | eBay
I saw those. I really don't get why no one is offering gloss black ones. Carbonmini has really nice CF covers. To nice to paint over. CARBONMINI.COM : Cool Carbon Fiber Parts for MINI Cooper
Got the similar CF covers from Taiwan's seller on eBay... First time I squized the door handle, the cover cracked... It was not a flush fit over the chrome... Be aware of cheap stuff. Ended up throwing those in garbage and ordered another set of matte black from Aestetic Creations while they were still selling. Much better product.
I should have ordered from AC when they were still around. A couple of friends have bought the same Taiwanese covers and they cracked as well.
We sell the chrome handles for $41.59 (plus shipping)......You could try one out and see if you can paint it...you wouldnt be out too much money if it didnt work out....Just throwing out options...