Changing the door handle silver inserts to black (or something else)

[jmh]

So I got bored and decided it's time to find out how I could approach getting rid of the last piece of chrome on my (soon to be) F10 M5 ....
for some reason BMW decided to make the door handle inserts chrome strips (plastic) and not match the exterior trim (ie Shadowline Gloss Black or Satin for the Individual Silver trim) . IND has great options to eliminate the silver from the side and front grills.

As I don't have not yet taken delivery of my M5 (up for ED on 10/1) I decided I'd just buy a door handle for R&D purpose.
You may not know (yet) but it turns out the door handles do actually come pre-painted from the factory and are not primed like most other trim/body parts. Ie you need to have the VIN/color code in order to get them.
I fully expected the handle to take a while as I have ordered an Individual color (Brilliant White) but to my surprise the handle arrived the next day at my dealer .

In looking at the handle itself it turns out the silver insert is just a plastic strip which is attached to the handle via double sided tape.

One could even remove the strip (being careful and using the right tools , it is easy to damage the paint on the handle itself and it's made of fairly soft plastic) without taken off the handles themselves .

Once the strip has been removed one could either paint them or using a vinyl overlay.
I decided on a vinyl overlay as painting didn't seem to work too well (likely would chip/flake over time).
Now folks can become creative regarding colors and/or finishes .....

I decided to go with gloss black just for trial on my R&D handle .

Once my car is state side I'll provide a more detailed write-up on the whole process etc

For now below are two pictures of the modified handle

View from top


View from the side


Enjoy,
Jan

[ibrennan]

http://f10.5post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=454608

[jmh]

Originally Posted by ibrennan

http://f10.5post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=454608

Thanks ! Only remark I have is that one can't buy the individual strips without the door handles. I am sure at some point someone will come up with replacement inserts which would make the whole process even easier .

- Jan

[EV0LVE]

why not buy a door handle without the chrome strip? Or do you like the handle with black strip?

[loday]

I had the side grills and door handles vinyl wrapped in gloss black. The installer finished them in about 40 minutes and they matched perfect. Sorry for the crappy iphone pics.

[Retina]

Who's your installer? In Pas?

[loday]

Advance Auto Engineering in Cerritos. Scott is the owner and he did my entire front end with Xpel Ultimate as well.

[Bmill]

So would you really have to remove the chrome sticker in order to put the wrap on?

[jmh]

Originally Posted by Bmill

So would you really have to remove the chrome sticker in order to put the wrap on?

No. It can be done on the car without taking the chrome inserts off.
Just should be done by someone skilled enough and you trust using a sharp
knife on your car

[nytrus112]

Originally Posted by jmh

No. It can be done on the car without taking the chrome inserts off.
Just should be done by someone skilled enough and you trust using a sharp
knife on your car

So this is still the only known way to get rid of this chrome??? No simple aftermarket shipable option?

[Artem@ONEighty]

In my opinion whether your wrapping it or painting it you should remove it off the car. The process is very easy, just need to be a little patient.