I think you're safe from having this info duplicated in another project car series because Tim, proud and meticulous restorer that he is, was horrified by my $28.99 Amazon solution--but yeah, I'm perfectly satisfied.
Photography by JG Pasterjak
If you spend any time around BMWs, you know that they have a few peculiarities. Most are easy to overlook, especially since the cars are typically just so satisfying to drive, but some really boggle the mind as to why they exist in the first place.
Such is the case with sticky plastic.
It’s not unusual for certain surfaces inside Munich’s finest–frequent touch points like buttons or handles–to become sticky or even downright gooey after years of use and aging.
In the case of our 435i project car, the inner surfaces of the door handles–the actual part that your hand grabs when closing the door–had become unmanageably sloppy.
The stock inner handles had become a gluey, tar-like surface that provided great grip but was also making a mess of our hands. Then that mess would get transferred to clothing, other car surfaces–just literally everywhere.
It was awful and I needed a solution, because increasingly I found myself closing the door by pulling on the door pocket, which is not a long-term solution.
I first explored cleaning methods and got a lot of advice from a lot of sources (including the GRM board, if I recall correctly). Goo Gone, denatured alcohol, mineral spirits, acetone and other cleaning methods were all touted as surefire, but nothing actually worked. It was basically like trying to vacuum the beach, because cleaning the surface of goo would just reveal more goo underneath.
Then one day I was texting with Margie Suddard, and she was expressing her satisfaction with her new BMW 328i. Then she mentioned that she had just snapped some door handle covers over the sticky rear door handles.
WAIT, THOSE ARE A THING!?
Why did I not know about these before? Why has everyone been keeping this information from me?
I’m sure you’ll now be reading about door handle covers in more than one project car update stream, but I don’t even care if I’m double-dipping here because these things were inexpensive and instantly fixed a huge problem with zero effort.
I got a set from Amazon for like $23, and they installed in about negative 4 seconds.
The covers snap over the inner sticky part of the handle and lock into the seams between the inner and outer part of the handle. They blend both aesthetically and tactilely, and best of all, they don’t stick to your hands and spread tarry goo all over everything. I spent way more than $23 on various chemicals that were all supposed to work but did nothing.
So anyway, these covers exist for a ton of BMWs with sticky handle disease, and they’re the easiest fix for the issue. Fixing it “properly” requires some serious door disassembly and an expensive BMW part, which could have the same issue down the road, so as far as I’m concerned, this is probably the better fix.
I think you're safe from having this info duplicated in another project car series because Tim, proud and meticulous restorer that he is, was horrified by my $28.99 Amazon solution--but yeah, I'm perfectly satisfied.
In reply to Marjorie Suddard :
To be fair, it doesn't look like a $28.99 fix. Looks like it fits perfectly.
In reply to Marjorie Suddard :
Yeah it was either $25 for these or a couple hundred for BMW handles plus the fun of disassembling the entire door panel. The lady who reviews my project car receipts should have way fewer issues with these, too.
J.A. Ackley said:In reply to Marjorie Suddard :
To be fair, it doesn't look like a $28.99 fix. Looks like it fits perfectly.
Agreed, which can be a pleasant surprise when you order car bits off of Amazon.
Yeah, it was definitely a gamble, but when the choice is getting black handle goo all over yourself every time you use the car, or not getting black handle goo all over yourself every time you use the car, the decision is easier.
I bought replacement door handles by Jaronx on Amazon, inner and outer. Fit great and no more stickiness. Even the outer part of the handle was breaking down. Also replaced the "cup" in the front door handles; they break down too.
I've had the same fix in my 320i handles for a few years now. They still look great.
I pointed these out to a co-worker that has a BMW. The conversation started out with "Hey Kevin, does your BMW have sticky door handles?"
In reply to Noddaz :
My parents have a BMW of this era.
“Hey, Dad....”
I ordered some for my wife's X5 this week. Can't wait to see them come in!
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