I purchased a set of SMA billet door handles on eBay a few months ago intending to get them powdercoated black and swap out my chrome handles. I'm finally going to get that done this weekend. I read the instructions that came with my new handles and it says to remove the entire door panel. Has anyone made a similar swap? Does the door panel need to be removed for these or can I follow the attached thread? I've not done anything yet but wondering if I need to allocate a LOT more time (beers) to the project.

 

Do you have a part # Lomag? I am still reading on Raodafly that it is hard to get teh aux inpu AND it DEOS NOT work with I-Drive? Can you help?By teh way, I miss your old BMW545 site. I looked at it daily until it went bye bye.

 

could you email me the pictures - they aren't showing up in the forum.

baseball0411@aol.com

Thanks!

 

I changed out black handles for chrome ones today and it was so easy. Only the first handle had the spring catch slip up but it was easy to hold it down with the index finger while inserting the handle to catch it. The rest were as easy as anything and the instructions on this forum were an invaluable help. I would HIGHLY recomend a magnet, though, to prevent the bolts from falling inside the door panel. I let two bolts slip and if it wasn't for the magnet I would still be trying to fish them out of the door. The chrome looks great too!

Michal

 

Thanks, I'm new and already you've help!! I noticed the one door handle was very loose and was wondering how to tighten it... many thanks

 

Someone should put the pics back in this thread..

 

WOW now I have to go all the way to Staples to get an easy button.

 

These are great instructions, thanks! The painters tape was a great idea, no scratches. I did mine and all the latches worked perfectly. I just hit hard enough to make them pop off, no harder than needed. I was worried about dropping the bolts down the door so I stuffed an old thin clothe down the little hole to block the bolt from falling if it did fall, I also put some painters tape on the head of the bolt and then put the socket on, it held real nice. The crome door handles look real nice, and didn't have to go to the dealership. Thanks again!

 

The instructions in the beginning of this thread worked great.

 

Had to replace one of the handles that came off in my wifes hand. Both ends broke off the handle. The dealer wants $44-$45. Took me 10 min to replace. Wish someone could replace the pictures. Guess I should have taken some when I replaced mine. Once you have the new part in your hand it's easy to see what needs to be done.