Door pulls need attention

[nine-fiver]

I have rubbed the coating off the door pulls back to a shiny black finish, as they were starting to look tatty. Looking to improve their appearance to a more premium feel, and stop them from creaking when you grab them!
Wondering if anyone has done the leather thing, or otherwise.

[Audax]

Hirsch do a kit, it's not cheap but it's for all the door handles and the hand brake and smart slot cover. However I'm not sure if the kit is still available or not.

[sgould]

Make sure that the door pull is still intact before you buy any covering.  Ours were the same age as yours and the bottom end of the two "tubes", on both front doors, had broken away.  I did a bodge to try and fix it, but in the end I bought new door pulls.  The face which has worn away is a different part from the bit that screws to the door.

What the door pull looked like when I removed it.




The ends buried behind the door card.  The Araldite epoxy was the first stage of my attempted repair.  Didn't work satisfactorily.  Both ends looked like this.




And this is what they should look like.



The face of the door pull levers off to allow access to the torx bolts.

[warptechno]

I just painted the two front door pulls and the rears and also the strip along the glove box compartment last month.  Did them a nice metallic silver (vw reflex silver) and has brought them up looking much better. 

Also did the peeling dash surround at the same time (halfords matt black) what a difference it has made and an oem finish in my opinion.  Removing all that rubbery surface with brake fluid made life much easier.  As a side note - flash taped all the mating plastic pieces behind the dash when I had everything else out, used to creak like hell behind there - not a sound out of it now!

[nine-fiver]

Nice! Pics?

[sgould]

All my pictures of the door, in random order.  Plus some others from the Door Lock and the Window winder.

Door Pull

Door Lock

Window

[Max Headroom]

A really useful article this,  thanks Sgould!

[nine-fiver]

Looks like I have three options for the door pulls.
1.Restore the pull to OEM look using Plastidip.
2.Source a fine leather to overcoat the pull (preferred)
3.use a carbon weave vinyl 3M product.

They all have their own advantages and disadvantages...

[Max Headroom]

It would be the leather option for me as well. Pricey though; would need a good trimmer that knows his trade well.

The only chap I know is Alan Geater at http://www.totaltrimsolutions.co.uk/.
I used to regularly see his work when he was based at South Stoke in the 80's and 90's; it was where I was restoring my vintage car.

[nine-fiver]

Ah. Not going down the professional route on this one. DIY pour moi, in the spirit of 'avoiding expenditure at all costs'...
Seriously, looking at doing a black leather over the door pull shell and think it is quite do-able.
When I work out how to post pics, will show my attempt soon...

[sgould]

I think you will have to glue it on all over.  If you try to tuck it round the edges of the face plate, I don't think it will clip back on.

Maybe with very thin leather... ?

[nine-fiver]

Well, it seems I may be onto something here. Sourced some leather-look auto grade vinyl upholstery trim, in satin black. Stretches with a but of heat and goes around sharp edges well, and it is the right texture.
Removed the door pull covers. Cleaned them up, sanded them back and covered them in the vinyl. Tricky and fiddly, and messy with the rubber cement. Patience required in large doses.
The vinyl has the texture of grained leather that matches the door card trim nicely. I wrapped the trim around by 5mm on all edges. And it looks a size larger and feels more 'factory' than I expected. Really solid and higher quality feel to the cabin now. Almost like it should have been like this from new from the beginning. And it all clips back on to the handles. 6 hours well spent, I think.

[Audax]

Really solid and higher quality feel to the cabin now. Almost like it should have been like this from new from the beginning.

If it had have been like that from the factory maybe they'd still be in business, the 9-3 was just too much cheap utility plastic fantastic on the inside. Amazing how such a small amount of cost and effort has fixed up your car!

[nine-fiver]

That though crossed my mind as I was doing this too. The point of contact where you actually touch the car is such an important thing, and is much underestimated in my view. Audi do a great job of this, even in their older cars. Merc possibly the best at it since the 60s. But our new Mazda 6 wagon has blown me away with its interior. A base model car with proper stitched leather trim on the doors and dash pad. 10 different textures in the cabin makes it a classy place to sit.
And you're spot on Audax, the 9-3 interior is very Placky, and at times irritatingly quite Tacky. Why DID they do this? My only logical reason that I can come up with, is a feature that I call 'scrub-ability'.
You can scrub anything off the trim in a 9-3, particularly with an Enjo cloth, and it is new again. Crazy.
But this uber practicality came at a price. A serious lack of texture and feel.
So, the challenge now is to steadily improve the interior of the cabin to make the 9-3 a nicer place to be.

[nine-fiver]

Update.
The door-pulls in their new vinyl look and feel great. Very solid and much more meaty to grab when shutting the door.
All good...except for the smell. Seems the rubber cement glue I used has reacted in a particular way with the ABS plastic and the vinyl. Or it is just a smelly glue that is still giving off lots of fumes.
And not so pleasant ones at that.