Wifey was reading the post re: the ease of scratching the silver painted part of the interior door handles. Next thing I know, she's come out of The Container Store, hops in the MINI, and proceeds to wrap a black gel-padded velcro fastening do-hickey around her door handle. Smiles at me with a chessire grin and says "lemme know when you want one for your door".

The do-hickey turns out to be a device intended to pad luggage or carry-bag hand grips. It's a simple device, gel-filled neoprene in the shape of a 4x6 rectangle, with velcro strips set up so that you can wrap it around the luggage handle of your choice and proceed in comfort. Retailed for about $5, and should be available at travel-accessory stores in airports and such.

Turns out it can be stretched to fit around the door handle in a MINI too. I caved after a week, and wifey got one for me too.

 

Have you got pics?

 

I would love to see how this items looks like.

Please post some pic DanBrady

 

After just over a year of TLC, my door handles have still both gotten scratched up. Covering them up is my reasonable only option. Your solution sounds like a good one.

God speed.

 

Looks like it's working (the picture posting thingy). The color of the wrap shows as true black, while the "stock" build-up on the other part of the arm-rest is a little greyer. That's true to life, but it's not much of a visual problem when seen with the naked eyes...

Wifey calls it a "door cozie".

 

My wife's ring was scratching the passenger side door handle paint too. I decided on a classier, if more challenging fix: I bought a peice of very thick nobbly but soft leather in a dark grey (really black but I am optomistic!) and I made a thin cardboard pattern that fit the shape of the handle, the WHOLE handle including the curves at top and bottom, perfectly. I punched 12 holes on each of the two mating edges and used waxed cotton string (exactly like a fine leather steering wheel cover) to lace them up. Lacing was easy: I just made it super loose at first, then spun them into the right orientation (seam inside the door pocket) and tightened them down. It was a bit tricky tightening the lacing inside the door pocket, but with a pair of hemostats or a crochet hook you should be fine. The result is a luxurious texture that is rewarding to touch and feels like quality. A little leather dressing every 6 months ( I do my seats anyway) and we're good for 25 years.

Here is an easier low-dollar alternative that could look REALLY cool! Use Bicycle handlebar tape. Good bike shops carry lots of colors and textures, and they are not expensive. Don't peel all of the adhesive away, or stick it to the tape itself, not the handles, and you will be able to restore it no problem. This way you can cover ALL of the silver paint on the whole handle assembly. Should have a nice "sporty" look, and color matching becomes an option!

Have fun!

 

Holy crap. Cinelli cork tape. Awesome.

I'm a fanatical cyclist, spend most of my free hours with my hands wrapped around the stuff anyway.

May just have to do that...now, which color, which pattern....

 

I just did this addition. I found some at Brookstones at the local mall. 3 for $12. They are the luggage identifiers, so you have a choice of yellow, blue, green, and beige. They look stock because I found a blue version that goes with my seats that are leather with the blue accents.

This dressed up the already cool interior.

I'll take some pics asap.

Carl

 

Carl, I'm looking forward to seeing your pics! Brookstones has all kinds of stuff!