Bri-Guy-GA Posted December 3, 2010 Report Share Posted December 3, 2010 Are any replacement door handles better than the others? I replaced my door handle about a month ago and the darn thing broke this morning. This is getting ridiculous. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
94 olds vert Posted December 3, 2010 Report Share Posted December 3, 2010 I have found the factory ones work the best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
White93z34 Posted December 3, 2010 Report Share Posted December 3, 2010 I bought a Doorman one off rockauto for my lumina. the finish on it is pretty easy to mar up. and if you have the lighted keyhole expect to spend a bit of time with a dremel tool opening the hole up to fit it. Other then that its pretty good albeit somewhat pricey at ~$60 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bri-Guy-GA Posted December 3, 2010 Author Report Share Posted December 3, 2010 With Pontiac gone, where do you get factory ones other than the junk yard? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
94 olds vert Posted December 4, 2010 Report Share Posted December 4, 2010 With Pontiac gone, where do you get factory ones other than the junk yard? Ebay...if you get lucky. I grab them from the junkyard every time i see a cutlass. I have a stockpile of them lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bri-Guy-GA Posted December 4, 2010 Author Report Share Posted December 4, 2010 I wish they hadn't used such crappy metal for such an important part. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ss427 Posted December 4, 2010 Report Share Posted December 4, 2010 It's not really the fault of the pot metal casting. When the rods get deformed over time most people just pull harder on it to get it to open which eventually leads to it breaking. You can still get them from GM but they are very pricey, I think over $200! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GnatGoSplat Posted December 6, 2010 Report Share Posted December 6, 2010 If you only pull on the handle hard enough to unlatch it and then pull the door the rest of the way open by grabbing the door itself, the handles will last almost forever. Do it that way often enough and it becomes a force of habit. I have seen eBay ads that claim their door handles are made of plastic instead. I don't know if that would be any stronger... doesn't sound like it. Probably not even true, they probably just say plastic and you get it and it's the same old pot metal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pistolpetez34 Posted December 9, 2010 Report Share Posted December 9, 2010 Being careful is great but my door keeps freezing shut, and well, I will probably be replacing my handles soon. The gf ripped on the passenger one last night, now it feels like it completely disconnected, and just flops loosely back and forth.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
White93z34 Posted December 9, 2010 Report Share Posted December 9, 2010 When I still winter drove a w-body coupe I would body check the door around the handle to break up the ice, then just gently pull the handle and try to tug from the top of the door frame. Over the past 6 years I've only broken a few handles. and majority of those were on their way to failing when I first purchased the car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GnatGoSplat Posted December 9, 2010 Report Share Posted December 9, 2010 Yeah, I'd always bust up the ice as well, and if it didn't want to open with little force, I'd try the passenger side. If that worked, I'd just get in through the passenger side and climb over the console. Usually I could force the driver side open from inside so that I didn't have to get in through the passenger side on my next stop. These door handles can't take hardly any abuse. Once I busted a door handle because I didn't like how it was rubbing against pillar part of the handle, so I tried to bend it a tiny little bit to where it wouldn't rub any more, and SNAP! My OCD killed that handle so I ended up having to buy a new one. Later on I figured out it's possible to do slight bending by using a small butane torch in the right places, although I'm probably the only one OCD enough to want a new handle look and feel out of an old handle (sometimes old handles get the top edge tipped out at rest and I didn't like that either). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
virtuetovice Posted December 9, 2010 Report Share Posted December 9, 2010 If my doors are frozen shut I just grab the heat gun. As mentioned before, I also use the handle to only unlatch the door, then pull it open with the door itself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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