Peeling Interior Door Handles

[Lewis]

I mentioned this in an earlier post but this is the only thing that really lets my car down and I would love to get it sorted!

I have black leather with blue alacantara trim, which means it comes with blue door handles. These handles appear to have been coated in a rubbery material which is now peeling of the front ones. Has anyone else had this and come up with a solution. I don't really want to fork out for a new pair if the same thing is going to happen, and also don't fancy taking the door trims off. I was thinking of getting something to try and recover them like Solatec. Any thoughts?

Seems like VW still have this problem as I looked at a new beetle for a friend the other day and that had a simular problem after just 10K miles.

Please help

[Mik]

I have had these changed a couple of times (1 each side), from memory parts are pretty cheap and labour should be about 1 hour. Perhaps get the parts from www.vagparts.com.

Mik

[Lewis]

Have the new ones showed signs of breaking up again?

I don't want to by new ones if there's still going to be a problem.

As I said in the post relating to the Vibration it's going in for a service soon, so I'll get a quote.

Cheers

[Golich]

Lewis,

I too had the same prob with my previous S4. (same colour interior) I bought new ones from my local dealership on the advice from VAG parts. As they said there are so many variations that if they supplied the wrong part I would find it a pain posting them back and fore until they got the right one. Besides they said they were cheap.

I replaced the drivers side myself. Not too tricky a job so long as you know how the panel is held on. I won't go into the details (there are a couple of points to note) unless you fancy doing this yourself.

On the other hand someone experienced should be able to do this in less than a hour. So its maybe worth leaving it to your dealer.

Basically the drivers side is two parts. The grab handle is one part that slides/locks into the electric window switches part. I bought both parts for a total of £12-£14? Since the passenger side does not contain the mirror or rear window switches it is in one part.

You are right about the durability of the rubber coating while it is nice to the touch it is not very tough. I had no further probs with mine. Objects like rings and keys are prime culprits for damaging them. So watch what your lady friends are doing.

[Lewis]

Thanks,

I'll get a quote when it goes in for it's next service.

Don't suppose you can shed any light on the Heat sheild Issue I have can you?

[Golich]

Yeah I wrote a reply to your post. I've re-read the main post on all this. Mixed views and opinions.

You say you have had seen and felt the heat shield. Are you confortable that this lighweight shield cannot do any damage elsewhere?

If it is what I think it is I would be hard pushed to pay all that money. But I would reitterate I don't know this shield.

Is this being confused with the actual manifold seperation problem. If I were you I would call AMD. You have seen and felt the shield and are better placed to understand more about it.

Good luck and lett us know!