[pioneer]

Thanks for bring this 31/2 yr old thread back. My drivers side door handle has been broke for a few weeks and I was just about ready to buy a new 1.
Thank I will try the screw & epoxy method 1st.

 

[Paulozzysrt8]

Probably not much help now, but I had the same problem on my driver side rear door. My seven year old daughter broke it within a month of buying it (used). The part that broke for me (and most others I've seen in my research) is the plastic on the hinged end of the handle. The plastic is relatively thin-walled and hollow. The hollow part is the good thing; it is what allowed me to repair my handle without replacing it. Here's how.

What I did is very similar to the description in this thread. The difference is I used some drywall screws instead of aluminum rod. The coarse thread gives the epoxy an excellent surface to adhere to. I zipped off the head of the screw with my dremel so that all that was left were the threads. I then filled in the hole in the hinge left in the door with epoxy. I coated the other end of the screw with epoxy, and lined up the hole on the handle side of the hinge. I slid the two parts together and let the epoxy do its thing.

Now, don't get impatient like me. The epoxy sets up relatively quickly, but It doesn't fully harden (depending on the epoxy) for 24 hours. I didn't fully read the directions about the cure time, and I kept pulling the handle apart too soon... Once I read the directions, I assembled the handle, waited 24 hours and voila, the handle works as good as new. There is absolutely NO way to tell that it ever broke, and I was able to do the entire repair on the car...no disassembly required.

I actually believe, due to this repair, that this door handle is now MORE durable than the remaining handles because it is more fully reinforced.

Good luck.

I've done this on three of my four handles now. All of them broke in the same spot at the plastic hinge. Two of the door handles were broken by small children (not a very strong part, huh?). Understand, the repair I'm suggesting does not require removing the handle. The handle has enough play to do the repair on the car. I simply put some masking tape down to keep the epoxy off the paint. Not one part needed to be removed.

All three handles I've repaired are working great, and the first repair is over three years old now. I used a simple two part epoxy from autozone. You know, the kind that comes in the syringe that you dispense then mix.

When you mention epoxy, do you mean just a really strong 2 part superglue ? Thanks