I've always been annoyed at the poor state of the door handles on my 2004 car. They are scratched, some paint has worn off and someone had a go at touching up the scratches.

Well I've just refurbished the handles, and it was much easier than I thought it was going to be.

The normal options seem to be to buy the handle covers that glue over the existing handle [but they've always seemed a bit cheap to me], you can get the handle sprayed on the car in Zambizi [not ideal], or get a set of handles off eBay and paint the handles and the backing the right colour for your car and then replace the handle assembly.

I was offered 4 genuine handles [FRH500010] which come with a handle and a cover for the other piece, and 1 cover piece for the lock [CWL500010] for £40 - admittedly these normally retail at £90 each for the FRH500010 and £9 for the CWL500010. However, taking the handle assembly apart and replacing just the handle was very simple. If you've got a vice, you can easily push both the pin at the pivot and the longer pin holding the spring and the assembly comes into 2 parts - the handle itself and the rest of the assembly. You can then replace the handles, or get the old ones painted if you don't want to buy new ones. The covers for the door lock part just unclip.

Taking the handle assembly off the car is reasonably straight forward [you've got to remove the door card] - 4 T20 torx screws, disconnect the electrics, peel back the foam seal and 2 T30 torx/M10 bolts hold the handle on. The front doors a little fiddly because one M10 bolt is behind the window channel, but reasonably straight forward once you've done it once.

For £40, definitely worthwhile and has improved the look of the car....

 Current:
- 2017 L405 3.0 V6 Autobiography
Sold:
- 2013 L405 4.4 TDV8 Vogue
- 2004 L322 4.4 Vogue (BRC LPG)
- 2002 L322 4.4 HSE (having fixed timing chain guides)
- 2000 P38 4.6 Vogue (BRC LPG)
- 1981 2-door In-Vogue
- 1980 Ex-Army SIII LWB
- 1976 SIII LWB
- 1968 SIIA
Stripped for parts:
- 2003 L322 4.4 Vogue

So did you get so,e with the wrong colour shells so you just got the handles off and swapped the,? Where did you get for that price? Current stable:
2006 BMW M6
2007 4.2 V8 S/C FF
Gone:
2002 4.4 V8 FF

I had some spare shells in Bonatti Grey, so swapped the handles then replaced the handle assembly on the car - I've now got some spare Bonatti Grey shells if anyone is interested....

I got them from a guy who had sold his car. He'd bought them to fix the state of his handles, but never done anything more.

The handle parts are available on eBay cheaper than the LR price... Current:
- 2017 L405 3.0 V6 Autobiography
Sold:
- 2013 L405 4.4 TDV8 Vogue
- 2004 L322 4.4 Vogue (BRC LPG)
- 2002 L322 4.4 HSE (having fixed timing chain guides)
- 2000 P38 4.6 Vogue (BRC LPG)
- 1981 2-door In-Vogue
- 1980 Ex-Army SIII LWB
- 1976 SIII LWB
- 1968 SIIA
Stripped for parts:
- 2003 L322 4.4 Vogue

I've just done the same after wasting £60 on the 'Powerfull' covers, they look & feel wrong, plus the drivers door lock cover is misaligned. I picked up four handles over a couple of months from various auction sites (all unused) for an average of £45 each, I've also changed the gaskets (CXE000030) and took the opportunity to machine polish the door and the handle backing whilst it was all stripped. I'm aware of the various painting options, for me, this was the preferred option, albeit more expensive.

I'm booked in to have the roof and upper tailgate resprayed next Monday and the guy said he'll do the handles for free. Although there's nothing really wrong with them, the colour has faded slightly and as the guy was in awe of the car he said he'll do handles as well.

I've got a replacement upper tailgate which I'm having resprayed, I've stripped it of all parts and removed some of the seam sealer to expose the potential corrosion points. The tailgate cost me £180 and the respray plus replacement trim & fixings is ~£200 - cheaper than I was quoted to refurb the existing one, and with less downtime.

Good way to do it and much cheaper. I've got rust just coming through at the bottom of the upper tailgate and the paint on the spoiler has bubbled. The roof on mine looks awful with the lacquer peeling and just need it done. A guy near Bristol is doing it all, roof, upper tailgate, spoiler and door handles. Charging me £1200 which was the cheapest i got and most expensive was £1700 that was without the spoiler and handles.