Interior door handle damage

I'm wondering if anyone else is experiencing this?

So the small strip of aluminum trim along the drivers side door handle that goes right under your hand when you pull the door closed - I noticed a very small dent in this a day or two after delivery. I assumed it was a small manufacturing defect or something like that. I notice it all the time but not enough to worry about getting it fixed. Most people would never notice it. Today I look at the same spot and now there are several more small dents and scratches in the same little area of that aluminum strip! WTF?

Then it dawned on me.

The location of these little dings lines up exactly with my wedding ring, where it contacts the door every time I grab the handle to close it. So this is all my fault - but I'm kind of annoyed that a) the metal is so soft it's getting dinged up and b) that a door handle - something meant to be grabbed, is designed in a way that it's even prone to something like this.

First world problem for sure and a minor one at that. Now I know and I will be more careful but I'm curious if anyone else has experienced this? Any way to protect that little strip of metal?

ecarfan said:

Yes I have a few scratches in that metal piece as well. I think it is zinc, not aluminum.
You could apply this type of product Amazon.com: 3M 08582 36 Door Edge Protection Film: Automotive

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Good call. I just had my exterior Xpel'd and was thinking something like that on the interior metal would work well. At least in the "at risk" areas.

This issue has persisted despite my best efforts. I have tried to be VERY careful not to hit the metal on the door handle with my wedding ring, but regardless it still manages to pick up lots of scratches and tiny dings. My ring is on the large side, so that's probably why this is such an issue for me. It's starting to look really bad on the trim. I ended up buying a small roll of Xpel film similar to what was suggested above, and installed that this week.

It was a major pain in the ass to install the little strip, as it had to be carefully templated out given the unique shape and curves of the door handle trim. Lots of trimming and re-trimming to get it just right. The curves of the door handle made it next to impossible to apply the film without it peeling back on the curved areas. Added some relief cuts which helped, but after a lot of effort (and frustration) I managed to get a reasonable application which looks fairly crappy. It does solve the problem, but the unexpected result is that the clear film also manages to somehow highlight every ding and scratch even more than before! I thought it would somehow hide it, but it does the opposite. So now its protected, but it looks worse.

As a last resort and only remaining solution to this problem, I am having divorce papers drawn up.

freeewilly said:

Lol, I hope you're not serious, and your wife is not on this forum.

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I'm kidding of course, and no my wife is not on this forum :frown:

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@omarsultan I dig your license plate. Almost named my car the same!