A3 8p exterior door handle rubbing paint off

[Craig2.0tquattro]

Hi Guy's just bought myself an 8p quattro. Lovely thing apart from the drivers door handle cover plate rubbing away the paintwork. Seems to be a common issue. Can anybody recommend a solution to this? Is it the cover plate of fitted correctly or do I need to replace the entire handle unit? All the best guys👊

[Mr Massacre]

Alright mate did you ever find a solution to this as the passenger door handle on my S3 has started doing the same? Cheers 

[Craig2.0tquattro]

Hi sorry for late reply, I still haven't sorted it mate and it's still doing my head in. Cars a proper money pit wish we hadn't bought it tbh. One thing after another, got steering rack to do now ffs. I think the door handles just go out of alignment somehow from all the lifting, I'm going to remove it soon and try another 2nd hand one. Will report back. Atb

[ChrisAmato]

Graig2.0tQuattro

I have the same issue with my door handle covers scratching the paint. Did you ever find a solution?

[RaspRyan]

The only way to truly fix this issue is to bevel the top inner edge of the plastic handle cover. Not a lot of material needs to be removed to properly clearance the handle to the door. Get yourself some touch up paint prior to jumping into this repair. 

There isn’t any adjustment to the handle mechanism itself. The interior and exterior pieces are held together by an interior locking tab. Once separated and removed from the vehicle you can remove the exterior handle cover (by pushing the metal clip or plastic tab depending on which version you have) and sliding the cover off.

Use rubbing compound and repair the scratches to the paint surrounding the door handle/handles. Buff and wax until satisfied.

Put a line of tape down across the top edge of the handle cover, about 1/8 of an inch inward tapering out slightly as the handle down turns.
Use 320 grit and a hard sanding block to make quick work of wet sanding the bevel or “v” to the edge. Then finish up with 400, 600,… clean the piece. Test fit. If all is well and there is no interference apply a bit of color to the bare white plastic and reinstall. 
If done correctly you will not see any difference in appearance of the handle and it will no longer scratch your door paint. Cheers

[ChrisAmato]

Thanks for the info!

I’ll tackle this project after some other issues are taken care of. Just bought the car and need some tlc. Has 55,000 miles on it and the interior is mint. 

[RaspRyan]

Nice. Yeah, no problem. I still have to do the rear passenger door handle. I will try and post a few picks if anyone needs further illustration.