How-To: Paint Your GMT900 Tailgate Handle.

Bartjo06 · July 14, 2011

Had this on a few other sites, figured I would post here as well.

Supplies you'll need:

-Adhesion Promoter (Helps bond paint to plastic parts) - I used Duplicolor

-Primer - I used Duplicolor

-Base Coat - I again used Duplicolor (Olympic White in my case)

-Clear Coat - Kept with the Duplicolor theme

-Various sandpapers (80, 120, and 320 grit)

Tools you'll need:

-Ratchet/Wrench (13mm)

-Flathead screwdriver

Time: 10 mins dis-sassembly, time to sand and paint, 10 mins re-assembly

Difficulty: Easy

So, you want to start out by taking out these three screws on the back side of the tailgate...

Next you'll want to slide your screwdriver in on the top right and left hand sides of the bezel (trim) and pop the clips out... you'll have to apply a decent amount of pressure, so don't be a sally.

Pictured are the clips that you'll have to pop out...

Next you need to pull the little bars that unlatch the tailgate off the handle assembly. They are held in by clips and are very easy to pop out and slide out of the way. Pictured below are the clips that hold the bars in place on the handle assembly.

Once you have the bars off, there is nothing else holding the handle in, you can finagle it out of the hole to be prepped for paint.

This is what it should look like once you have all the parts out...

If you need to close/open the tailgate while the assembly is out, just pull on the bars together like pictured below and it'll open...

Next part is sanding... you'll want to start out with 80 grit and sand until you get most of the texture out of the plastic. Once you finish with 80, move on to the 120 and eventually the 320. After you're done with the 320, there should be no texture left on the plastic and only small/fine scratches.

This is what it'll look like when you finish sanding...

Next, if you have a locking tailgate, you'll want to take the tumbler out before you start painting (may want to do this before sanding actually), it is held in by a metal clip and can be easily removed so you don't spray over it...

Now you can begin to paint... I do it in this sequence:

2-3 coats of adhesion promoter (5 min between coats)

3-4 coats of primer (5 min between coats)

Take a break, get a beer.

3-4 coats of base coat color (or however much you need to provide adequate coverage) (5 min between coats)

Take a break, get another beer.

3-4 coats of clear coat (5 min between coats)

Let dry for at least a half hour or an hour before trying to put back in truck so you don't mess up your new paint job.

This is what mine looked like after paint...

Now for the reassembly... pretty much reverse action.

Set the tailgate handle assembly inside the hole and put the TOP two screws in finger tight to hold it in place... flip the gate back up and place the bars back in their respective clips, do this by putting the bar in the hole, then moving the clip up and snapping it in place... It'll look like this after you get it all assembled.

Here's a close-up of how the bars should be oriented...

Make sure the tailgate works, it should work fine if you got the bars back in right, fairly self explanatory.

Now you can pop the bezel back on, it just snaps right back in place, be careful and make sure not to scratch your new paint job though. Turn the tailgate back down and put the final screw back in to hold the bezel in place.

You're done...

This is what mine looked like afterward :

Any questions?

redjewel2ss · July 14, 2011

is there much orange peel? have you polished it to see if it has any reflection to it?

about the same steps i took to do my bowties, except i used the 3M Wet-or-Dry 3 Step Sandpaper which is finer than what you used. bowties didn't have texture like the black plastic. my bowties have some orange peel to them now that i painted them.

i have chrome door & tailgate handles, and mirror caps. i want to paint the tailgate handle bezel like you did, the black part of the mirrors, the roof ditch molding, the windshield wiper cowl, and the lower center part of my front bumper (not the splitter). but i'm going to wait and do all that after i buy my reverse camera since the tailgate handle bezel will be swapped. but with that many pieces i'm starting to consider having a body shop professionally spray them; i would remove and install everything myself of course.

mhenshaw · July 14, 2011

Nice write up!!! You can also use filler primer, if you don't want to sand.

Bartjo06 · July 14, 2011

is there much orange peel? have you polished it to see if it has any reflection to it?

about the same steps i took to do my bowties, except i used the 3M Wet-or-Dry 3 Step Sandpaper which is finer than what you used. bowties didn't have texture like the black plastic. my bowties have some orange peel to them now that i painted them.

i have chrome door & tailgate handles, and mirror caps. i want to paint the tailgate handle bezel like you did, the black part of the mirrors, the roof ditch molding, the windshield wiper cowl, and the lower center part of my front bumper (not the splitter). but i'm going to wait and do all that after i buy my reverse camera since the tailgate handle bezel will be swapped. but with that many pieces i'm starting to consider having a body shop professionally spray them; i would remove and install everything myself of course.

I didn't go as far as wet sanding the pieces after I finished, but I think if you did that and some polishing, they would come out very well, I'm just too lazy.

Nice write up!!! You can also use filler primer, if you don't want to sand.

Very good point to bring up, I haven't tried that, but I've heard it does work well.

redjewel2ss · July 14, 2011

Nice write up!!! You can also use filler primer, if you don't want to sand.

never used that before, but always seen it at the store. does it really level out the texture without sanding?

big_dawg74 · July 19, 2011

Nice write up. Would this be the same procedure (more or less) to paint the grill piece between the headlight and the DRL/turn signal on a GMT 800? I would like mine to match the one in the pic.