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Is the After market door handle as good as....

2K views 11 replies 4 participants last post by  sbianco1 
#1 ·
Is the After market [drivers] door handle as good as the more expensive Kia OEM door handle? Any experiences with $10 door handle? I could probably buy 3 of 4 handles for the cost of one OEM?

I need a spare driver door handle for various reasons. One is this is the first year the car is really going to be in the cold even with lubrication, and second is the plastic door handle is 15 years old (I'm on borrowed time).

The interior light is another one but believe a glove compartment flashlight is the solution.
 
#2 ·
Having had the follow on model to your sephia an 04 Spectra. I never had a door handle problem with breakage, and I live near Buffalo NY for WINTER WEATHER! But did find that door seals loved to freeze and keep the doors from opening. I would during fair weather "prep" the door seals with a good cleaning and then a light spray of silicon along with the metal of the doors themselves. If I ever could not just grab the door handle and the door NOT open, I would just get a liter of COOL water and dribble it along the door frame to melt any ICE that was the actual problem. INSTEAD of YANKING on the door handle to pull the door open. Something to consider......
 
#3 ·
Thanks makes sense but this is my second Sephia and "by design" a 75K+ mile Sephia door will freeze. Don't want to talk too much about because the forum is full of this problem. No Yanking necessary, just opening the door handle breaks the plastic handle tabs (handle moves door release mechanism doesn't- crack).
What I'm hope is the spare handle ready, and removing the door panel and coating the interior with sprayed on white lithium grease will help (e.g. window up). What I'm concern about is being at work and having freezing rain crystallize (you know the type). No liter of HOT water from the men's room is available but parking alone & parallel to the Sun will help. Thanks for the reply
 
#5 ·
No one makes a aftermarket handle,that I know of. You don't have a very common car. I'll bet most have been laid to rest. Any part you buy from Kia will have a 1 year 12,000 mile warranty. Left front outer door handle $45.00 right from Kia.
 
#8 ·
Exactly, You get what you paid for, that's why I was asking! Amazon consumer comments are good, if you pay attention to those. However I just bought a New Genuine FRONT LEFT Outside Door Handle OEM For Kia 0K2A159410XX for $10 bucks. I''ll get it Saturday. Not sure how it fit since I'm keeping it as insurance. So I guess this thread ends.
 
#10 ·
Well, all the Aftermarket replacement parts for Sephias, that I've seen in my country, comes from Korea; So, I can not write about the Chinese replacement parts, such as some of the ones that I've seen online, like this:

~► New Outside Door Handle - For KIA Sephia | eBay
 
#11 ·
#12 · (Edited)
Update
I got the handle from ebay from a seller named: spark-surplus

Original Kia handle box was crushed but handle was fine and it was in official Kia sealed plastic packaging. I'm happy. I also took the door panel off this weekend and coated the interior of the door and opening mechanism the best I could with sparyable white grease. Also coated the door panel screws I removed with never-seize so I can remove them easily when its cold.
 
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