It is not hard to wrap a vehicle door with vinyl film. Even if you don’t have enough confidence to wrap with the handle on, you can usually take it off and wrap the two parts separately. But if it is a handle that is wired to the door, it is another story.

Not removable

This kind of door handle can be loosed but only partially removable. One side of it can go off, but the other is hard-wired into the vehicle, which makes the situation intractable. Some installers might choose to put the handle back and use vinyl film inlay to wrap its inside later.

Make it efficient

Creating inlays will undoubtedly cost you more energy and time. But here is a more efficient way, where you can wrap as if there is no door handle and focus on the main section.

Preparation

First, you should get the vinyl wrap film panel ready for the door and loose the handle. Then, put masking tape around the handle to lower its surface energy – You will learn why later.

Get away from the handle

Next, put the vehicle wrap panel on the door with the backing paper on. You can secure it in place with magnets. Once the panel is secured, use a marker to draw the shape of the wired hole, which is the fixed part of the handle.

When drawing, make it slightly smaller than the actual size – But don’t make it too small because you will cut this hole on the car wrap and let the handle go through it later. As soon as you trace it out, cut it.

Pre-stretch

Then, you can remove half of the vinyl wrap film’s backing paper (the part where the hole is). Tack and bridge it over an open window on the door. Next, add light heat around the hole to warm the material. Once the vehicle wrap reaches the right temperature, use your two hands to make a 360-degree spread from the hole and pre-stretch the film.

Put the handle through

Now that the hole is pre-stretched, you can take the car wrap off and apply it to the door again. Put the door handle through the hole during the process. This is where the masking tape plays a significant role. The handle will grab the film without it because of its high surface energy.

As you have to do it carefully to avoid overstretching, you will have to adjust the film several times. Thus, it takes patience to slide the vinyl film gradually until the hole matches where it should be.

Wrap as usual

The energy you spend is paid off once the vehicle wrap is set in place correctly. You can now focus on wrapping the door as if there is no handle. Then, wrap the handle separately as if it is removed, and quickly put it back in place.