The new exterior door handles were here waiting for me when I got home this week...and they are Plastic..????

I bought new paintable ones to replace the chrome handles that are on the Panel now, but was a bit shocked to see these are made of plastic instead of metal...is that what the HHR's came with? I don't want to go through the expense of having them painted and installed and then have them break in short order. I don't ever remember seeing a car with plastic handles so I wondering.....

 

If you inspect your chrome handles I suspect that you will find that either they are covers or they are "chromed" plastic.

In the long run plastic lasts longer than pot metal.

 

All the door handles are plastic.

 

Ahh..OK, now I feel better. I guess I'm a bit Old School, (or perhaps just old)
In my day, stuff that was made to last was made out of metal...

 

Nope all HHR's door handles are good old plastic, some nickel, some chrome, some black chrome, some painted body colour, but all plastic!

 

Yeah, the cosmetic part of the door handle is plastic now on just about every car. Very few parts with a chrome finish are made of metal on modern cars. Most people assume a part is made of metal when it has a chrome finish, but they just chrome plastic the same way they chrome metal. I hear a lot of people call this fake chrome which drives me crazy because it is the exact same chroming process that has been used for decades.