Welcome to Tesla Motors Club
Discuss Tesla's Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, Cybertruck, Roadster and More.
Register

Scalding Hot Door Handles!

This site may earn commission on affiliate links.
Re-post - have to stop posting from my iphone (since the genius at apple put the shutter button on the bottom of the phone)
Here is the car in the heat. Expel should be done by Saturday, I will update once I do a new measurement.

image.jpg
 
I burnt my hands yesterday at Dallas parked in the sun for 1-2 hrs...I could not even turn on AC remotely because I had a loaner...:mad:

Are people complaining about the surface (flush with door when handles retracted) or the inside grip of the handle?
I get that its solid metal, but I wouldn't expect a/c "venting" to affect the surface, but the inside grip. As such, were fieldalias' measurements taken on the surface or the inside grip?

First world problems here ... just apply a carbon decal to the door handle and problem solved!

cd0434_1e4fdb7ce19e47189ea2780e0f147fc8.jpg
 

I get that a cabon fiber wrap on the handle may help with the surface being hot, but I never touch the surface. That is why I am confused. The only part I touch is the inside grip to "pull" the door handle. B/c of where I touch, I can see a/c cooling would help, but I don't see how a/c cooling would help the surface. Does wrapping the surface perhaps reflect the heat so the inside grip doesn't warm up?

BTW, I would love to do a chrome delete on my car. Is that CF wrap difficult to apply? I may need to look into getting some.
 
Re-post - have to stop posting from my iphone (since the genius at apple put the shutter button on the bottom of the phone)

Since the "shutter buttons" are the volume buttons, they are on the left side of the phone.

If you rotate the camera right to take horizontal pictures, they are on top, if you rotate left, they are on the bottom. I don't think it's really fair to blame the apple programmers for you rotating the camera so the volume buttons are on the bottom...
 
I get that a cabon fiber wrap on the handle may help with the surface being hot, but I never touch the surface. That is why I am confused. The only part I touch is the inside grip to "pull" the door handle. B/c of where I touch, I can see a/c cooling would help, but I don't see how a/c cooling would help the surface. Does wrapping the surface perhaps reflect the heat so the inside grip doesn't warm up?

BTW, I would love to do a chrome delete on my car. Is that CF wrap difficult to apply? I may need to look into getting some.

Yes, the carbon wrap keeps the entire handle cooler including the inside surface.

An easy DIY ... more information here: http://www.rpmtesla.com/#!shop/c1i41
 
Since the "shutter buttons" are the volume buttons, they are on the left side of the phone.

If you rotate the camera right to take horizontal pictures, they are on top, if you rotate left, they are on the bottom. I don't think it's really fair to blame the apple programmers for you rotating the camera so the volume buttons are on the bottom...

Rotating the camera right , so the buttons are on the top, causes the picture to be upside down. So yes, blaming them seems appropriate.

- - - Updated - - -

Are people complaining about the surface (flush with door when handles retracted) or the inside grip of the handle? I get that its solid metal, but I wouldn't expect a/c "venting" to affect the surface, but the inside grip. As such, were fieldalias' measurements taken on the surface or the inside grip?

They were taken on the surface with an IR gun. Further, the Xpel wrap only covers the outside of the handle , not the inside.

I didn't measure the inside the of the handle, and would likely need a temp probe to do so.
 
Last edited:
They were taken on the surface with an IR gun. Further, the Xpel wrap only covers the outside of the handle , not the inside.

I didn't measure the inside the of the handle, and would like need a temp probe to do so.
Thank you for clarifying. The surface temp on my handle may be hot just like yours, but I would never notice since I do not ever touch that surface. The temperature of the inside grip is where I would be interested in temps since that is my contact point with the handle. Hopefully the Xpel providing some benefit on the surface means the handle itself has less heat to absorb overall!
 
An observation I made when returning to my car earlier this afternoon (bright sunshine, 87F):

If you park so that the driver's side door handle is in the shade of the car body, it's not a problem (for me, anyway).
 
I agree, it's 100% the sun, I thought that was clear.

If I park the car outside, the sunny side will have scalding hot handles, the shady side (or at least not direct sunlight) will have warm but easily touchable handles.