Huh. That surprises me.

I dont see that in the parts list...maybe a UK thing?

RealOEM.com - Online BMW Parts Catalog

Only has a factory painted handle for use with comfort access; only a primed option for non-comfort access (guess the dealer can paint it for you if you want).

The dealers parts guy found the same thing on his system.

I did find a white CA handle on eBay from Germany for £70 but then all the time to rub it down and re-paint, plus it still being second hand and perhaps not working well with the extra layers of paint etc - didn't seem worth the aggravation.

Just accounting for the cost of my time to re-paint it then the saving isn't really going to come to much.


I really didn't want comfort access, soft-close or the electric boot lifter as to me they add little value and are just expensive things to go wrong as the car ages. Already had this issue with the CA and one of the boot lifter actuators went while under warranty. Dreading the soft-close malfunctioning - I will actually look in to whether or not it can be retrospectively removed.

Problem is everything else in the spec was what I wanted so had to compromise. It took 4+ months of looking hard to find an example I was happy with in terms of spec + condition.

How hard is it to swap out the handles...anyone know of a DIY?