To follow up with this post, I have attached a few photos of the first failed door handle (the second is on the car). One post broke and the other was cracked. This occurred after about week or so. What I find unusual is the manner how it cracked - notice the rough break in the plastic. This was different than my original grey handle, which seemed to have a smooth crack. I am not a plastic expert but I wonder if this has some this to do with the quality of the plastic.
As a further update, I have been in touch with both RimmerBros and Xpart concerning these part failures. They affirmed that I am the first customer to complain about this. They stated they sell many of these handles and never have a problem. As a measure of goodwill, they offered to send a new handle. I recommended to them that they make this part with a thicker post to improve on the original flawed design. I doubt Xpart will but both companies were nonetheless responsive and polite.
In the meantime I also managed to source a NOS handle.
The problem is that now I am not sure what do. I do not have the patience to go back to the painter again, spend 1-2 hours installing it again and for it to break a third time. I would just like to fix this.
1. I was thinking that the bolt / screw should be a bit longer. If you look at where the post breaks, it is always in the middle. The screw / bolt does not go the the end / bottom, it seems to only go about halfway down. Do you think it would hold better / be less likely to break with a longer screw / bolt? I also note that the mount has some additional 'support' towards the bottom. Maybe there would be less flex / movement in the mount with a slightly longer screw that goes to the base of the post. Does anyone know the dimensions of the standard screws / bolts?
2. Would it make a difference to use some epoxy resin with fiberglass material to give more support to the base or would this not hold to the ABS? I am wondering if the fiberglass would just become unstuck from the plastic after a short while (when it flexes from use) or if it would help support the bracket. For additional clarity, I would do this with a new part, not to repair a broken part. I would be doing it only to provide additional support to post that is not broken.
3. I have given some though to putting a stainless bolt through to the outside (using the broken part, which I do not have to paint again) , but my feeling is that with a broken post (see photo) the stress would be around the bolt head and it would eventually crack in that area (particularly if the bolt head is not wide). I am also not sure how well this would hold on the outer door handle surface, which is a bit curved. Any thoughts?
4. For those that have done this before, is there any secret to tightening the bolt to avoid overtightening? Do you do this by feel or do you use a torque wrench (set to something like 1 or 2)? I certainly feel that I did not overtighten the screws but am I missing some trick here?
Any suggestions / advice?