Door Handle Attempted Theft

I went out to my '01 Silverado this morning and noticed that someone had tried to 'pop off' my exterior door handle by shoving a screwdriver into it at the bottom where the plastic meets the door. Any ideas on how to prevent this from happening again, possibly metal replacements?

I dont know about metal replacements, maybe you could check ebay? I do know there are some people who replace the handles with the back door handles off of a Yukon. That way they do not have the lock holes. Of course that only works if you have the key fob and power locks, and if the battery dies on your fob you are s.o.l. Good luck.

I went out to my '01 Silverado this morning and noticed that someone had tried to 'pop off' my exterior door handle by shoving a screwdriver into it at the bottom where the plastic meets the door. Any ideas on how to prevent this from happening again, possibly metal replacements?

this type of damage is impossible to prevent....I know of some owners that just keep the vehicle unlocked with no valuables inside so that way they don't damage the vehicle.....to reduce this no items are to be left in vehicle...radar detectors and gps will cause this to be very repetitive then the insurance company will dump you.......

don't know of any metal door handles that will fit it.as all the ones made for last ten years are plastic. get a sticker like my uncle put on his truck after it was broke into in his driveway. it read "this vehicle is protected by 12 gauge shot gun .warning you have time for one quick prayer as its already loaded and aimed at your ***. not kidding". and his truck has not been bothered since.

I call that a coincidence, anyone with common sense would know that someone isnt hiding behind something close to the car with a gun 24 hours a day, but now that i think of it the people that are breaking into cars probably dont have alot of common sense to start with so the sticker might just work!

where i live most people leave the keys in the switch and vehicle unlocked. most of the time i don't even lock the doors on the house. because everybody out here knows if you mess around someones house or vehicle you most likely will get your *** shot off. if i hear anything strange at night i grab the 12 gauge and ease out the back door and am gonna shoot first and see about it later.but you never know when the owner has a bead on you if your butt. i still live in the country but this happened when my uncle sold his farm and moved to town a couple of years ago.but he still has the sticker on his driverside window and noone has bothered his truck yet as i guess word spread

Another option but not very practical would be to shave the door handles like on a custom truck. That leaves nothing left for them to pry on, although it is probably a little pricey. I agree with J Cat in that you should not leave valuables in it and then just leave it unlocked. I figure I have gap coverage and if it gets stolen, I can go buy a new one... or newer anyway.

http://www.homesecuritystore.com/ezStore123/DTProductZoom.asp?productID=1290

try something like this.

Another option but not very practical would be to shave the door handles like on a custom truck. That leaves nothing left for them to pry on, although it is probably a little pricey. I agree with J Cat in that you should not leave valuables in it and then just leave it unlocked. I figure I have gap coverage and if it gets stolen, I can go buy a new one... or newer anyway.

:1: for shaving the handles. I did this just on the rear tailgate and since then I haven't had any break-ins.

I had these installed on my 99' Silverado. Definitely changes the looks of the truck as well as gets rid of the cheap plastic handles and buckets. Shop around, I found them for about $80 less than MSRP.

http://www.stylintrucks.com/parts.aspx?category%7ccat_-25%7c340=Door+Handles+%26+Covers&selected_prod_ids=3729&partid=511009

I was looking at these handles, but I wanted to change my tailgate handle as well. I have a spray in bedliner, do I have to remove the plate from the inside of the tailgate to replace the handle? Thanks

I had the door handle assemblies installed at my local dealer ($96 each!) because I wanted everything to work when it was done :)

To install the tailgate assy, you will have to remove the plate on the inside to install it.