Ok, so my driver side door handle pot metal broke, no big surprise there. There is only one wrecked 7 in my entire area that i know of it's my year and color, but it only has the passenger side handle (should have figured). I know that this is discussed a lot and the general agreement is that they are unrepairable... I have two options that I know of:
I found this new epoxy at www.coolchem.com that is ultra high strength and works on pot metal. The kit is like 20 bucks and It is supposed to work well enough to repair accessory pulleys on cars, so I'm thinking that it might be worth a try. My other option is to go to the mazda dealer and pay 113 bucks for a new handle, already painted my color. Give me your input people!!

PS, reguardless of what option I am going this weekend to get the passenger handle from that junked car, just in case.

 

What color is it? I've got a few handles I could sell.

 

red

 

lol, figures, the one color I DON'T have. In my experience epoxy works for a short time, then tends to just break again.

 

They are repairable, but it's a PITA. I've had success by epoxying a small aluminum doubler across the crack, then riveting at each end. Not much room to do much in there, though, depending on where the crack is.

 

just shave the door handles and buy a decent alarm that can pop em open! problem soved AND no more broken locks/door handles.