Debadging the car. The Aftermath. (HELP!)

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DrAMG

New member
Ok so I'm planning on debadging my car, so the aftermath hasn't occured yet!



I went to the bodyshop/detailing shop who is gonna do the wax and clay and stuff for my car. I asked him to remove the badges for me. He said "It'll leave an outline." I said "can't you buff it out?" He said no.



Check this out : Link



this tells you how to do it properly. But looking at this article 2 things come out : #1 It's a white car. #2 It's a fairly recent car



In my case: I got a black car, and it's 8 yrs old.



What do you suggest? Do I try to have the guy debadge it anyway or what?



Here's a pic of the emblem in its worst state, the day I Got the car. Now all the dirt is pretty much off the surrounding of the emblem letters. The main thing I guess would be the 8 yrs old sticky back.



emblem.jpg




BTW I'm in California, the car was bought from TX (if it makes a difference as for the weather etc...)



Thanks for your help.
 
In my case, I have a black 1999 Passat. I wanted to remove the tacky dealer badge on the trunk lid. I read similar instructions to the ones you posted. I parked it on a driveway on a really sunny day, so the adhesive would be warm and more pliable. I used a very fine fishing line (monofilament) purchased at KMart. Like your article said, I worked on one letter at a time, and made sure I was rubbing against the letters I was removing, instead of the painted surface. To my amazement I had this thing off in 5 minutes. But don't get in a hurry! Go as slow as you need to.



Then I used Goo Gone (they make one for automobiles) and took the remaining adhesive off of the painted surface. Next I washed the area with P21s and then used the P21s polish and then wax. I thought I had seen some outline of the lettering, but after several applications of P21s I no longer see any outline!



:cool:
 
Two concerns with debadging a black car. 1/ the paint under the badge has not been exposed to 8 years of enviromental wear and tear ( especially UV). Buffing will not decrease the intensity of the black that was under the badging and a shadow will most likely be visible.

May second concern would be the re-sale value of the car after the removal. I own classics and any alterations like after-market wheels, tires, engine mods, de or re-badging, etc bring bad connotations. Was the car wrecked, abused, repainted, is it original, etc. I understand how much better a panel looks without unnecessary writing ( my LS400 was the year they did not badge on rear trunk lid :D and all my cars were purchased without dealer badgings mounted.

But if you are geared for there removal do just one letter/number and see what the result is. If acceptable and undetectable remove the rest. :wavey



PS. Make a template of the whole lettering pattern in order to re-align the removed letter/number if experiment does not work.
 
I did this with my Sebring.I had the body shop do it for me but 3m makes a glue remover and it takes it right off,any leftover glue you slowly use a little polishing compound (very little) and it comes right off.wash the area then wax then polish and put on what ever wax you were using. 99.9 times it will match and yes after 8 years you would think it wouldn't but that is the strange part it blends in.Ido this ion every car I owned I cant stand the names and model numbers on the side.It also lest you wax your car faster because its on the side and back and you have to stop and take time to work around it
 
blkZ28Conv said:
Two concerns with debadging a black car. 1/ the paint under the badge has not been exposed to 8 years of enviromental wear and tear ( especially UV). Buffing will not decrease the intensity of the black that was under the badging and a shadow will most likely be visible.
Click to expand...



I have a friend that just bought a 96 Dodge Ram that is black, He thought he wanted to take off all the "sport" stickers and other badges. needless to say there is a cloudy mark where they were, It is in the paint, I have tried many compounds and it still will not come off........ If the car was new I would tell you to have at it but since It is 8 Years old I wouldnt....
 
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!





DO THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!!!~





while it may work for some people, IT MAY NOT WORK FOR YOU!!



IT DIDN'T WORK FOR ME!!~



i tried to debadge my car using similar instructions (heatgun, floss, goo gone) and it toally fvcked up my bumper! i was given these directions by many people who have done it successfully, but it sure as hell didn't work for me!



i there is some horrid residue left from the badging that is stuck on my bumper permanantly. i took it to a detailing shop, and they couldn't get it out. the only options i have left are to try wetsanding/painting my whole bumper, but i'm out of money, so i'm gonna have to buy new badges to cover that mess up =(
 
I'd say de-badge then clean up that area around the letters. Get it looking as shiny as the rest of the car. It obviously has had little/no care in those letters. Then re-badge it so the badges look awesome.
 
Looks like I'm gonna be sporting the E320 badges then :D Thanks for everyones input.



btw I have a'95 LS400 and I tried to debadge( sucked b/c they have hole in the trunk, had to get new badges) and I did see the bad outline ETCHED into the paint. So I guess it's a no no then.:nono
 
After hearing all the problems one might run into, I do not think I will debadge my Passt...iven though if it turned out good, I'd like it.
 
I removed the lame "Navajo" lettering from my truck shell about three years ago, and this is after two years in the S. Arizona sun. The lettering came off easily, but in the right light I can defenitely see where they were, as the surrounding paint had faded ever so slightly. This is on a bright (Calypso) green Ranger.



I will use the above method for removing the ugly dealer badge from the trunk lid of our new Lancer. It's dark charcoal grey, but it's only about 8 months old....
 
I removed the badges on my Volvo, saw a nice shadow... and put them right back on. But first I scraped down the chrome as much as I could and painted them black, along with my grille.
 
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