Debadging your car

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about my process in detailing my car. At the same time, I decided that it was a perfect opportunity to debadge my rear badges.

The debadging process was actually harder than I had expected at first. However, after doing it once, I was able to debadge the second one a lot faster. For those of you who are interested in debadging, I'll just say, it's one of the "modifications" that can hardly go wrong. When I say hardly, I mean as small as 0.001%. Now, if you were to somehow screw it up, I would say you shouldn't ever mod your car, ever. If you follow these steps, remain smart about it, and take your time, I guarantee that you will get good results.

Now in the video, I said I used only house hold products. That is not 100% true, as I whipped out my orbital polisher to complete the job (Not everyone has one). If you guys don't know what it is, I would recommend anyone to invest in one. It is an essential piece of equipment if you care about your car as much as I do. I will have another episode up in a couple of weeks about using the polisher, but let's stay on topic.

I suggest you start off with a hair dryer instead of a heat gun. Heat guns tend to get too hot, and I have heard horror stories where the paint actually bubbles? It's not confirmed, but the hair dryer gets your surface hot enough to work. On the safe side, stay with the hair dryer. After the badge has been heated evenly for about a full minute or two, you can proceed by taking some regular dental floss, and wedging it in between the badge and the paint surface. Some people recommend using fishing line, sure of course you can, but I don't fish, I floss though. After sawing your dental floss through the whole badge, remember to reheat the badge when it gets hard to move, you can proceed in pulling it off. When the badge is off, you will be left with the other half of the adhesive. The glue should look gross on your surface, you will need to remove this. Now, this is where people start using products like Goo Gone, bug and tar remover, or other adhesive removers. I'm sure it makes your life a lot easier. However, I refused to purchase something worth $5-10 just for one project that I may never do again. You'd also have to drive to pick up a product like this, and for what? Saving yourself 10 minutes? No! This is what you do, heat up the glue again, and rub it off with your thumb. Now, it's easier said than done, as you will find out, because the glue is very stubborn. However, it is possible to remove most of it off with just your thumbs!

You will get small trace amounts of glue that almost feels impossible to remove with your thumb. That's fine! This is where the 100% cotton cloth comes in. In the video, I actually used a 100% cotton t-shirt that I no longer wear. Eitherway, 100% cotton cloth will not harm the surface of your paint. Heat up the residual glue, and start rubbing the dry cloth on it. You should begin to see the glue clinging onto the cloth. When I did this, it looked like magic to me! Remember, don't be afraid to put some pressure on there.

After removing all the glue, you will most likely be left with some badge ghosting. As you can see in my awesome digital simulation, you just need to clay bar the surface, and lightly polish the surface around there. =D

That is it! No money spent at all. Not even a dime. Just make sure to take your time, and you will get good results.

Also, this video and all future Machine Zealots videos will be uploaded to my new youtube channel. If you would like to see more videos, please support my work by subscribing to my channel, Like and Favorite any videos that tickle your fancy. =D