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How to Properly Debadge your Truck and/or Paint Emblems

57K views 28 replies 22 participants last post by  05Canuck 
#1 Ā·
Items suggested:
Heatgun or blow dryer
Fishing line
Goo-Gone
rough and smooth sided sponges
Soap and water

Items NOT suggested:
Blow torch
Chisel
barbed wire
sanding paper
Acetone


Debadging your emblem

Step 1: Clean the area of the badges with soap and water, then dry it off. Make sure you park near a plug outlet so you can use your heat gun or hair dryer for step 2.

Step 2: Be extremely careful with the heat gun, if you have it to close to the truck it can burn your paint. I find it easier to stay back about a foot, and pull the drigger in 10 second increments. For beginners, I would suggest a blow dryer. Stay back 6-12 inches, and heat up the emblems. This will soften the adhesive, so it not only makes it easier to get the letter off, but will help you get the left over adhesive to come off aswell.

Step 3: Cut off a good amount of fishing line, and run it behind each letter/badge. Do a 'side-to'side' method like you are sawing wood, until every letter and or badge is off.

Step 4: This will vary for each person. You may be able to rub off the left over adhesive with your fingers. If so, rub the adhesive upwards until all of it is off. You may want to use dish washing gloves if you get blisters easily. If you can't rub the adhesive off, spray Goo-Gone on the adhesive, and let it sit for 3-5 minutes, then try toremove with a rough side sponge. DO NOT USE MUCH PRESSURE. You can fade your paint and mess up your clear coat.

Painting your emblems and 'Rebadging' them.

Tools suggested:
Plasti Dip or Spray paint color of choice
*Paint I suggest: Painter Touch
**Clear coat will help add more shine to the finished product
TONS of newspaper/painting paper
3M double sided tape
Razor blade

Tools NOT suggested:
Nail polish or Crayola markers
Glue sticks or chewed gum
McDonalds wrappers
Scissors or rusted butter knife

Step 1: Make sure you have all your supplies needed, and the spray paint/Plasti Dip is shaken upp good and ready for use. Use in a well ventilated, closed environment. I.E - Garage on a work bench/table.

Step 2: Get the emblems ready for painting, place them on the newspaper and tape the newspaper corners down so that if any wind manages to blow into the garage, the newspaper corners will not fly up, and into the freshly painted emblems. Also, I do not suggest doing it on the garage floor. It is 99% possible that wind will bloe dirt, grass, bugs, dead bodies, etc. into the wet paint and you will have to start over.

Step 3: Start applying the paint, do not drown the emblems in paint, they will bubble and look sloppy. Spray a line at a time over each letter until they are all coated evenly. Give them 40 minutes to an hour to dry, then add clearcoat if desired. If you do add clearcoat, simply repeat Step 3 if desired to do so. *Using a blow dryer will speed up the drying process, use on the lowest setting to prevent streaking. **A heatgun will work even better, and can increase the durability of the finished paint.

Step 5: Time to Rebadge; Use the 3M tape and apply it to the badges. There are multiple ways to approach this.

Method 1:: Line the letters up straight and apply 2 strips of 3M paint, one covering up half of them, and the other to cover the last half. Use the razor blade to cut off the tape not covered by the letters, remove the adhesive cover and apply the badges back on to the truck. Let it sit for 1 hour for the tape to cure.

Method 2:: cut out small strips 1 at a time to put on the back of the letters so there will be no excess to cut off. The only tricky part to this step is you have to put the letter on 1 at a time. I recommend using a ruler or lazer to get a perfectly straight line.

That concludes my How-To, if you have any questions or comments, feel free to share. Also, feel more than free to post pictures of your debadged, or repainted emblems.
 
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#4 Ā·
What I've noticed is the newer the car, the easier it is to get the adhesive off. I guess because it hasn't set for 4+ years?
I haven't tried the 3M eraser wheel yet. I need more cars for experimenting on! :lol:

I'll add pictures later on today hopefully. Depends if the fiance has any more "fun" errands for me to do. :(
 
#5 Ā·
Great writeup . I would like to add a trick about reapplying lettering to the truck . Line the letters up on your worktop until you are happy with the layout , take a strip of painters tape and apply over the letters . Now you can line them up on the truck remove the protective tape from the adhesive and apply , remove tape slowly , your done...Again great writeup
 
#6 Ā·
allterrainjoe said:
Great writeup . I would like to add a trick about reapplying lettering to the truck . Line the letters up on your worktop until you are happy with the layout , take a strip of painters tape and apply over the letters . Now you can line them up on the truck remove the protective tape from the adhesive and apply , remove tape slowly , your done...Again great writeup
Thanks, and I have no idea why I never thought of that. That could of been the solution to a lot of frustration lol.
 
#7 Ā·
Nice write up. I did my doors last weekend. Hair dryer and dental floss they came off easily. Used my fingers to remove most the adhesive (yeah, that sucks) and got the rest off with Turtle Wax sticker remover. Truck is an 08 so I was worried about paint fade. There was a ghost image where the letters were even after cleaning the adhesive off, but it was opposite of paint fade. I applied some wax and it went away.

Where do you buy the eraser wheels? I looked at a few places and no luck.
 
#9 Ā·
There's plenty of great ways to get the adhesive off, and how to reapply the badges. I just listed what I had done during my debadge process, and what worked best for me. I'm thinking of painting my silverado badges purple.
 
#10 Ā·
Thanks for the write up. I plan on using all these ideas this weekend, first free weekend with nice weather. I had never thought of using fishing line, thats a great idea. My buddy decided to debadge his truck last weekend using a screwdriver and a razor blade. :lol:
 
#11 Ā·
knonerm said:
Thanks for the write up. I plan on using all these ideas this weekend, first free weekend with nice weather. I had never thought of using fishing line, thats a great idea. My buddy decided to debadge his truck last weekend using a screwdriver and a razor blade. :lol:
:eek: :eek: :eek:
 
#12 Ā·
Does anyone know if it's possible to remove just the gold Chevy bowtie from the front and rear emblems?

In other words, just the gold-colored part, leaving the chrome, black, etc. borders on the grill/rear end. If it's possible, it will help in getting better Plasti Dip coverage over the gold part!

Thanks in advance for any and all replies!
 
#13 Ā·
JesusFreak said:
Does anyone know if it's possible to remove just the gold Chevy bowtie from the front and rear emblems?

In other words, just the gold-colored part, leaving the chrome, black, etc. borders on the grill/rear end. If it's possible, it will help in getting better Plasti Dip coverage over the gold part!

Thanks in advance for any and all replies!
Anyone???
 
#19 Ā·
My '08 has a nasty ding under the tailgate. I'm going to remove the GMC emblem off the right side and mount it under the handle to hide it (like on the '14 models) then move the SLE over to the right side to compensate. I'm hoping for no to minimal ghosting, or I'll have to shell out the $$$ to redo the tailgate the right way. I've only gotten one estimate so far and it was $400!

 
#26 Ā·
Good write up. Goo gone is not the best choice for removing the remaining adhesive. Gasoline works far better, is quicker, and contrary to popular thought, gasoline won't hurt the finish. Just clean off the area that gasoline was on when done. Obviously be careful due to how flammable gasoline is......
 
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