Debadging

[FoZz]

Anyways, plucked up the courage and done my "TDI" badges tonight on the Ibiza as a test to see what underneath them is going to look like. It was starting to get dark when I was taking them off but following the advice given on this thread and others like it heres how it went:

Tesco's dental floss - £1.20
This proved unnecessary and nearly cheese wired my fingers off. I would advise someone to grow their nails for a few days, and after heating the sticker a few times with warm water (not hot) to make sure that the stickyness has softened, gradually prise the badge off, being careful not to lever the bottom hard edge of it on the paint work too much.

I was fortunate enough that most of the black squishy sticky stuff came off with the badges and any sticky residue and some grime/dirt that was left on the paintwork came off with a dry microfibre cloth. If this doesnt happen for you i would suggest putting a bit more water on whats left, and rub with the cloth again. I had one little stubborn bit and used a rubber eraser to remove that which worked very well. This also took away a few very small dirty lines on top of the paint work were the edges of the badges were.

Quick wipe with a wet cloth over the paint again and it looked like a great job. When i look at in proper light tomorrow i will assess it to see if there is any noticable difference in paint colour were the badges were (after all the car is 5 years old now). If there is, i will try a brief T-Cutting exercise to try and even things out.

I will report back either way, and then maybe think about removing the "SEAT" and "IBIZA" badging too, if all is well...

 

[Rua1r1]

I de-badged my Mk2 Leon by using a piece of thread. It was so simple, had it done in no time, i took the letters off using a 'sawing' motion then i used my finger nail to peal the stickers off then used autogylm intense tar remover to clean it up. Quick and easy job

 

[IainW]

I used dental floss and a hairdrier to remove my pre-facelift SEAT and IBIZA badges. Then I used tar and bug remover for the residue, then gave it a polish, as the paint was dull where the badges had been.

 

[S21RUB]

Has anyone got any pics of what the car looked like straight after the debadge and before the polishing. I'm going to be doing it on my 2001 Leon, but am worried about the colour difference left, and it will really annoy me even if it's only me that notices the difference! I'm just thinking that 8 years of colour fade is going to be hard to even out, or does the colour not go that much over time?

 

[FoZz]

I cant see it being very different mate. My car is 5 years old and i didnt notice any difference in paint colour ones i had removed the sticky stuff. I havent even had to polish mine...

With regard to my earlier post, using dental floss probably is a good idea, i just didnt know to use a sawing motion. Very very easy to take them off in this way.

 

[Whitechapel]

Has anyone got any pics of what the car looked like straight after the debadge and before the polishing. I'm going to be doing it on my 2001 Leon, but am worried about the colour difference left, and it will really annoy me even if it's only me that notices the difference! I'm just thinking that 8 years of colour fade is going to be hard to even out, or does the colour not go that much over time?

Here you go mate,

ten minutes after I de-badged, no polish or anything

sorry for bad picture quality, but it is un-noticeable even from inches away.

 

[sortu]

best method as said before is hairdryer and then just pull off, then the sticky bits that are left use this label remover spray from MAPLINS works a treat and you dont have to be standing rubbing your car up and down lol, comes off in about 2mins with the label remover

 

[S21RUB]

Excellent, think that will be the first thing I do. I hate all those badges on the back! Will lose them all except the cupra badge me thinks looks so much cleaner. Debadged my Corsa but that was when it was only six months old. 13 hours and counting till i pick her up

 

[stezo2k]

I peronally wouldnt go the hairdryer route just incase it damages the paintwork

I find warm water (not boiling) and a credit card is the cheapest and one of the best ways. use brasso to clean up the excess of the adhesive
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HALF-BAKED

 

[coolspot007007]

done mine yesterday, used a heat gun (at a decent distance) dental floss, Autoglym tar remover for the sticky stuff then a machine polish to lose the faint outline of where they were (52 plate, so slightly noticable)

 

[wenman]

I used fishing line and hot water, just pour the water over the badges use the line to then cut through the sticky stuff and just use more hot water on any oh the left over and rub off, mine came off really easy.

 

[sortu]

I peronally wouldnt go the hairdryer route just incase it damages the paintwork

I find warm water (not boiling) and a credit card is the cheapest and one of the best ways. use brasso to clean up the excess of the adhesive

you wouldnt use a hair dryer incase it damages the paint work, surely a credit card would be even more of a risk?

 

[FoZz]

Yes, a credit card would be risky because of the material they are made with. I can see a common pattern in peoples' methods...

safely heat the badges, preferably with warm water. Run the water over the letter two or three times to ensure the sticky foam backing is properly warmed through.

i found the best way to saw through the sticky foam material was to use dental floss, as this is made up of multiple strands it will safely work its way through. Fishing line is safe to use too, it might just take longer as it is a single plastic strand normally.

i was lucky enough that the foam backing on the badges peeled off with my finger nails relatively easy, and all that was left was a glue residue. This rubbed off with an eraser, and then i rubbed the whole paint surface down with a microfibre polishing cloth.

Job done!

 

[stezo2k]

you wouldnt use a hair dryer incase it damages the paint work, surely a credit card would be even more of a risk?

i wouldnt say so, plastic isnt that sharp. plus if youre careful its all good. no damage to mine anyway
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Www.xxx

 

[sortu]

i wouldnt say so, plastic isnt that sharp. plus if youre careful its all good. no damage to mine anyway

fair play mate, no damage to mine eitha with a hairdryer lol