How to remove badges

Removing badges is a cosmetic thing. Many people like a clean and empty look, meaning the badges need to go. It takes a little practive to get them off easily and without doing any damage. The goal is to remove them without being able to notice that there where ever any badges applied.

The problem with removing badges

Badges are often mounted with a type of sticky-tape. Others are mounted via holes or screws in the panel. Before trying to remove any badge, it is recommended to check wether this badge is applied by glue or via a hole in the panel and/or a screw. This prevents you from removing the badge and being left with an ugly hole in your panel.
When the badge is mounted with glue, it can be removed safely. However, the glue needs to be strong enough to hold the badge into place for many years, but also soft enough to not damage the paint when it ever lets go. This means it won’t be easy to remove completely.

The string-trick

Removing badges can be made a bit safer by using a safe technique. Although there are many more technique, the string-trick has been proven to be very safe for the paintwork.
What you need:

• Strong piece of fishing line (having a few with a different thickness might help)
• Glue and tar remover
• Piece of cloth
• Caramel disc
• Gloves
• Hair dryer

What you do:

• Using the hair dryer to heat up the glue will help to make removal a bit easier
• Push a piece of the string in the edge of the badge
• Keep the string in line with the angle of the surface of the badge
• Slowly pull the string through the bottom of the badge (if needed, a “sawing” motion might help)
• When stuck, try to lift the badge up a little bit by pulling the strings away from the surface of the badge
• Pull all the way through

Removing the residue

• When the badge is removed, there will still be residue left
• Use the caramel disc mounted on an electric drill to remove the most of the glue and foam
• Use the caramel at different speed to see what works, but never apply to much pressure!!
• When 95% of the residue is gone, there will only be a patch left that you can see when you look into the light. You might be able to feel it with your finger
• Lay the piece of cloth over the patch and pour a little bit of Tar and Glue remover over it. Enough to soak the cloth, but not to much to make it run and/or drip
• Leave it for several minutes to soak (never do this in the hot sun)
• Remove the cloth and wipe the area with a clean MF cloth, the patch left behind should now be easily wiped off
• If needed, the step with the drenched cloth on top of the patch can be repeated
• Wipe down the area with IPA or similar to remove the residue from the Tar and Glue remover
• When dry, wash the area
• Give the area a light clay
• Apply some finishing polish to a finishing pad, and give the area a light polish
• Wipe off with IPA or similar
• You should be left with a clean and spotless panel without any badge, and without any sign of there ever being a batch