Sketch badge removal

Well I de badged my new to me 06 today. And thus appears to be a little more than minor ghosting … has anybody else corrected ghosting this bad? I pulled the badges in good condition so worst case scenario I just put them back on with fresh 3m tape

 

Is the area raised, or lowered?

I'm just trying to figure out if you ripped off the clearcoat, or if that's the adhesive base to the trim tape used to hold the badge on.

If you run your fingernail from mid-door, over the top of the "D" for example, does the nail bounce up, or down? If up, buy THIS PRODUCT and it'll make quick work of it. DO NOT order this product on scAmazon, and DO NOT buy the cheap knockoffs/lookalikes. Advance Auto may sell this product in their store. It's in every professional detailer's toolbox. It WILL NOT damage the paint, but will quickly remove any adhesive from a vehicle. Wax after.

If your fingernail drops down into a valley when it reaches the D, I'm afraid your clearcoat is fucked.

 

The painted letters area is lower than the rest of the paint…. I called the dealer I bought it from and I guess they just re did the clear coat. Guess I’ll just paint my emblems and put them back on.

 

Ouch.

Yeah, as I'm sure you've already read in this thread, which is an essential primer before buying and/or starting anything on your truck, the red and green trucks are notorious for clearcoat peel. Other trucks do it, with thunder grey probably being the next most-common. The correct way to handle isn't to sand to basecoast and re-spray clear, but I guess it's the best option other than re-paint if you wanted a quick flip.

I'm also curious how you took the letters off? Classic way to do it without damaging paint, even in your case, is to use dental floss to shimmy thru the decals, then use something like the 3m Eraser Wheel which will gently remove the adhesive.

 

Regardless of you ultimate decision here, I would cut and buff that area with some light compound to take those clear coat edges down smooth and get them polished clear. Of course they reshot the clear without taking the badge off. Knuckleheads.

 

slightly heated up with a heat gun, sawed fishing line, gently peeled off the badges. Peeled tape by hand then finished clean up with goo gone. I did not cause any more damage when removing the emblems. It appears it’s just the difference in paint from what was under the emblems.

 

I have a detailer friend who believes he can get it pretty close to normal looking with a good cut and buff… and ya the dealership also put the clear coat over the faded trd decal on the fenders …smh

 

@KNABORES is right-on with all his suggestions. And if they actually shot with the decals on. And if so, WITAF? Idiots.

 

Yup that’s exactly what they did! Just gonna try and the blend it the best I can and re polish. And if it still looks like crap then I’ll just put the badges back on.

 

Sorry about your luck brother. That sucks, shit situation to be in. Hopefully they didn't do similarly hacky bullshit with concealing frame rust, changing the timing belt, or installing aftermarket LBJs, which are the three big killers of 1st gen Tundras.

 

single owner PNW truck with 84k miles. No rust. I inspected timing belt and LBJs and those are both good to go as well. I will be dropping the truck off with my mechanic for an early 90k maintence though just to be safe.

 

This is generally the type of quality that I see when a customer stops in after dropping by a MAACO or a Lot Lizard. No de-trim, just turn and burn as easy as possible.

 

it appears to be that’s what happened. I’m debating getting the contact info from the shop and seeing what they are willing to do to correct it.

 

90K service - it's time for the TB to be replaced if it hasn't been already done.

 

apologize for my ignorance. Your referring to the throttle body?

 

Timing belt / water pump kit.

 

He reported that the truck got a clearcoat respray, and they left the badges on during. So upon removing the badges, the clear has a badge shaped void of clear.

 

I can definitely confirm that the heat gun caused no damage. I held it a good distance away and no more than a couple seconds at a time. It was more so removed with the 10lb fishing line than anything. The issue is the clearcoat that they put around the badges. I am going to attempt to fix it and report back.

 

wet sand 2500 grit with soft sponge
cut with cutting compound on a blue pad
polish with polishing compound on a white pad
that will do everything is can do i'm sure.

 

I used the hell out of a heat gun to take off 20 year old badges.

if the paint can stand Texas summers, it can take a heat gun to soften up the adhesive.

 

Just embrace it. They will be painting in ghosted labels from the factory before too long…your just ahead of the times

 

To that point, you could be starting a new trend. Embossed logos.

 

Ya I’ll cut and buff it then just claim it’s that I was going for!

 

"GHOST EMBLEMS!"