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Debadging trunk.

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2K views 14 replies 10 participants last post by  Ken Reich 
#1 ·
I recently removed the SUBARU from my trunk. It looks sweet from a distance but up close you can still see little shadows of where the glue was for the letters. How do i go about making this better??? i was thinking along the lines of some clay bar work...
 
#2 ·
Yeah, time to get seriously clean on that sucker. I have a few on mine still, and to some extent, they will never go away. Honestly, I've never heard a good explanation of why the shadow is there, but I personally think it has to do with the badges being put on while the paint is so new.

Get her cleaned up good, get a good cleaning wax or swirl remover, but don't go overboard. Chances are they won't come all the way out and removing too much clear coat won't help. Good luck with it.
 
#6 ·
CloNeGTS have you tried a clay bar? Just a suggestion, I am not sure how "deep" into the paint this shadow goes. I haven't done this so I might be out in left field.
 
#7 ·
De-badged mine completely yesterday. I use 3m adhesive remover and have no shadows. Make sure you have completely removed all adhesive film. It may feel smooth but there may be a micro film of adhesive on there. After the 3m I used a small amount of Mcguire's fine cut polish followed up with a little Zymoil carnuba wax.
 
#10 ·
CloNeGTS said:
Yup, clay bar was done.

All adhesive is gone....it's not adhesive. If you see it, you'll understand.

Goo Gone won't get it...clay won't get it. It's in the paint.....I'm sure it has something to do with the way the paint has cured. However, it does get worse with time.
Yup, I had the same thing when I debadged my last car after 2 years. It was black also : )

I used wd40 to remove the adhesive, then I used scratch-x and medallion paint cleaner (Meguiar's) to get the outline out of the paint. It took about 2 hours of constant work with periodic brakes to make sure I wasn't screwing up the paint. The outlines will come out, but you REALLY need to work on it. Not a fun job.

-st
 
#13 ·
Subie/STi drivers in SC?

Aspen White: I used 3M Adhesive Remover and dental floss to remove the lettering. Next, I used a terry cloth to carefully rub the remainder of the adhesive off. This starts to work really well once some of the adhesive balls gets into the cloth. I reapplied some the 3M stuff a few times while working the stuff off. At this point I could see some paint shadowing which I expected from the last time I did this on my WRB WRX. I used the Mcguire's 3 step stuff: cleaner, polish and wax and it came out 100% perfectly and totally undectecable.
 
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