De-badging Quandary
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2006 C230 SS, 1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee, 1993 Ford F150 Lightning
De-badging Quandary
I have a 2006 C230, a 1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee, and a 1993 Ford Lightning pickup.
I don’t care for the badges (stickers) on the Ford and I’ve thought about removing them many times, especially since it is a fairly fast truck and I like the idea of going stealth. I even bought a spare set of stickers in case I ever de-badge it and then decide to re-badge it.
I’ve never entertained the notion of de-badging the Jeep. I just don’t see it ever happening.
Now, about the Mercedes . . . I didn’t realize that de-badging the C class was such a popular thing to do, until I started reading this and other Mercedes forums. My initial reaction was that I did like the way it cleaned things up, but I always thought that it was more of a need to hide the fact that we’re just driving an entry level Mercedes. I almost shrugged this off and came real close to actually removing my C230 badge on the trunk lid, as late as this weekend. The real quandary started a couple weeks ago when I was at my Mercedes dealership picking-up some Service B parts and fluids. Inside the showroom, they had a brand new S65 V12 Biturbo - what a beautiful and cool automobile (to the tune of about $195 K)! I thought to myself, would I de-badge an S65? The answer is an emphatic no. So, I think I would be a hypocrite if I ever decide to de-badge my C230.
Any thoughts on this?
I don’t care for the badges (stickers) on the Ford and I’ve thought about removing them many times, especially since it is a fairly fast truck and I like the idea of going stealth. I even bought a spare set of stickers in case I ever de-badge it and then decide to re-badge it.
I’ve never entertained the notion of de-badging the Jeep. I just don’t see it ever happening.
Now, about the Mercedes . . . I didn’t realize that de-badging the C class was such a popular thing to do, until I started reading this and other Mercedes forums. My initial reaction was that I did like the way it cleaned things up, but I always thought that it was more of a need to hide the fact that we’re just driving an entry level Mercedes. I almost shrugged this off and came real close to actually removing my C230 badge on the trunk lid, as late as this weekend. The real quandary started a couple weeks ago when I was at my Mercedes dealership picking-up some Service B parts and fluids. Inside the showroom, they had a brand new S65 V12 Biturbo - what a beautiful and cool automobile (to the tune of about $195 K)! I thought to myself, would I de-badge an S65? The answer is an emphatic no. So, I think I would be a hypocrite if I ever decide to de-badge my C230.
Any thoughts on this?
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From: MA
E90 M3
I read that and it made a lot of sense, and I pondered over it for the next few minutes and I've come to a conclusion. If I owned an S65, I'd be very proud of it and would want to show it off and have it be known that I wasn't driving just any ordinary S-Class. In regards to debadging a C-Class, I'm not exactly proud enough of the model to want to show it off to everyone...but I'm not embarrassed by it either. So I debadged it because I like the clean look; plus I like to get the jump on those C240s out there.
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From: NJ
'08 E550 4Matic
Its all a matter of personal preference. I like the look of my car without any badges. The trunk looks less cluttered.
Would I debadge a S65? Probably.
People that know what an S65 is would be able to tell right away if the car was actually an AMG. The people that dont know, could care less.
Would I debadge a S65? Probably.
People that know what an S65 is would be able to tell right away if the car was actually an AMG. The people that dont know, could care less.
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I debadged because I dont like to try to wax around the badges. I can deal with the star on the back but after a couple of months of C230 KOMPRESSOR to work around, I had to remove them. I bought my wife a 2008 Audi a couple months ago and I had the same problem, the back had "OOOO, A4, 2.0T, Quattro and S-Line" on the backend and on a black car it only took one time of waxing it to decide that they were coming off. I myself just prefer the clean shaved look.
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Before you remove any badges, its a good idea to know which ones are stickers and which ones have factory holes behind them. You dont want to remove the ones that have holes otherwise you'll either have an expensive trip to the body shop or you'll need to go to the dealer to replace the ones you just pulled off. I know that some of the Ford emblems have holes and the star one the back of the mercedes does also.
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Before you remove any badges, its a good idea to know which ones are stickers and which ones have factory holes behind them. You dont want to remove the ones that have holes otherwise you'll either have an expensive trip to the body shop or you'll need to go to the dealer to replace the ones you just pulled off. I know that some of the Ford emblems have holes and the star one the back of the mercedes does also.
-Ben
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I warm it up with a hair dryer to loosen the adhesive, then I slide a piece of floss or fishing line behind it and pull across and the emblem should pop off. A little goof off to get the rest of the adhesive off, then a little wax on the area and your done.
