So, while I love to drive vehicles. I am not great mechanically or doing anything else that may modify the car. Mainly because I am a novice at it and don't really want to do it. But, thats not to say I get urges from time to time.

Oh I also don't trust myself to do it right and so I generally avoid doing car stuff.


But I did decide to debadge the car this weekend and put some black emblems on it to go with the night package. Picked up the badge on eBay for 20 bucks. Now I was super nervous that this badge was gonna be a real piece of crap. But so far I am pretty happy with the quality. We shall see if the hold up over time. Albeit I am in san diego and largely weather proof, I wont really be able to determine if they will degrade faster in rainy/snowy conditions.

So the point of this article was the debadge! I did it and it sucked.

Here my lesson learned:

1) use some kind of heat like from a hair blow dryer. I did not and from what I read online after it makes a huge difference in time.

2) goo gone is a life saver to get any residual glue off the car.

3) the badge came with string to use to take old badge off. But one can also use floss.

4) ghosting of the old emblem was pretty bad. (Meaning you can still sorta see the outline of the badge and its location once removed.

4a) I tried more goo gone that didn't work.

4b) I tried giving it a decent wash down with soap. Nada

4c) looked up online how to remove it. Options were claybar, hire a professional (lol), some kind of compound.

4d) off to the store I went. I loaded up on some options maguiars color compound, maguairs perm clay bar kit, a scratch removing solution from formula 1 and more goo gone(because lets face it that stuffs awesome). And I got some pads

4e) first tried clay baring. That really did get a lot of the ghosting off. But at certain angles it was still visible.

4f) next up tried formula 1 scratch removal. That did jack crap.

4g) I then went with the maguairs color compound. That did the trick in as little as 30secs. Waxed it on. Wiped it up and viola like a pro and 60 bucks in product later the ghost of the debage was gone.

Hope this helps another novice like me out there that mucks with stuff they probably shouldn't lol!

Cheers!

 

Good on you for having a Craic at it and learning..
For general paintwork tips may I suggest you check out the autogeek website..
We all learn by trying and sometime messing up.. But with these websites you have a great chance of succeeding..
All the best...

 

I know it's popular over in Europe, but why here in States would you want to debadge a C450?

 

I put in place of the chrome ones black ones so its not a complete debadge.

 

Why not. I debadged my c55. The back is cleaner looking that way and it makes the car even more of a sleeper (if you don't notice the quad tips).

 

Now I get it (after reading your complete post)


What you REALLY need to do is post some pics!

 

I always debadge my cars.

Don't like the clutter. I also don't need to show off, etc. what model.

Always need a compound to clean up the haze

 

nice post OP. i'm about 50/50 on debading my c43 when it comes. kinda just want to look like any old C300

 

Well seeing as how I am a poser now, I don't really wanna get lit on fire from the badge police.

I put c43 and amg logo on trunk lid. That's why I didn't post pics lol. But if yall want me to post the pics of my elite skills of badging a car I will lol!

 

I debadged my C450 shortly after getting it. Have done it on all of my cars for years. Just like it better. Personal preference

 

I put an AMG badge on the truck lid my C450 too...technically Mercedes does call the C450 a "C450 AMG".

Now I'm not trying to be a hater, but I would never rebadge my C450 with "C43" because it's not a C43...it doesn't have the 9 sp transmission nor the same front/rear drive bias of a C43...it's a "C450 AMG".

 

dang, glad i had the dealer do it before i picked it up. sounds like way more of a hassle than a blow-dryer and dental floss

 

post them because I was thinking about this.

 

Man I'm pissed my dealer told me the c43 badge wasn't available yet. Sob!

 

they are on eBay if you want them

 

 

I was thinking of doing the mb logo in black but I kinda like it left chrome

 

That looks pretty good but is that the 1990s 43 badge? From what I've seen of the new car the C and 43 are more offset and the font is almost italicized.
All you need to do now is get some black vinyl on the chrome trunk bar.

 

Honestly I am not sure if thats the newer c43 or not. If they are different I will probably end up buying the newer look badges directly from dealer. If they are in fact different.

Might be a good call to black out that chrome back piece

 

Well done!

 

It's very quick if you have a rotary or DA polisher.. a 3" pad and some compound..

 

I shan't mention the orange peel and wet sanding....


(Sorry if this opens a can of worms )

 

debadge FTW

 

black badges only make sense if you're going to abide by that same theme throughout, IMO.

You have the chrome trunk bar and chrome MB logo with Black model badging? Just looks silly IMO.

Black all of it, or leave it all chrome.

 

You've got your badges reversed, AMG goes on the left side.