Does anyone have advice on restoring my faded badges? I heard about a chrome tape that may work (?) or advice on replacing them i.e where to get them? Thanks

 

Stealer or junk yard. Sometimes there will be a car there that had badges replaced due to an accident.

 

Thanks.

 

Mine got really weird so I used some plasti-dip on them. Made them look nice.

 

I bought a strip of brushed aluminium vinyl sticker from a sign writer for $6. As you can see with some careful cutting it could look quite good. Unfortunately the "o" is difficult to cut so I scrapped the idea. I hunted down the font called Volta, but can't find it in Word, so I cut and pasted a badge into a document and fiddled with it until it was the right size. My plan was to cut each letter out before sticking it to the car. To do this I need to buy a better knife. If it works I will upload the template for others to use.

 

Sorry about the blurry pic. Try this one.

 

Stupic computer.... Try this one!

 

That looks good!!!! I'm sure with grade school "tracing paper" you can do all letters.

 

yes I tried the tracing paper idea. Someone with a steadier hand than mine could probably make it work. Just need 3 good letters V O L and then you could use them as templates for the other two. Patience is the key. I will have more time this weekend. The 850 and GLE badge will be more difficult as the letters are much thinner.

 

I tried a few different ideas to get mine looking good again, but they all failed. So I took the lazy way out and just painted all of mine gloss black. On my silver car they actually look quite good, especially with the dark black tints.

 

I was going to try rechroming my badges but then decided that taping the black part off was going to take forever.

So I crudely taped off the badges on the car and gave it 3 coats of plast-dip. Waited 1 hour. Peeled the plasti-dip and edged it on the badge.

My badges are now almost impossible to see on my black 850, but its a lot better than than faded silver ones.

 

I tried a Metallic Paint Pen yesterday. Unfortunately it was almost empty so I could not get a good amount of paint out. It just might work. I am going to pick up a new one and see how it goes.

 

IMHO there is really only 3 options.

1. De-badge
2. Buck up and buy new
3. Take a piece of really fine sand paper and take down the remaining silver. This is what I did. They come out a nice matte black and look brand new.

It's not that I'm against any of the other options. It just seems none of them will hold up over time. Also the expense of materials and the time it takes just seems like a waste. So try #3 first. If you don't like the finish, then try # 1. If you don't like the look of that, then you can either refinish them or go with #2.

 

I debadged mine to start off with, but after 17 years with the badges on the car, I could still see the outline of the badges on the paintowrk, and being a metallic car could not buff the shadows out entirely. The colour under the clearcoat had changed where it was exposed to the weather. So I painted mine after rubbing them back and I think they look a treat.

 

Thanks for all the comments and opinions. It is really interesting to hear what methods have been used. I am going with the vinyl method but in the process removed the badges to allow for more careful cutting. Once off I was able to polish the surface of the car. My paint was very good with no shadow so I could leave it de badged if I want. I then rubbed the badge surface with OOO steel wool to remove the remaining silver. Now the badges are matt black and look pretty neat so I could just use them or repaint with black gloss. I decided to perservere with the vinyl and I am actually quite happy with the result. It is something you get better at the more letters you cut. What do you think? I will let you know if it peels etc. Oh, by the way, I also bought a new badge on the net but it turned out to be for a wagon. It is bigger than the sedan. Anyone want it?

 

Just finished the minor badges. I went around the edges with a fine file so there is no lip to catch. Tomorrow it goes on the car.

 

I like the plastidip idea.. especially on a black car, or a really dark car. On my 99 Accord that I bought new, I upgraded to black chrome emblems, gave it a nice stealth look.

On my wagon, I just removed them. They weren't mint, but they weren't in bad shape, either. A little fishing line between the emblem and the tailgate/fenders (and some thick leather gloves so I didn't cut my fingers!), and I easily cut through the foam tape. A little adhesive remover, followed by a wash/wax, and it looked like they were never there. On the fenders, I wired up the Euro style turn signals in the fenders and they look much better than that weird plastic emblem did.

 

Job done. Pretty good I reckon! I sprayed it with clear enamel to better seal the edges. If it doesn't work there are always the other options.

 

They look great. Hope is stays.