so i decided to start debadging my truck.
i did the tail gate vinyl w/ wd-40. peeled off
real easy. then i used bug/tar remover to
get rid off any glue i couldn't scratch off.


i don't know if i want to do the doors too, any advice?
and i think i have some ghosting but i havn't waxed it yet.
i got all the glue off, think wax will clean it up?

 

ive got the ghosting aswell from wen i removed like this old dealership sticker. ive waxed and washed and its still there. as for the badges i like them so i say keep em.

 

u got it too? how long ago u take it off?
maybe the sun will fade mine.

i'm keeping the v8's and rams head. i want the doors smooth but if i can't get the tailgate any better i probaly wont.

 

This is what I would do:

Get all of that wax off your tailgate. You need some pre-wax cleaner (AKA polish). Make sure you get some that is clear-coat safe and the same brand as the wax you will be using.

The part of the gate where the letters were not at looks, to me at least, to be pretty badly oxidized. You need to get all of the wax off and remove that oxidation. The pre-wax cleaners are generally pretty fool-proof because they have really minimal amounts of abrasives in them. That being said, you still can put swirls in the paint or burn the paint if you are not careful and use an orbital polisher/buffer. That is much more difficult to do if you polish by hand, but it is quite a bit of work to polish an entire tailgate.

IMHO, you can get that looking quite a bit better with a little time and elbow grease. Strip it all the way down to the clear coat before you wax again.

 

So how do you remove these badges?? You used WD-40? That doesnt damage the paint? how do you peel them off?
My truck is silver, so ghosting doesn't effect it too much.

 

When I removed the badging on the doors, I had the ghosting as well. I used 3M rubbing compound with a random orbital buffer. The 3M stuff that I used is safe for clear coats. As mentioned before though, you need to be carefull. You don't want to go through the clear coat.

 

Yeah a friend of mine debadges his dakota and at night when my lights shined on his tailgate you could easily read where it said Dodge, even after he waxed it and what not. It's pretty tough to get the ghosting to go away.

 

thanks for the tips i'll try the 3m compound.
once i took the pics i noticed how swirled my paint is.
where the letters were it's still smooth.

and wd-40 is also a good safe cleaner. and i just used my fingernails to peal the vinyl back.

 

I took the vinyl Dakota Sport decals off the doors on my truck. I used a heat gun on low and held it about 8 inches away from the door surface and heated the letters while pulling them off at the same time. I don't know if it was the heat or the silver color of my truck but there was no ghosting or shadows in the paint at all.

Before going as drastic as buffing and using rubbing compound, maybe try some Meguiar's Scratch-X. It is a very fine rubbing compound and may help with the ghosting you have. You could also do the whole truck with it and probably get rid of or at least diminish the swirl marks.

Let the truck sit a week or two without waxing where you removed the decal. The sun will eventually fade the ghosting out anyway but it can take a while. WD40 is fine for removing the glue from the decals, it won't hurt the paint at all but it also won't do anything for the ghosting left behind by the decals.

Jimmy

 

yea i was going to try by hand first and see how it went.
i think the heat gun is for the glue and it was warm yesterday so i had no problems there. if scratch x is cheaper ill get it.

i want to try this today before i go back to school.
i gotta go see family and sh*t, i'll post any results later.