I want to debadge my new Fit...any tips and tricks? I've never debadged a car before.

What badges can be removed, which cannot?

Thanks!

 

I used heat gun to warm the area around badges then used yo yo string to carefully separate adhesive from paint. I've done it in the past with fishing line but it would always stretch from the heat then break.

 

Yes, heat gun works great just take your time. I took mine off the hatch

 

some use fishing line after heating the adhesive to remove.

then WD40 or googone on a soft MF towel (never reuse for paint) to remove the rest. wipe down with alcohol, then wax the area.

 

Exactly what I did minus the heat gun. Found that out later.

 

on a hot summer day in the sun no heat gun necessary actually.

 

I just parked the car in the sun for a few hours, then used dental floss to get behind the adhesive. Then goo gone to get the rest of the adhesive. Then wash and wax. This was for the FIT emblem on the rear hatch only.

 

 

Actually I don't mind. I just don't like cleaning around emblems.

I repurposed the emblem by sticking it onto my DIY cargo cover.

 

All the stickers I took off had been put on by the dealer. I stripped that all off but left the original Honda stuff alone. And yes, I even replaced the license plate brackets the dealer had put on which had his name on them. I don't get paid to advertise for the dealer.

 

The dealer's plate cover is ALWAYS the first thing to go for me. It's so tacky!

As for reason for the removal: 1. I've never done it on a previous car and wanted to try it. and 2. I think it looks cleaner...but to each their own, right?

 

sometimes i flip over the dealer plate frames and you can still use it as a plate frame with a narrow outline. it actually looks pretty good. someone on this site mentioned it and gave it a try.

the only emblem ive removed was a dealer emblem. i use a boar's hair brush to clean between the letters of the emblems sometimes, but you still need to be careful as the paint on modern cars is so soft you can end up hazing the finish.

 

 

Removing dealer plates is typically the first thing I do.
I once bought a new car in the day's when you had to wait for your new plates to arrive. So I left the dealership with a dealers frame, and plastic inserts advertising the dealership.
I immediately bought new frames and turned the inserts around to be blank. I took the vehicle in to the dealership to have some accessories installed shortly after, and heard the tech's laughing...thinking I had turned the inserts around and bought new frames because I must of been upset with the dealership or the deal.
I really wasn't upset at the dealership at all.
I just think it's really tacky to drive around advertising a dealership.

 

I debadged mine a few weeks after I got the car ... I like the look and the lack of branding doesn't bother me.

 

I "debadge" most of my vehicles.
On this car, it was just the "Fit" and "Sport" badges on the hatch.
Cleans up the look

 

Happened to be in my local Honda Dealership the other day, and looked at some Honda Products on the showroom floor.
Noticed this dealership was actually putting a nameplate like badge on their vehicles with their name. It was about the same size as the Fit badge itself.

Man, I thought dealership license plate frames were bad enough. You want me to drive around with a badge advertising your dealership?
Pay me.
I'd either request they do not put the badge on...or if already on, I'd ask it be removed. IMO...attaching an additional badge to the vehicle is crossing the line. I pay to buy a car, I'm not being paid to advertise.

 

I'd remove it myself as I'd take more care doing it versus whoever they told "You have 2 minutes to get this badge off because this jerk customer doesn't want it on their car!"

The dealership license plate is always the first to come off. Then whatever badges to clean up the car. Some cars have a lot of badges. Seen the back of a Subaru lately? haha

 

Back in the day....
it was common for dealers to rivet or screw their badges on the rear.

 

When I was young my friends and I used to roam around used car lots. We would try and spot cars which had been in accidents. Significant rear end damage was easy to spot because all the original dealership badges would have been removed and discarded in the body repair process. In those days owners rarely removed that stuff when they took possession of a new car.