Blacked Out Badges Writeup

Well, I got the itch and blacked out my badges today. Turned out pretty sweet. Haven't seen them in the sunlight yet though.

For those of you considering it. It's a real simple mod. The braided fishing line worked like a charm cutting thru the tape holding them on. From start to finish it took me 4 hours, and that included about 2 hours of dry time for the paint to fully harden. The part the took the longest was cutting the tape for the back of the badges. What a PITA that was....... but worth the effort. Total investment was 1 can of Krylon Fusion paint, so less than $3.00. If I had to buy everything needed to do this mod, I guess it would have cost me about $10.00.

Here's the step by step proceedure I used. Sorry, no pictures. By the time I remembered about taking pictures I was more than 1/2 done:

1. Clean the area around the badges. Dirt will scratch the paint as you debadge if it's not clean.

2. I used blue painters tape as a guide to mark the location of the badges before removing them. I put a strip under the badge, and a small strip at 1 end to mark where the end of the badge was. The painters tape will not be in the way for the badge removal process.



3. I Used braided fishing line and use a sawing action (back and forth) to cut thru the tape holding the badges on the truck. Some people say to use a hair dryer to heat them up first. I guess it makes it easier, but I didn't do that part. DO NOT REMOVE THE PAINTERS TAPE YET. You'll use this as a guide to reapply the badges later.

4. After all of the badges are removed, I gave them a quick bath. I used an old toothbrush and denatured alcohol. Scubbed them down good to remove dirt, grime, and any wax or car wash soap residue. Then dried them off with a paper towel.

5. Lightly sand all of the surfaces with 400 grit (or higher) wet/dry sandpaper. This will give the surface a "tooth", and it should help with better adhesion of the paint.

5.a. Apply the new adhesive tape to the back of the badges. This will help save the new paint from damge later on. I used the 3M double sided tape that you can buy at Wallyworld for around $4 per roll. 1 roll will be more than enough.

6. Wipe all of the badges down again with denatured alcohol. Remove all fingerprints. Body oils can cause defects in the paint, and will also cause the paint not to adhear properly.

7. Find a well lit, non-dusty place to do your painting. I used Krylon Fusion paint, so I did not do any priming. I put on 2 light "tack" coats, and then 1 heavy "wet" coat. I allowed them to dry untouched for 2 hours.

8. While the paint on the badges was drying, I went back to the truck and removed the remaining badge adhesive from the paint. Most of the remaining tape I could get off using my fingernail. The little bit that was left behind was easily cleaned up using a paper towel with a little bit of denatured alcohol.

9. After the badges are dry, place them face down (I used a microfiber towel for this) and cut pieces of 3M body molding tape and apply them to the back of the badges. I did not remove what was left of the original adhesive from the badges. There wasn't much left, and I thought it would help stick the new tape to the badges as well.

10. Reapply the badges using the painters tape as your guide. Remove the protective covering from the body molding tape, press the badges gently against the truck using the painters tape as you guide, but be careful, it's not a tank, and the sheetmetal may bend if you press to hard.

11. Remove the painters tape, and you're done.



12. Last, but not least, stand back and admire your handy work.







Now go get busy!

 

+1 rep

going to do this w/in the next few days

looking forward to photos

 

its easy!!!!

 

Also, while I was at it yesterday I color match painted my grill badge.

 

looks great and im a big fan of the color matched grill emblem the black just doesnt show up enough

 

what kind of tape did you use?


the 3m tape i have is a little thick and grey so after i stuck it on the back of my badges i had to trim all the excessive tape around the letters (major PITA!!!) but since i'm going to put bedliner on them it will cover it up well.

did you do that too and not mention it or are you using something different?

 

nicely done man

 

I used the 3M tape also, but cut it into very small pieces to fit the contours of the badges. I found it was easrier to slice the tape right down the middle with a razor blade lenght wise and use the thin strips. That approach worked for about 50% of the badge. Putting the tape on the back of the badges is the most time consuming part of this mod for sure.

 

Looks good. I did mine a while back and love the look. Toyota should offer them in black.

 

looks great rocket! i'd love to get rid of the plastic chrome on my taco but havent thought of a color to change them to

 

the Speedways look good with a mix of black

 

It really does go well with this color.

 

Looks friggin awesome! More pics of your truck please!!!

 

Why can't a person put a piece of two sided tape big enough to cover the whole emblem and then sit the emblem tape side down on a piece of cardboard and cut the emblem out with an x-acto knife?

 

No chipping on any of them so far. The Krylon Fusion is holding up really well.

What would I do differnt now?

The only thing I can think of that I'd do different is put the new tape on before painting the badges. That way you don't have to be as careful because there's no fresh paint to mess up. And, the edges of the tape will also be painted black. If you look close at my badges you can see the gray edge of the tape. Not sure you can see that in the photos, but it's there.

 

For more pics of my ride, check out my Photobucket albums:

http://s579.photobucket.com/albums/ss233/Rocketball/Truck Stuff/

http://s579.photobucket.com/albums/ss233/Rocketball/Truck Damage/

 

Hmm in seriously thinking about doing this to my timberline mica. Not sure how black would look. I also thought about maybe trying to paint them a gunmetal color to match up with the front grill and the fj gunmetal rims I'm gunna be putting on but I'm wondering if that would look way overkill. Also shouldn't we put some sort of clear coat on after for xtra durability?

 

Sure, you can clear coat, but I did not.

 

you could if you wanted a gloss-black look, but krylon fusion is pretty strong stuff, and it allows you to have more of a flat-black look

 

good write up, i might black mine out as well