I have just bought a new car and on the outside is a badge. It was put on by the dealer as an advert (along with the dealer’s advert stuck to the inside of the rear screen and on the number plates). Can anybody recommend a method of getting it off without damaging the paint?
The car magazines recommend warming it with a heat gun and slowly peeling it off.
I suspect that if you wanted to be brutal you could “saw” it off with a piece of music wire (stretched between two wooden handles), then use kerosene to clean up any residue. However, I can’t guarantee that you wouldn’t scratch the paint with the wire, so I’d try the heat gun first.
Take it back to the dealer and insist they take the advertising off your car or pay you for it.
Actually I just told the dealer to take them off, this way if they damaged the car they would have to fix it
I will try Boobka’s approach. If that doesn’t work, it’s out with the heat gun.
If I’m buying a new car, the only acceptable place for the dealer to place his advertising is on the license plate frame. I would insist that the plaque(s) or decal(s) be removed as a condition of the sale.
Fortunately, the practice of dealers putting adverts on the body of the car is uncommon in California; but I’ve seen many, many cars from outside of the state that had them.
I suppose you could tell the dealer, “I’m planning on keeping this car for five years. You may display your ad on my car for a fee of $100/month for as long as I own the car, with a minimum term of 60 months payable in advance. If you would subtract $6,000 from the price of the car, you may leave your ads on it.”
Unfortunately, I have bought the car and did not notice the badge until I got home. I put it down to being overcome by the bright, shiny new toy I had just got my hands on.
When I bought a Saab in the '70s, the dealer asked when we were taking delivery if it would be OK to add a sticker. They even asked where I prefer it be placed. As I was happy with the deal, and dealer I said OK.
The heat gun recommended by others sould work fine. Don’t wait too long or you might find the paint a different color underneath the sticker.
Remember when the dealer adverts were cast metal and attached through the metal?
Unfortunately, my car doesn’t have a badge–the logo is either painted on or some kind of sticker. It’d probably be a real pain in the ass to get rid off, so it’s just going to have to stay.
The car I bought last year, I had a VERY bad experience with the dealer, and problems with it after I purchased it that they refused to help with.
I went to the hardware store and bought some of those adhesive letters and spelled out [Charlie Thomas Chevrolet] ‘SUCKS’ right beneath the dealer’s label. And I used to honk whenever I drove by them on the freeway.
Someone backed into my car in a parking lot last winter, and crunched my bumper, so when that was repainted I removed all the non-window stickers from my car. Does anyone know where I can get a Toyota sticker that matches the one they put on the trunk? It’s started to wear off and it looks bad.
Oh, and it’s very hot here. So the metal on the car had heated up quite a bit when I peeled off the dealer badge. I used some adhesive remover to get rid of the glue residue once I peeled it off.
I had the same problem when I bought my car 2 years ago – I just used Gum Out and it worked great!
You should be able to get a sticker at your friendly neighborhood auto body shop (maybe even an auto parts store), if you don’t want to go to the dealer. They can get all the standard decals and such to replace when they repair collision damage. If they did the work on your car when it was damaged, they might not even charge you a fee or anything.
The dealer will definitely be able to get it for you, but if they’re jerks, it may be more trouble than it’s worth.
Could this be also be applies to the chevy/ford/whatever advertising that is stuck on the car? - where do you draw the line?
I agree with making the dealer liable, if possible.
But if you can’t, and you don’t have a heat gun, park the car so that the ass-end gets a whole lot of sunlight and heats up really well. Then, get a tough, thin rag like a washrag, a towel, and a large flathead screwdriver. Wrap the tip of the screwdriver in the thin rag so you won’t scratch the paint, and place the towel underneath the fulcrum of the screwdriver. Slooooowly pry the badge off, checking the tip of the screwdriver to make sure you haven’t ripped through the rag.
Usually, dealer badges use a foam-rubber adhesive, and some of it almost always sticks to the car. You want to look for something called “acrylic solvent,” sometimes known as “L.B.I.” at a car-parts store or a dealership. Wipe the remaining adhesive with a rag well-soaked in acrylic solvent, then wipe it with a sock or some other soft cloth to tease it off. You can carefully use a thumbnail as well, but you risk scratching. You can actually make the whole job a little easier by dripping some of the solvent between the badge and the car before you start prying, but don’t let it sit very long.
Once the badge is off and the goop is cleaned up, wash that part of the car immediately to get the acrylic solvent off of the paint, or it will start eating it.
If you’re really cheap and desperate, an ammonia-based window cleaner will also dissolve most adhesives, but the coloring agent can sometimes find its way into the paint and permanently dye it. Don’t use laquer thinner, for reasons I hope are obvious.