Effective debadging

By CARSIFU | 1 July 2013
Q1: I have debadged my 10-year-old BMW 5 Series on the bootlid but there's a outline of the badge.What's the best way to remove the badge outline?

Dan
Kuala Lumpur


It depends.


Has the car been repainted or does it still retain its original paintwork?

If it’s the latter then a combination of some light clay-work, hand compounding and polishing should remove the oxidation that has formed around the badges.

It becomes significantly more complex if the car has been repainted and the body-shop did not remove the physical badges during the repainting process.

It would seem to be highly illogical and irresponsible to not remove them during a repaint but in my line of work I’ve seen this happen all too frequently in the quest for a “fast job” by an unscrupulous painter.

If a layer of clear-coat has been applied over the badges, then the only solution would be a resprayed booth.

Q2: A friend has bought a new Lexus CT 200 h and he's very car-proud. His birthday is coming in August and I thought I would get him a detailing gift pack. I have RM500 to play with. What would be your recommendation?

Azarina
Port Dickson


Your friend is certainly very blessed to have such a companion that can share his love for automobiles. Over the last few detailing articles, we’ve covered the basics for a bucket list of detailing products and I’ll suggest you check them out in carsifu.my for a more thorough understanding.


In the meantime, here’s what I would recommend:

Paintwork care:
1. pH-Balanced Car Shampoo
Clay-bar
Light Polishing Compound/All-In-One Polish
Quality Carnauba Wax/Synthetic Sealant
Quick Detailer/Wax Spray

Interior Care:
Leather Cleaner
Leather Protectant
Plastics and Trim Protectant

Basic Home Equipment:
Several Microfibre Towels
Used Cloths for wheels and lower sections cleaning
Soft-Bristle Brushes for wheels and tyres
Soft-Bristle Brushes for interior cleaning of carpets and seats
Two-Bucket System

The items above should fit into your budget very nicely. If you need some help getting these together in one place you could try contacting Sonax Malaysia or Meguiar’s at their respective Facebook pages.


Otherwise, most of them are available in the usual hardware supplies outlet and selected supermarkets/hyper-marts.

Q3:  I have just got back my 2007 Toyota Camry from the respray shop. I have changed the colour from white to pearl red.  Is there a buffer period required for the paintwork to cure/set before I send it for a detailing regime?

Chew
Seremban


You’re highly astute to plan for a detailing regiment post-repainting as the general public usually assumes that a car would not require detailing after a fresh-coat of paint is applied.


Depending on the paint system that was used, it can range from over a week to a month for outgassing and complete curing.

In Malaysia, a lot of paint-shops would use quick-drying clear-coats for “fast-jobs” and these are formulated to cure within a relatively short time-span.

They are much lower in cost compared to other high quality systems that uses medium to high-solids clear-coats or even the most current ceramic-clears.

We have the advantage of heat in our local weather so that helps to accelerate the curing process.

Ceramic clear-coats require paintwork detailing within a short window span of time post-application as it will harden at a more rapid pace than other clears.


Once the paintwork cures completely it will have a tendency to shrink, giving the paint a grainier orange-peel texture.

A highly-skilled detailer would be able to correct that to achieve a sharper reflection on the clear-coat with a paintwork refinement process that flattens the surface.

Ask your preferred body-shop the exact paint system that was used to refinish your car and you can then make a well-informed decision.