I taped up all my badges with 3M green painter's tape when I waxed my truck Saturday. When I pulled off the tape after, some of the black background paint came off with it. So off to Walmart for some acetone and qtips.

All I have to say is damn, it's hard work. My finger tips are all sore and I'm only half way done with one badge, after 2+ hours working on it.

Here's the kicker. I decided to try the polishing wheel on my Dremel to loosen up the black paint a bit. It worked and made it a lot easier to get the paint off with the qtips but I got a bit carried away and the chrome around the "L" in Lightning got a bit too hot and started to bubble a bit.

I'm going to buy 2 new badges and just do the hot water in one tray, acetone soak for half hour in a seperate tray method. This qtip stuff is for the birds.

I'm at work right now but I'll put up pics of the damage as soon as I get home.

 

One trick I found when doing mine was not to just push the black around. The acetone softens the black paint – it doesn’t remove it. The acetone flashes off quickly, leaving the black paint in a new place. With just Q-tips (wetted with acetone), pull in only one direction, rolling the tip as you go to keep a fresh area in contact with the paint. Flip the Q-tip and repeat, repeat, repeat – ad-nosium. I found that a small artist’s brush, wet with acetone works better for the “bulk” removal – followed with the Q-tips for the polish. I did all three emblems in less than two hours with this method – that includes learning the method on the first. The masking was another hour before I started. Be REAL careful with either method, but especially the brush – acetone has a low specific gravity and will track across the badge and onto your paint QUICKLY.

Good Luck,
Herb

 

Thanks for the input!

I just want to be sure I know what you're saying.

I've been dipping the qtip in the acetone and scrubbing the hell out of the black with it, then flipping the qtip. It only removes a tiny little section of black this way.

You're saying that you don't do any scrubbing at all with the qtip? You're just putting so much acetone on there over and over and over again that it just eventually softens up and and you wipe it off with something?

If so that's great, of course I am a bit scared now that you mentioned the acetone leaking onto the paint. I had some get on the tape last night and I started to worry it would soak into the tape and get on the paint. I pulled the tape, hit the paint with some quick detailer, and redid the tape real quick.

I wonder how much exposure to the acetone the paint can take and what the best way to clean it up if it does hit the paint is?

 

Finished Product, the q-tip method takes some time but it's worth it.



-Patrick

 

It definitely looks great, can't wait to finish mine up.

Did you scrub with the qtip, or just apply the acetone with it?

 

Grabbed a metal can, put acetone in it, bought a fresh box of qtips, and dipped one at time, scrubbed till the qtip was covered in black and some paint had been removed, then used the other side after dipping it. It is very tedious and involved a lot of scrubbing. Don't forget to tape off around the emblem in case any drips occur...

 

For anyone who is interested in doing this here is a tip... BRAKE CLEANER. I did it to my L yesterday with some brake cleaner. I sprayed it on small potions of a rag that I folded into triangle shapes. Used q tips on the edges and it worked great. I didn't even use painters tape. 45min for both fender emblems. And no paint damage either.

 

Did you guys do this with the emblem on the truck or off.

 

svt450r - Emblems are on the truck in this process.

Bootbox - I had no probelm at all with the Q-tip not wiping off much black. The tips were pretty wet and I was working in cooler weather than we have today and yesterday. With higher ambient, the acetone will flash off faster. The main issue I had early on was the Q-tip would remove the black, liquify it, then become a paintbrush to reapply it. I also taped a severla layer thick newpaper 'bib' directly under each badge while I worked.

Her's my finished product:






Good Luck,
Herb

 

Thanks for the tips and pictures. I have got to get this done, it looks so good.

Maybe I'll try out the brake cleaner method after work today, I got a can of it with my caliper paint kit yesterday.

 

does anyone have these done on a Red L with stock rims? i wana see some pics see if it looks good ya know...

 

I've got a stock wheeled red '01.

Give me a few hours, I'll have a pic I can put up of my passenger side with the Lightning badge done.

I won't be doing the SVT F150 badge though, I like the way it looks stock better.

 

Thanks alot herb looks good.

 

Thanks - I actually get a lot of complements on them. The True Blue REALLy sets them off.

Herb

 

This will be the cheapest mod you will ever do.Here is what i did works great just wax around them leave it on til your done if you get some on the paint the wax you put on will keep it from sticking to your paint. The big fat Q Tips work get buy a bag though youll need them.