To debadge, or not to debadge?
 

I've been toying with the idea of debadging my truck for a bit now, after seeing a few de-badged that I really liked. I know it's mostly personal taste, but I was wondering how many people on here have/want to debadge their truck..and what everyone thinks of it?

The badge's I'd be removing are the 3 Blazer badges (sides and back) and the 'LS" decal on the doors by the window.

i have mine de-badged and i really like it, its just a subtle way to set your blazer apart from the rest. its also free and easy to do and if you dont like the way it looks you can just glue the emblems back on.

That's what I was thinking...at least it's free, and an easy fix if I don't like it lol

Do it!.......Im debadging the bravada this weekend. I think it has a nice clean look to it. I debadged my old 99 blazer and liked how it looked.

I think it comes out looking like an Explorer. But, to each his own. Go nuts, it's easy to put back if you don't like it.

I removed the badges on mine a week after I got it. I like the way it looks a lot.

Its funny, I took all of the badges off, just to put a 35'' chevy symbol on the back, 6'' Vortec stickers on the side.

lol, thanks for the info guys. I'm going to do it this weekend I think if I get time and see how I like it. like mentioned, I can always put them back on if I don't like it.
I think they look a lot cleaner without badges..

Hell, you can always send 'em to me if you don't like em that much.... :D

lol...I think I'll keep them when I take them off :)

It's ok for you guys to de-badge. People will still know it'a a Blazer/Bravada etc.
With so few Blazers here in New Zealand, ..... come to think of it, if I de-badge NOBODY will know what I'm driving. Mmmmn

Thats like driving your very own vehicle!! It would be a crime NOT to de-badge kiwi! hell, google some SUVs that are not in NZ and we can scrape together some badges that will blow your kiwi pal's minds :p

Take pics of the process lol.

lol a bit off topic, but fix your headlight ABN31B it doesnt look like the tabs on the headlight are into the holes in the core support. lol i knew there was somthing about your sig that wasnt quite right ;)

mikeinwi PM me as I am ubernoob and don't know what you speak of! I am serious... wha?

pm sent

Thanks but I quite like my badges. Remember I've only got the rear ones & then of course the bowtie on the grill.

Oh yea, also, the 3rd brake light & the bowties on the rear of the roof lights! LOL

From the front & with the projectors it doesn't look Blazer like anyway. Maybe some other Chevy!

I am going to remove the dealership badge and the pinstripes down the sides, and will decide on the others as i go. I do like my Trailblazer badges though...

It's raining today, so I won't be able to do it..but I'll post pics tomorrow when I take them off. Can't wait :D

So i went to take them off today, and everything was going great until the end...my driverside Blazer badge...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...0607091644.jpg

This is the aftermath lol. What happened was what looks like a bunch of dirt got in behind the emblem and caused a chip in the paint (and consequent bubbling). So of course, when I started peeling I heard a crack, and knew there was no turning back.

The truck looks amazing without the badges, so I really wanna keep them off. My only options I can think of are to put them back on, or to buy a can of spray and tape off the small area that got peeled off and try and match it as best I can. Of course, I could paint the entire door too, but I really don't have any money to be doing that lol.
Any suggestions from anyone? I'd really like to leave them off, but will put them back on in I absoluetly have to .

Ouch... Ouch man, that's a kick in the face.
Depending on how long you plan to leave it that way, you should do something to seal that spot. If it will only be a temporary thing, you should clean up the area (to include the new raw paint edges) and prep it for paint. Wet sand it down and either primer it (it will "seal it" but not seal it, OR prime it and spray over it. You can get spray paint to match your paint numbers (in glove box at the bottom of your RPO codes) but it will not be a new paint job... the match will be off a little and you will always see it.

You could also (I might get beat up for this) get a $200 MACO Embassador package paint job. It's crap, but it will blend better than a rattle can job (ish). New paint job, but not really... :(

You could also go to a U-Pull it style junkyard and snatch up a new door for like $50 or less. You pull it style, or it will cost more for some guy to take it off and have it standing by for you.

Again, OUCH, that sucks man.

That sucks.. I really don't know what you could do to make it look good with painting the whole door.. Maybe I won't debadge mine afterall..

Mine was a fluke lol...there was a bunch of dirt that got under the two sided tape and damaged the paint. Once I started peeling it off, it just took the paint with it since it wasn't properly bonded to the back of the badge.
I'll take a pic of both badges I took off and show you the difference. I figure the dirt somehow chipped the paint underneath and caused it to bubble, in which case I had no hope when I went to pull it off. I don't think there was anything I could do to avoid it, looking at it after.
As for sealing it, I have touch up paint over it now..I'm just deciding what I want to do. I think I may put those two badges back on (the two blazer door ones) and leave the LS and the back blazer emblem off. Someday I might decide to take them off again and get my door painted.
Very dissapointed lol, I looks soooo much better debadged :(

That sucks! I took mine off with no problem.

Yeah, I had no problem with any of them up until that last one. The dirt really screwed me over :(

You know Sisk... you could always look for a vocational school that does auto repair. There might be a paint guy that could use the practice and you could get your door done on the cheap. probably for about as much as any of the other fixes mentioned...

It's like taking a kid to barber college. Screw 'em they're kids no one cares what they look like right. :D j/k

hahaha that's not a half bad idea..I might look into bringing it to the community college here..Thanks!

Let me know if that pans out man, I might just pratice what I preach when I finally bang out the custom body work a tree did to my D side front door :p

what's the best way to debadge?

I think it's been discussed before on here..but I'll tell you how I did mine..

Use a heat gun and heat up the badges really, really well. If you have fishing line (I didn't which maybe why my paint peeled off with it lol) then use the fishing line after heating it up to "slice" the badges off. I just pulled mine off, but unfortunately since there was dirt in behind my badge it damaged the paint and caused my paint to peel off with the badge.
Just be careful and take your time. Be sure to be generous with the heat gun to soften up the glue really well. After the badge is off you're going to have goo left over from the glue. Use goo-gone to get rid of the residue left. If that doesn't work first try, just continue to use the heat gun and repeat with the goo-gone. It takes quite a bit of work to get the goo off, but it looks damn good after words if you take your time!

what kind of heat gun do you need?

sorry im a bit new at all this just started working on mine a couple months ago and am short on money (just like everyone else)

Any heat gun will work, just head to the hardware store to get one...Home Depot will have them.
If you don't want to buy one, find one to borrow..or a hair dryer will also work. Keep in mind though if you use a hair dryer it's no where near as hot as a heat gun, so it will require extra heating.
If you're short on cash, debadging is a great (and free, as long as you don't screw up like I did lol) way to improve (IMO) the look of your ride.

So my plan to fix my f-up is to wet sand the touch up paint that I put on. Right now it looks rough and crappy because touch up paint was applied with the brush. One of the guys my buddy works with at the GM dealership said wet sanding and a thin coat of clear will help blend in the faux-pa at least until I can get the entire door painted.
It will be noticeable, that's for sure, but at least this way I can keep it debadged like I wanted, and still have a semi-clean look. I'll post pics of the process when I start on it to let you know how it goes.

Ive done it to every vehicle ive owned. its just weird to me i dont like seeing a plastic badge of the brand on the car. i took the stuff of my tailgate and it took off the paint. :(

SO yes you should do it..

We take emblems off all the time at my shop and all we use is a plastic like pry bar and pull it off. most of the time ruining the emblem as we are not going to use it again. the left over residue can be rubbed off with thumb (can be a pain) or what we use is a rubber pinstripe removal tool. sorry most of you might not have one but you can buy the rubber wheel and put it on a drill and it would work. good luck. as for me i have a bravada and most people down in florida don't know what it is and think it's a blazer so i am going to leave my badges on.

here is the trailblazer without the pinstripes

https://blazerforum.com/forum/pictur...pictureid=2454

hey guys..i have mine semi de-badged and took the molding off the doors but the LS on the side has bare metal under if im not mistaken right...?i think i remember that from when i re painted my s10..

the LS on the side is just a sticker. it's just laminated. if you pull it off and see bare metal, the paint came off with the sticker....mmm not good.

mine is de-badged well sorta nothin on the back but i put vinyl decals on the doors where the old blazer badges used to be got pics of it in my galery if ya wanna take a look...oh and the decals are under the clear coat (just got it repainted)

Has anyone here tried taking off the ZR2 sticker on theirs? (Given someone has a ZR2)

I am looking to take mine off, but I'm not sure if I take it off there might be a permanent outline of the sticker (due to sun and aging).

Also, does anyone know if the paint is clear-coated underneath the sticker?