jfridge92

So to start, I've debadged every car I've owned prior to my G and I have never had any trouble. Flash forward to yesterday. I removed the INFINITI lettering from the trunk using some fishing line. It was warm enough outside that I didn't need to use any heat. I used a ton of goo-gone to gently remove the adhesive. What I found below honestly made me sick.

Apparently, my trunk has been resprayed in the past that didn't show on a carfax (likely not reported), but whoever resprayed it must have been lazy and taped off around the badges rather than removing and reinstalling them.

The result of that ended up in square-ish outlines slightly larger than each letter where there is a difference in clear coat height.

It's hard to see and this is the best pic I could get, but you can faintly see where the clear coat is damaged



I spent some time this morning wetsanding with some 2000 grit, then rubbing compound and polish to try and minimize the amount of "peeling" that is showing. It's still somewhat noticeable depending on the angle, but much better now. If you zoom in really closely, you can see slight ghosting where the clear coat is still two separate heights





At this point though, I don't think there is enough clear left in the original area under the badges to safely feather the junk paint job's clear coat, so I know I will eventually be looking at getting a quality re-spray, but I can't afford that at the moment (nor the wrath of my wife yelling that I did something to my car lol).

Other than some more wetsanding, is there anything else recommended that I can do to minimize the visibility of the ghosting? I've seen a few others post that have had something similar happen when debadging, and have tried everything in those threads (more goo gone, scratch X, wetsanding/polishing) but I'm not a detailing expert. I know it will never be perfect without a respray, but anything else that I'm missing out there?

Surfnazi

Put badge back on or use cutting then polishing then wax and sealant

mliakira

Just take a white or black pad and use some polish and it will go away after a few passes

Surfnazi

You want to slowly polish up from low to high grit. Keep mop head wet to reduce chance of burning the clear

jfridge92

Thanks for the tips guys! I have some cutting compound and slightly more abrasive polish coming from Amazon later this week to try out on it. I'll post the results, and hopefully I can get things blended in better than they are now.

jfridge92

Well, I tried some Mother's cutting compound followed by polish and waxing, and it is a little better but still noticeable from up close. It's definitely a poor quality respray, so a refinish will be in the future. There are a few other paint issues on the car as well, so I may wait it out and get the entire car resprayed when I add an OEM front lip, rear spoiler, and open up my headlights to do some work in there. The car will be fine while I save up for those projects, but I guess I was just an unlucky one when it comes to having a car that was resprayed poorly.

Surfnazi

Just put the badge back on

RMB5190

iTrader: (2)

To be honest, I wouldn't even know what you were referencing if you asked me to pick out what's wrong from the last two pictures. Unless it's worse in person?

You know it's there so I understand how that plays into the scenario but if it's any peace of mind it's hardly noticeable.

jfridge92

Badges went back on last night until I can get a respray properly done. It isnt' any more noticeable in person than the pictures show, it's just one of those things that I notice when I look at it. It sucks, because I love the debadged look of the trunk, but at the same time, I want to respect that this car is a sport luxury vehicle, so I want things done properly, not cheap. That of course means things will take a lot longer to be done, but it will be worth it in the end.

On the positive side, I now have a lot of new great detailing products to get the rest of the car looking fantastic.

Surfnazi

Plastidip your badges