De-Badge Your Vibe (Remove that stupid dealer tag)

[Flip-Side]

I finally got off my (removed) and removed the dealer tag that was placed on my vibe without my approval. If they are going to advertise on our cars, they should pay us. So I checked some sources, and came up with the best way to remove those stubborn badges.First, I heated the badge with a hair dryer to loosen the adhesive holding the badge and foam contact together. DO NOT USE A HEAT GUN! They reach temperatures (900+ degrees F) that will burn your paint off. When new, the badge may easily come off after being heated. Don't force it off or you will take your paint with it! Mine was old, so I had to gently separate it from my car by other means. The dental floss trick I've heard about had sound theory, but when I tried to saw throught the foam backing behind the badge, it broke constantly. Grab some strong "Spider Wire" or "Stren" fishing line from Walmart instead, and sea-saw (like flossing a tooth) through the backing once the badge is heated. Saw through the badge to foam contact, and not the foam to paint contact. This will keep you from scratching the paint. Once the plastic badge is separated from the foam tape, you can easily peel the remaining foam tape from your car with your fingers. Any adhesive left over can be removed with car soap and a towel. Tough spots can be loosened with your favorite wax or polish. Yay! No more ugly advertisement. Crack open a beer and pat yourself on the head. P.S. This was my personal experience with de-badging. I am not responsible for others who choose to do this.

[damronjr]

Quote, originally posted by Flip-Side »P.S. This was my personal experience with de-badging. I am not responsible for others who choose to do this. Sad you have to put that these days!

[Merzbow]

I would kill them if they put an ad on my car. My dealer said he'd give us a free oil change to sport their liscense frame. Once I got my liscense I soon made short work of that stupid ugly thing....never did get the oil change either!Did you take pics?

[Flip-Side]

Quote, originally posted by Merzbow »Did you take pics?Nope, my wife had the camera with her. The Pontiac Logo on my hatch has fade to light pink, so I'll be doing that one soon. Should be able to get picks of that one.

[Raven]

I ordered a GMC truck and 3 months later when it came in I went to pick it up. It had not 1 but 3 dealer tags, 1 on the tailgate and 1 on each front quarter panel. My salesman came out to see why I was so upset. I told him get the %@*#&#@ stickers off my truck or he could keep it. 10 minutes later they were gone without a trace.

[nismo]

Quote, originally posted by Sunny »I ordered a GMC truck and 3 months later when it came in I went to pick it up. It had not 1 but 3 dealer tags, 1 on the tailgate and 1 on each front quarter panel. My salesman came out to see why I was so upset. I told him get the %@*#&#@ stickers off my truck or he could keep it. 10 minutes later they were gone without a trace. That's bada$$. Man, I did that once when I supposed to get a free oil change, I totaled got pissed at the dealer for hoin me out of a free oil change so, I started *****in at the dealer and they gave me my free oil change. There was no way I was payin no $35 for a conventional oil change. Screw that!

[MoonDogg]

I did that to a dealer once.. they told me .. we have to put that on the car.. I said if you put it on.. you can keep it.. needless to say.. they did not put it on

[fjf511]

In a completly different view my salesman went to put the stupid dealer frame on my Vibe but, he said he couldn't put it on and used my chrome one

[tnpartsguy]

I work for a dealer, and the 1st thing I remove are all the dealer stickers, and license plates, ect. Once, the dealer asked me why I did it. I went out to the car, got my sales agreement, and asked him if he saw "Advertising Allowance" anywhere on it.....needless to say he got upset, but agreed with me in the end, because I do normally sell 5 or 6 cars a year (directly, as in I take the car to the person, show it, and bring them back to the store to buy; no telling how many I sell indirectly).BTW, the stickers come off with a hairdryer, followed by Goo-Gone.

[Flip-Side]

Quote, originally posted by tnpartsguy »BTW, the stickers come off with a hairdryer, followed by Goo-Gone.I was hesitant to use my goo gone on the paint because it has petroleum products in it. I found that a cloth with soap, and then gently rubbing with tech wax completed the job nicely. I was optimistic the hair dryer would work fine alone, but it was on there real good. Hence the Spider Wire, which worked awsome. I think you are the first salesman I know that wants to remove the stickers rather than install them. Kudos to you my friend.

[Merzbow]

I don't think the advertising does anything for the dealer anyways...I think the average person knows you need to shop around when you are buying such a big investment so just seeing a name on a car isn't gonna get you any buisness...not from me atleast.

[03VibeGT6Spd]

actully the heat gun does do a much better job then a hair dryer, trust me When you have a lot to do it saves plenty of time and comes off a lot better.That foam will start to bubbling long before it effects the paint.But still care needs to be taken.Becareful of that foam to When you get it stuck to your hand or finger it burns bad, and it's hard as H*** to get off. you just end up burning more fingers. LOL

[tnpartsguy]

Quote, originally posted by Flip-Side »I think you are the first salesman I know that wants to remove the stickers rather than install them. Kudos to you my friend. ACK!!! I'm not a salesman.....::shudders:: I'm a Parts Manager........

[wolfsburg_de]

Our dealer put a decal on the hatch, but they offer lifetime free state inspections (every year here in PA) as long as we leave the decal on. So, in essence, the dealer IS paying us to advertise for them.

[AzFusionGT]

Although Arizona doesn't inspect vehicles, we do have to go through emissions every 1/2 years. It costs about $27 I believe, plus tag fees. But for your dealer to foot the bill is great.I bought my car from the dealer where my Dad worked. While he was there, I left the dealer decal on. When he transferred to another area dealer, it came off. And I had none of the problems that other people listed. It came right off, then I used windex to get rid of the residue.

[remusrm]

the funny thing here in LA people stay away from cars with dealer decals on. they usually come from other states with salvage titles. also, when i got the liecense plates off, the dealer junk they asked me why i removed it. i said i do not advertise for you, and they smiles. but i did pulled over 1 since it does look too suspesious. black tints and no plates or marks of any kind...

[SlappyMcHappy]

Quote, originally posted by Merzbow »I would kill them if they put an ad on my car. My dealer said he'd give us a free oil change to sport their liscense frame. Once I got my liscense I soon made short work of that stupid ugly thing....never did get the oil change either!Did you take pics?My car also came with the license plate frame. I took it off. Before I could get a new frame, I went to the dealership to fix a problem with my window. When I came to pick my car up, there was the license plate frame again. They actually put another one on my car.

[bud_one]

Quote, originally posted by tnpartsguy »ACK!!! I'm not a salesman.....::shudders:: I'm a Parts Manager........Fixed operations people don't take to kindly to them kinds of words..."salesman"

[21Rouge]

Quote, originally posted by Flip-Side »I finally got off my (removed) and removed the dealer tag that was placed on my vibe without my approval. If they are going to advertise on our cars, they should pay us. Has anyone ever spoke to the dealer *in advance*, say before the PDI, so that the badges are not put in the first place?

[Mavrik]

I told my dealership NOT to put it on or I was going to make them take it off. They didn't put one on.

[mcgusto82]

here in VA. all new cars come with lifetime state inspections. all the cars i've ever bought here have had that agreement. i too share your feeling on the stupid logos. usually i drive the car around for a few months before i take it off. i just simply rolled off the sticker, and used a flat head with a peice of cloth for the "vibe" letters. that crap kept on braking off every other letter. either way, if you are being carefull, it'll turn out alright.

[binary]

I also let the car sit in the sun on a 85 F day.I used high test fishing line and sliced through the adhesive behind the plastic badges. I broke a few lengths, but I used a nice long sawwing motion (about 3' in both directions) that allowed the line to cool between cuts.Once the plastic was off, I could peel the adhesive off with my fingers. Then just cleaned up the residue by wetting a tissue with WD-40 and dabbing it on the area with sticky goo for about 30-45 seconds.Finished up with a quick soap wash and fresh wax job.My dealer's badge was a custom cut vinyl lettering... about 2 dozen letters to peal off by hand - I was Pi##ed. And to boot I had two dealer plate frames too! Needless to say - they're all gone.Here's some dialup friendly photos.The sticker goo under your badges. This can be peeled up with your fingers... if not, heat it up using a hair dryer or the sun.Finished drivers side - badgeless. Anyone have any alumnium rims?Finished tailgate - badgeless.Another shot of the tailgate. Yellow lab is on squirrel patrol."Badges? Badges!? We don't need no stinkin' badges!" Oh and the whole car took me about 45 minutes, not including waxing it.

[Toasted7]

Thanks for all the tips, I will be attempting this within the next few weekends I hope. I want to get all those badges off (mine don't look good anyway)

[binary]

Too bad you didn't live closer, we could do it here and kill a few bottles of local brew in the process.

[Toasted7]

Local brew sounds good to me!

[djpositivek]

Thanks for all the tips guys. Luckily mine didn't have any Dealer stickers on it when I picked it up. I did mention it to the Sales guy so maybe they took it off. Can't remember if it was there when I test drove it.Nice pics Binary. Looks just like mine ! I'm debating removing the badges. Would make it easier to wax and would definitly look nice and clean. And it would be a free "mod"

[ArcsVibe]

Here is mine! Very easy to do and the car looks cleaner IMO.

[fireball04]

I work for a Toyota dealer as the detail dept manager. We are supposed to install dealer plates and stickers on every car. I recently purchased a 2006 Matrix, and would never put any stickers or plates on. I will not advertise unless I am paid to do so. To remove stickers heat up with hair dryer/ heat gun being careful to not get it too hot. then peel of with your fingernail. proceed to remove the glue residue with a solvent. Solvent will NOT damage your painted metal surfaces. When a vehicle is painted and clearcoated it is baked and once it is baked it is impervious to these chemicals. I have found a very quick and easy method of removing plastic trim. But you have to be REAL careful.1. spray solvent on the top of the trim, so it soaks into the gluey part. 2. Let it soak in for 30 sec to a min. longer the better.3. now the careful part. grab a reasonable sized flathead screwdriver.4. place it just under the plastic trim (NOT TOUCHING THE PAINT) 5. apply pressure outwards pulling off the trim (dont pry, pull)6. The glue will have been softened by the solvent and it should POP off the car. It might break the emblem, but who cares you didn't want it anyway.7. use solvent to remove the rest of the glue.8. wax area to look like the rest of the car.I use this method 50+ times and have never damaged paint. just have to be carful where you place the screwdriver. and make sure you use solvent to soften the glue.*this works great for me however if done incorrectly could damage your paint. make sure you know what you are doing first!*

[Mrizzle05]

you mean you pulled off your side trim under the door handles??? i thought it was like screwed in somehow.

[Toasted7]

I thought there were holes under those trim pieces?!? If there is not, I'm going to take off those pieces asap.

[tribalman]

sorry for the bump of an older thread but i have some questions.when i got my vibe from a used dealer there are stickers from them on there along with dealer plate holders. holders are easy to replace, just haven't bought new ones yet. the question is about the stickers. it looks like i can just peel it off and wash any glue off, should I or should I use the hairdryer/goo-gone method? also, i want to really de-badge my vibe and take of the "Vibe" decals that are attached on the front doors on the lower section and on the hatch. is it possible or is this the whole hair dryer goo gone method? if it matters i have an 04 base. thanks.

[drunkenmaxx]

i just de-badged my maxx yesterday, so i thought i would post here about it.i didn't have a way to get the hair dryer to the car (no ext. cord) so i was fearful that my attempt would be fruitless. also, walmart had no wax-free floss (always wondered why that mattered). i went out and tried it anyway. it was about 60F outside and all i had was my waxed dental floss and some goo gone. i went to work on the badges and they came off with great ease! the only hard part was getting the remaining residue off my hatch. now, my maxx is starting to look nice and clean with this mod and the vent visors drunkengirlfriend got me for my early b-day present!so, to those who aren't sure they want they hassle, it's not so bad! just do it already man!

[Tubaryan12]

I only keep the badge from the dealer on the car if I get something for doing it. I left the ones on my car because I got a great deal and they give free car washes. It actually doesnt look bad on the car either. My Hyundai was bought from the same dealer. I didn't like the fact they wouldnt let me add to the base model that I bought (special deal on the base....and I was willing to pay full price for the upgrades) so no sticker for them on that one.

[BurnOnyx08]

Did a dealership de-badge today. 15min in the garage.Items you will need:1)Hairdryer (preferably an old one, wife would freak if I used her good one)2)Dental floss (un-waxed was my choice)3)Nylon scraper (had one from stone cookware like a pizza stone)4)WD-405)Soft cloth (I used microfiber, we'll see if she notices the smell after I wash it)Cut through the foam with the floss, staying away from the paint. Heat the adhesive with the hairdryer as you scrape the remaining foam away.Soaked the remaining adhesive with the WD and buffed it off with the cloth.Easy as that. Went from an ugly credit card sized burgundy plaque to an unmarked Abyss.Hope it goes as easy for the rest of you.

[bull77]

Jack May in Manotik? I was lucky to peel the sticker from Donnellys off

[shemp]

I have to remove and reinstall lots of parts for work, and taped on parts are no picnic. That tape is really hard to get off once it cures. I've tried heat, and solvents, but the best way I've found to remove tape residue is a 3M Stripe off wheel. (that sounded like an ad, didn't it?)