qboy3388

Thinking about debadging my ES350, I did some search but only found people did to their IS or new gen ES350s. Is there any holes behind the rear Lexus and ES350 badges on 08 ES350s? Any info would be appreciated!

nevernu

this is what the svc man says about removal

ThumperPup

from what my dealer told me when i had the es repaired back last year i asked them about deleting the Lexus and ES350 badging and painting the Front and rear Emblem to match the royal ruby paint
they told me that there where no holes but there is the chance that since they are adhered on when they come off there might be some discoloring or marking on the trunk where they where and it would need to be repainted if the buff didnt get it out

MikePA

Piano wire?!?!?

Fishing line will work just as well and not risk scratching the paint. Dental floss can be used as well, if you take your time. And, yes, depending on the age of the car, there can be a ghost image left, once the badge is removed, that will not buff out. The ghost image looks dumber than leaving the badges on.

nevernu

Hey Lexus is a luxury car hence piano wire, that fishing line stuff is for Fords and dental floss for caddys

MikePA

Now that's funny.

I debadged my emerald green 1999 Acura TL when it was 4 years old. Both the '3.2 TL' and 'A in a circle' badges came off with fishing line. The '3.2 TL' left slight ghost. The 'A in a circle' left a much worse ghost and I ended up putting the badge back on. IMO, debadging is a waste of time and doing it on a car that's 2 years old or older will leave a ghost of the badge.

LexBob2

If you're de-badging an LS I recommend using harp wire.

iceblast

NO!!! The humanity!
Why would you de-badge a Lexus?
Its one of the reasons I bought one in the first place. Lol...

qboy3388

Thx a lot guys! It's good to know there's no holes but man... ghost... I have my car inside a garage most of the time and my car's silver but the car is 6 year old after all. I wonder if the ghost is going to be noticeable. Ahhh... don't know what to do now lol...

qboy3388

lol... cuz I care more about how my car looks than showing I have a Lexus.

xanderES

iTrader: (8)

There are no holes behind the lower lexus or es350 emblems on the trunk. I took them off after 5 years or so and there was only a small difference in paint fade. Couldnt notice it unless it was a foot away in direct sunlight with no dust on the trunk. Got less noticeable after a while on my black sapphire.
Make sure to heat up the adhesive backing and use dental floss as any other methods can and will scratch the paint.
The hardest part is getting the adhesive off the car/emblem and then cutting the 3m tape to the emblem size.

qboy3388

Thx for sharing your experience xanderES! I'm still debating doing it or not but I really like the clean look. And about cutting the 3m tape to the emblem size ... You were talking about if I ever decide to put the emblems back ?

xanderES

iTrader: (8)

Yes. I thought you were planning to paint the emblems also, but that was ThumperPup. Its a lot harder than you would think cutting the tape to size with the adhesive behind the emblem looking oem. Im a bit of a perfectionist though and doubt things like that would bother other people.
If you decide to remove the emblems use either WD40 or Goo-Gone. I found wd40 to work best, but it is still a p.i.t.a.. EIther way you'll have to heat up the adhesive and sort of roll as much as you can off as both wont work well on the full thickness of the adhesive.

MikePA

...and you'll go through all this work to remove the badge and the adhesive only to find out there's a ghost image and decide to put the badges back on, assuming you have not damaged them when you took them off.

xanderES

iTrader: (8)

This "ghost image" everyone keeps throwing around is nothing more than just paint fade due to to weathering. A good buff can minimize/remove, waxing the car will hide it, or by leaving it alone it will fade over time. Not much to be worried about imo.