99es300

The emblems on my ES were about to fall off because the adhesive had deteriorated. So, I took them off using an old credit card and before reapplying them I decided to paint them. The gold was pretty faded and not looking like it used to, anyway, and I've always liked the look of the dark metallic color.

Here is what I did:
1. Sanded the gold coloring completely off- by hand using 160 and 320 grit paper
2. Sanded the old adhesive off (and used a sharp knife to get the rest).
3. Soaked the emblems in rubbing alcohol to clean
4. Sprayed on 2 coats paint adhesion
5. Sprayed on 2 coats grey paint adhesion primer
6. Sprayed 3 light coats of black metallic paint (Rustoleum)
7. Sprayed one coat of clear coat

Then I had to get something to re-attach. I would highly recommend NOT using the 3M liquid for decals- it bubbles up and ruins the paint on your car. Instead, I used the 3M double sided decal tape.. it is much thinner than regular 3M double sided foam tape and works excellent. I think it is close if not what they did use originally. Cutting out all the letters takes time and an Exacto knife.

Here is what they look like reapplied. I like it much better than the gold, too. (This was before I added the ES300 part).

echase3rd

Looks much better than faded out gold.

kaldES98

that looks sickkk. if i had gold emblems i would do that too.. but i like my chrome

Lexucan

Good work....that looks very nice.

Parker Gen

Beautiful. Although, that's not fair the 3rd gen has no holes under all the badges?

QuachmanES

iTrader: (4)

I was considering doing this with my 99 ES as well. Do yours look similar to the stock Black Pearl emblems available on the Coach edition?

There's a DIY thread for Black Pearl emblems somewhere, and it looks very good.

99es300

Yes they do look similar to the black emblems on the Coach edition (a friend of mine has a '00 ES Coach). That's why I used the 'Rustoleum Black Metallic' paint- because it is close to that. If you do it, make sure you sand all the paint off and use the 3M tape (not adhesive glue- bubbles paint).. both of these are tedious, but worth taking your time.

Yeah mine only had holes for the front 'L' and the back 'L'..

Thanks guys.

QuachmanES

iTrader: (4)

Hmmm... Do you know if you need to sand the paint off if I have the chrome emblems? The DIY here says I can just use polycarbonate smoke paint on top of the chrome w/ clear coat.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/aut...e-emblems.html

99es300

That I am not sure.. I sanded most of it off because I wanted to make sure I had a good surface to bond to. I used adhesive promotion spray, too so that helps..

cyco

Looking very good! How thin is the tape? does it hold up well against water? :x

99es300

I just saw this now.. the tape has been holding up GREAT since doing this.. highly recommend the 3M stuff I mentioned above.. DON'T get the liquid adhesive- ruins the paint!

03 ES

looks very clean...nice work!
i did the same with my front emblem because i could not find the stock emblem in black pearl (found the rear one at a lexus dealer)