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This weekend I replaced my emblems, among other things. Several members mentioned they wanted to know how to do it so I promised to post my expereince with this project. I know, I know, this has been covered many times already, just use the search button. Just consider this my contribution to the lexus group.
The gold emblems on my 95 SC400 (which I have now had for 2 great months) were getting kind of faded, those of you who have the gold emblems know the look, its like the finish has gotten rubbed off. So I decided that I would replace them with some chrome ones. Yeah Gold is for cadillacs. I got mine using a coupon from Glendale Lexus (that I learned about from this site) and even without the coupon the cost was around $90. The original emblems are held in place with a combination of pegs on the emblems that go into the body along with a very strong adhesive that keeps them in place.
Getting the emblems off is not that hard. The main key is breaking the seal of the old adhesive. I used a combination of rubbing alcohol and heat from a blow dryer. Having never done this before my main concern was not prying off the emblems and having the paint come up with them, so by applying heat and then the rubbing alcohol I was able to soften the glue and slowly lift the emblems off. I had to wiggle them a lot to get the pegs seperated out of their holes. It has been well document that you can use several things to try to slip under the emblemsto help pry them off. I tired doubling some floss, but it quickly broke. Probably something like nylon thread or as suggested fishing line would probably work. In fact anything that is thin and strong that would not scratch the paint would work, someone suggested a credit card. Because it was a hot day, in conjunction with using the blow dryer, I was able to use my fingers. As the emblems started to loosen I made sure to apply a little more alcohol. I am sure that there are better solvents that would work safely, I know I saw some 3m adhesive remover, also at pep boys.
This next step is by far the hardest and most time consuming because even after you get your emblems off, you are going to be left with some residual adhesived from the years of the emblems sitting on the car. I continued to apply the solvent (alcohol) but some of the glue was to hard and stuckt so I had to kick it up a notch. The supplies I had ready were, 3M fine cut rubbing compound and 2000 grit wet dry sand paper (more pep boys). I tried first with the rubbing compound but it would not completely remove the glue, it probably was good enought but I am a bit fanatical and I wanted it completley removed. Since I figured that the compound was not going to work to my satisfaction so I had the sand paper soaking in water for about 30 minutes prior. I put little water on the spot and slowly and softly rubbed at the glue and soon it was gone. So I repaired the finish by using the compound, swirl remover and wax, repeat as needed to restore the finish. I have to say that one of the reasons I was not scared to use the sand paper is I had already read several outstanding posts on wet sanding and I had already tried it on parts of my bumber that were slightly cracked. In fact the sections that I treated looked so good that I had to compound and rub out the rest of the area.
One thing that did concern me is that all the emblems I took off had pegs that went into the car which was not the case with the new emblems, only two of the emblems had pegs and adhesive. The Lexus (letters) and the front emblem had no pegs. I quess they are making them differently or there is a difference between the chrome and the Gold. So in order to make sure they went on straight and were properly placed I put the old emblems back on and marked the position with masking tape. I can tell you this, the adhesive they put on these things is very very strong, once they touch the surface they are stuck permanently, you will not be able to lift them up and reposition them, so you better be carefull and position them right the first time. All in all this took me a good 2 hours.will
So that it, as complete as I could be so that someone even as inexperienced as myself, will be able to tackle this project like a pro. Good luck

Here is the results of my effort.

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