Crossposting this from Tech section so as many ppl as possible can use this info!

So I had some time on my hands today and decided to do some (basically) free cosmetic mods on my '04 Black/Black coupe. I helped a buddy debadge his new Audi last night which reminded me I was actually pretty good at it...and so the C R O S S F I R E letters days were numbered. I'll share my process and a few pics from my Blackberry that I took on the go.

Debadging the C R O S S F I R E Letters:

Tools/Materials Used
- Heat gun
- Dental Floss
- Goo Gone, Invisible Glass
- Porter Cable DA polisher
- OPT Compound, Polish, Poli-Seal
- Meguiars NXT Liquid wax
- Aquawax
- P21S S100 wax

Time spent:
Approx 1h20m

Difficulty:
Moderate

Process:
One by one I used the heat gun waving back and forth across the letter for approx 1 min. I would then take a decent length of floss and slide it behind the letter and slowly pull downward in a back and forth motion. As long as you heat up the glue enough the letter will come off quite easily. Rinse and repeat for all letters. Now once the letters are off youll find grey glue residue. When the letter first came off I would use my thumbnail to work off much of this residue, if youre having problems try heating up the residue for a minute with the heat gun. Wipe down with Invisible Glass cleaner, then QD spray to keep your work area clear of loose residue Repeat for all letters. Finally you'll have very close to all residue removed, soak the area in Goo Gone, leave for 30 seconds, and use a microfibre to wipe away.

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Now the area should be totally smooth to the touch, make sure you have good lighting to check for any miniscule amounts of residue remaining. At this point you'll more than likely be able to see the ghosting and light scratches from where the letters were (and where your fingernail scraped). After this I sprayed down the area again with QD spray, and dried.

With the Porter Cable DA polisher and a green Edge polishing pad I used the OPT compound x3 passes. Then onto a white Edge polishing pad with 50/50 OPT polish/OPT Poli-Seal. Wipe clean, apply NXT Liquid wax, wait for haze, soak area with Aquawax and buff off. Topped with P21S S100.

This process produced a literally flawless result, even to my OCD eye. For zero dollars this is the best mod I can think of, highly recommended! Sorry the pictures don't do justice, its raining and the car is dirty!

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Tinting the sidemarkers:

Tools/Materials Used:
- Thin, angled chisel (with masking tape to protect paint)
- VHT NightShades paint ($14)
- Invisible Glass (glass cleaner)
- 220 Grit sandpaper
- Microfibre towels
- OPT Compound, Polish
- Meguiars NXT liquid wax
- Aquawax

Time spent:
Approx 45m

Difficulty:
Low

Your first task is to remove the sidemarkers which is honestly pretty straight forward. I used a thin, angled chisel with green painter's masking tape on the blade to gently pry all four markers out, and twist/pull the bulbs out. Have patience and they'll pop out without breaking anything. Next I cleaned them with Invisible Glass. I then sanded with 220 grit sandpaper to give the paint something to adhere to. I applied 3 coats, with about 10 mins between coats. I left them to dry for about an hour.




I then reinstalled them on the vehicle. They looked a bit flat to my eye so I used this process to bring up a gloss finish: hand compounded/polished with OPT products, applied layer of NXT wax, and buffed off with Aquawax. From 5 feet out these look great.

If you're really **** the finish might not be satisfactory as it's difficult to get the spray perfectly even on this material I found. Overall this greatly enhanced the smoothness of the side, as I found the stock markers really caught your eye and broke up the look of the car on the side profile.

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Enjoy guys, questions and comments welcome.

Cheers!

 

Great tutorial ....... looks great ..........

 

thanks, Im going to debadge soon myself and I'm going to use your method plus prior to starting, Im going to put duct tape over the letters so If later on i change my mind they'll be lined up properly....in theory anyways

 

Rather than using duct tape, which will certainly get in the way and who knows what will happen as you're applying all that heat to it:
1. Take a good photo of the letters showing where they line up in relation to the Chrysler logo/wings and panel edges
2. Make a pencil rubbing. Tape a long piece of paper over the letters and rub your pencil over each letter.
3. File the letters, rubbing and photo together. Write down measurements as an added guide.
4. Later, during restoration, use the photo to guide and line up the center letters, tape down the paper, and apply each letter.

 

Good write up!!!
Did almost the same moves to reuse my letters.
Mounted them on a plack, and installed it on the cargo bulkhead.

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Just be patient with the residue removal, don't break out the razor blades as much as you may be tempted to...and hopefully you're comfortable using compound and polish. Good luck and make sure to post pics!

 

I would highly recommend the use of 3m automotive adhesive remover (available at any auto parts store for $5)

And I prefer the full blown debadge, anything else is just a tease

 

Very nice, is the indentation very pronounced in person? Does it look unfinished? Also, what product did you use on your tails? They look perfect!

EDIT: the Karmann decal looks sick there!

 

Just Curious......why would one remove the Crossfire Name from our cars?

 

I am with you on that! I never understood why.... and I never will.

 

Waxing obstacles...

 

I'm sure we all know that its an owner preference (naturally) in making the appearance sleeker. It also keeps a best known "secret", more of a "secret".
IMHO, leaving the name on advertises the car, and may catch someones interest enuff to get one, as long as they know what to look for. Besides when I take them off the line, it lets them know what did it. Just my $.02

 

how dose the hatch look in the back in person with no logo? like empty space? i was thinking of taking off the crossfire words and blacking out the logo, but jw how urs looks

 

Ive covered the front and back with my skull decals, 9.99 on ebay, search for chrysler emblems. Anyways, Ive had several times when old guys, 70's etc, not "old" like Franc , do a slow walk around trying to figure out WTH kind of a car it is!

At every carshow Ive been to I get asked "what is it?" I just want to put more mystery into the car. Honestly, many people dont know about xf's or have forgotten them. I do like the lettering, very classy but I like different/odd better





PS, I got an extra set of thee decals but honestly theyve held up fine for 2 years!!!

 

I think the slight indentation looks great, like a ghosting of the wings. I thought about putting something there, but I like the look - the rear end to me is sleek and clean.

I wetsanded every lense on the car 5+ times and sprayed 6 coats of tinted clear on them at my friends shop, they are smooth as glass and look amazing in person. I also did a small flat black strip around the outside of the tails to make them pop with the new tint.

I am not about to advertise for a company that has done NOTHING for us in regards to having dealers informed enough to service our cars and parts available for said fixes. I have put thousands into making the car look and perform the way I want it to, and I am not about to give Chrysler credit for that either. Most importantly, it is not really a chrysler.

I think the debadged look is subtle and classy - no need for a 12" wide chrome wing to tell everyone what type of car it is.

And lastly, as Pooly said, I have had literally hundreds of people over the last few years with my XFs ask me, 'What is it?'

It is all about making yourself happy, if you like the letters and badging on the rear of your car, keep it there...

 

I hate the name Crossfire, and don't need anything written across the back of my car.

 

I would like to see a picture of the back end without the spoiler up, please. I'm contemplating removing "Crossfire," but I'd like to see what the back looks like without the wings before I contemplate removing that.
Thanks.

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Do a search with "Debadged" as the search term. 10+ threads! Lots of pictures!

 

After you take the name off. What is it? I restore cars to original and have paid $ to get original badges. I have added badges to identify as this one

 

You have hit the nail on the head, I'm thinking of removing the letters because after washing the car there are threads from the mitt caught in all the letters. After a polish the area around and between the letters shows up dull as it never sees the buffer.
I've measured the positions of the letters but I have not had the nerve to do it ..... yet.