Ok, I don't think there is anything that can be done about this, but I figured I'd at least ask before I lose my mind.

Ok, so yesturday I decide to de-badge the hatch area. I've read the different approaches on how to do it with the least chance for damage and whatnot. I broke out the Hairdryer, Sticker Shock, Fishing Line etc. I then got started. Heated them up, pulled the line under the letter. NOTHING, could not get through it easily at all. I broke the fishing line any average of twice per letter and four times on the SRT-6 plate. So after killing my fingers and spended almost an hour pulling the letters, it was time to go after the adhesive left over. Even heated, it stayed hard as a rock. The Sticker shock wouldn't even touch it. Has anyone had this problem before? It took me another 1.5 hours to get all that off. Of course with all that scraping, the hatch was scratched up pretty bad. Nothing deep, just surface swirls. Ok, I get out the high speed buffer with the 3M Fine Cut foam pad and my 3M "Finese-It" fine cut polish. I go to town on it and finally am pleased with it. The surface is like glass and ther are no signs of adhesive or scrathes at all. Thank God I'm done right? NO! By that time it was dark. I came out this moring and looked at my labor and toil in the bright light and lost my mind again! Apparently Aero Blue fades easily. You can clearly see the ghost of the letters and SRT plate in the paint. They are about 2 shades darker blue. I'm assuming there is no way to fix that unless I paint that entire panel... I'm so pissed right now, I wish I had never done it... If there is not way to correct this, I guess they will be going back on...

Sorry for the double post. Trying to maximize exposure...

 

Sorry for your situation. That's interesting about the fading paint. Do you park in the sun a lot?

On the bright side, at least you can see where they go if you want to reapply them.

 

I bought the car in July. I don't know how it was stored previously. I know the dealer had it for about 6 moths sitting out in the weather. It now stays in teh garage unless i drive it to work. This really bums me out. I spent all last weekend buffing and polishing it. The car looks like glass. The paint is almost perfect aside from a couple of chips. Is good as the surface is, I never would have guessed it was faded...

 

As a car detailer for many years, the best way to remove the leftover sticky stuff, without hurting the paint, is WD-40. Simply spray the area, then wait for about 20 minutes and wipe off the area with a soft cotton cloth, or rag.After its gone, then wash the area a couple of times to get rid of the wd-40, then your done! Let me know how it works out for you.

 

I got it all done. The adhesive was more like JB Weld than double Sided Tape. It was strange. The problem is the faded paint.

 

I just took some pictures of it. It is overcast and I used my camera phone, but you can still clearly see the darker letters ghosted in the paint. I'll post them when I get home this evening. I guess I could say it is a new tinted paint and it's custom...

 

3M's Finesse-It II used with a buffer or polisher will revitalize the paint and remove the letter marks. I used it on my '97 Expedition and friends thought I had repainted the truck. You'll need to do the whole car and won't believe how good the blue looks.

 

Is there a big difference between Finesse-It and Finesse-It II? I used Finesse-It(regualr version) with myHigh Speed Buffer on the whole car last weekend followed by 3M Mirror Hand Glaze, Followed by 3M Carnuba Wax. The car looks better than new. Not a swirl or scratch on it anywhere. The physical marks from removing the letters ARE gone. it you look length wise down the panel with a flouresent backlight, there is no sign they were ever there. The surface looks WET. But you stand back and look at it dead on and you can easily see the difference in color. This isn't a paint surface issue. The pain has changed color slightly. Maybe I can borrow a Sun lamp or tanning light and leave it shining on the paint for about 2 months...

It wouldn't be too hadr to have that small panel painted, but you run the risk of the finish having defects, run etc. Also, it would be a different color than the rest of the car as well, and would probably be worse. i don't know what to do. I like the de-badged look much better, but I can't look at that ghosting either...

Just wait till you see the pictures...

 

"Is there a big difference between Finesse-It and Finesse-It II?"

Hummm, don't know. I have no experiance with the original version.

 

I saw them both on the shelf at NAPA the other day when I went in there to get a new pad. I already had the Finesse-It at home, and didn't think to look at version II.

 

I had a bunch of ghosting letters which scared me as well. Most went away with a lot of buffing, I used clay bar, maguires sratch remover, polishing compound and wax. I still had one or two letters that I could see the in the paint. after some more weekly washes they are gone. It seemed like faded paint but it did go away with with polishing after a couple of weeks. My car is a 2004 saphire silver blue that had 40,000 miles when I bought it used. I doubt your paint is acutually faded since it is clear coated. you could have polishing differences where it was polished in the past and the area that never got polished where the letters were. I would clay bar the area and them just keep polishing.

 

I'm telling you guys, it isn't on the surface of the paint. If it is, I don't know how. You can't feel it, you can't see it looking length-wise down the panel at any angle either. I swear it's under the Clear Coat. I even took one of my business cards and put the edge of it to the paint and shined a light from above (this is a good trick for seeing how thick you clearcoat is BTW) and looked from the bottom and you can tell the clear coat hasn't been compromised. I'll take the clay bar to it, but with all the high speed buffing I've done to the area and as smooth and slick as it is, I'm going to have to believe the car has faded a little bit.

I guess I'll keep an eye on it and see if it gets better after a week or so...

 

A lot of clear coats will actually yellow as opposed to fading. I have no clue what they sprayed on our cars, but that could be the case. The areas hidden by the emblems could still be 'fresh' and clear. Give them a few weeks and they will likely even out.

This would happen through all mils of the clear, not just the surface - so polishing probably wont do much and you run the risk of taking too much off.

SQ

 

I agree. Give it a few weeks in the sun.

 

That sound exactly like my car. Remember my car was a 2004 with 40K miles when I decided to debadge it. Mutiple polishing and washing as well as a few weeks in the sun and it isn't an issues any more.

 

Have you tried color sanding the entire area? I had to on my black car because the adhesive of the double stick tape marred the surface. Color sanding it made it smooth again. I used 1,500 grit.

 

See my post in your other thread about artificial UV aging of the paint underneath the clearcoat.

Requisite warnings apply.

 

I have the same issue on our '04 Mercedes we got back in September. It had pinstriping on it. Told my wife that had to go. It came off easy enough as did the adhesive but if you look carefully you can see where it was. You have to look hard but its there. This after clay, and porter cable with Meguiars Scratch X. I'll probably try the wet sand idea with the 1,500 grit paper in the spring.
I think the problem is a lot of Crossfires sat on dealer lots for quite some time. I know mine was manufactured in May of '04, its an '05 and I took delivery in July of '05, it probably sat somewhere for at least 9 months. My guess is a lot of them sat in the sun and that eventually affected the paint.

Pat

 

Forget trying to buff it out, or cover it up or even make it go away. Just get some nice silver pin stripe paint and outline the letters, and then it will look really cool and people will ask you how you managed to ghost the letters so nicely!!

 

Well, it's been a couple of weeks and so far I can't tell that it has gotten any better at all. I guess I'll give it another month or so and if it isn't better by then, I'll be putting them back...