I am thinking of debadging my A6 tomorrow. I recently took off the dealer sticker and it went pretty good and I figured that the badges can't be that much different. My plan is as follows.
1)Use a hairdryerinstead of a heat gun because that is all I have
2) Use fishing line to take the badge off
3) Use WD-40 to get the uckey stuff off
4) Turtle wax that ass

Any different things I should use? Or does my plan look good? Summer break is here and I need to look busy so it is time to mod my car!

Sounds good, not sure how well the WD40 will work but it is miracle juice. I was told by our body guy to use dental floss to remove the badges and it worked great.

Good luck!

I also used a hairdryer after reading an incident where a guy heated up the paint too much with a heat gun and took some paint off with the badges! Instead of WD-40, you can try Goo Gone or similar adhesive remover available at any paint store to get off the rest of the adhesive. FIshing line works great, sometimes the dental floss is not strong enough.

Use another wax rather then Turtle Wax, its garbage! A good rule of thumb....you wouldn't polish a diamond with sandpaper......would you? Use 3M, McGuires, Zymol or Mothers

thanks for the tips i was planning on making a run to the store this morning and I will try to post pics when I get it done

i looked and it is actually rain-x wax. I used it on the whole car after I took off the dealer sticker so I am thinking that I am going to just use that for this and then next week I will get 3M. How often should you wax? Is it just personal preference? Does every other week seem often? Thanks again...going to the store and should be starting shortly.

Wax every other week? I tend to think the buildup would be extreme. Honestly (and I'm sure many on this forum would disagree as some here tend to be *ahem* a little anal about washing/waxing) but I wouldn't wax over 3 or 4 times a year max - probably closer to twice a year if it is done properly.

As fas as the WD-40 - you might find Goo Gone works better. I've used it on tons of adhesives and it never lets me down. Plus it is less greasy and has a nice citrus smell to boot!

I was thinking every other week would be too much but this is my first cool car so I want to make sure it looks nice! I hit up Meijer this morning and got some goo gone and should be starting a little I parked the car in the sun so it wouldn't take as long to heat it up

all is not quiet on the mid-western front I was debadging my car today and it was going pretty well. I got the badges off and there was a little outline around where the badge was. I went inside to get a thinner cloth so that I could push more on the body and my genious friend decided while I was inside that he would help. So he took sandpaper....yes sandpaper and sanded the extra glue off. So after yelling at him a lot he said he would go halfsies with me on the paint job but i got him to 75%. Should I try a home remedy (buying a kit or paint from paintscratch.com) or should I just go to the pros? Will get pictures when this is fixed.[:@][:@][:@][:@]

you should shoot him. period.

believe me i very nearly did. Could I just wax the scratches out? they are in about a 2inch by 2inch area (waxing was fathers idea)

Depending on how anal you are... i personally wouldnt get the whole deck lid repainted. You can get great spray boms that will match your color car... the spray with a clear. Then just lightly wet sand with 2000 grit paper and buff.

Keep in mind you will have to do minor prep to the area, before spraying the color on.

I also dont know how badly damaged the deck lid is.

i went out and waxed it a few times and the scratches got duller when looking straight on. I think it is just on the clearcoat and if anything i just have to buff it. I will try the buffing tomorrow since i have a soccer tourniment game tonight but if that doesnt work I will try your idea RIA6....thanks a bunch.

http://www.audiforums.com/m_527866/tm.htmhope my thread helps

i actually saw your thread first and that is what made me decide to do it :) you car looks sweet I just can't wait until tomorrow morning so I can get the stuff to fix mine.

If the scratches seem to be in the clearcoat and wax makes them fade, you may be able to fix the problem with a good rubbing compound. It's a very fine grit mixed in a paste and actually acts as fine sandpaper. Opinions vary (like Turtlewax vs McGuire's) but for a small job like thisthe basic Dupont at Meijers will work. I often wet the area and the rag to reduce the friction. Just use it lightly. Then wax. This would have taken the original discoloration off no problem.

Regarding wax - first use a good wax and do it in the shade (i.e, a garage) after washing the car. As a fellow midwesterner, I usually put on a couple coats in the fall (before winter) and then detail the car and put ona couple coats in the spring. Make sure you get the door panels. During the summer it might get 2-3 more wax jobs depending on time. Not every other week though. I probably wash the car almost weekly.

Where are you located? From the Meijer's comment I'm guessing in Michigan.

what a coincidence i just went to meijer this morning and got some stuff and plan on using that here in a little. I live in Traverse City Michiganand I thought someone might recognise the Meijer comment. Thanks everyone for the help and I plan on working on the car shortly and will post pictures when i get it done. This is the first time I have really done anything to a car so I really appreciate the help

it isn't looking good I got come McGuires paste wax and also scratch remover and I used them with not much success. When you look straight on from about 20 feet away you can't tell but of course for me that isnt good enough. if you get up close or look from a different angle you can see the scratch. Is there anything else I can do or is it time to just take it in and get it professionally done. Also I was wondering how much about it would cost to get the whole car painted a different color, i have got different numbers from people I have asked.

i've done it! I used the buffer i borrowed today and got the scratch out which is awesome. Thanks to everyone who helped i used just about every method and they got it better and better until I used the buffer

Oh man I miss making midnight runs to Meijer. I am from Michigan and lived in St. Joseph (bottom SW corner of the state) before I joined the military.

In regards to waxing......I wax my car 4 times a year and do a complete over haul 2 times which include (this will take up your entire weekend), a good wash, a clay bar, 3M Fine Cut Compound, 3M Scratch & Swirl Remover, 3M Sealer and finish with a 3M Pure Caranuba. I used my Porter/Cable buffer with different pads for each application. The finish is so deep, you could dive into it!

OOOO

ill keep that in mind and i should buy a buffer instead of using my hands or borrowing.

ORIGINAL: Polka Salad

ill keep that in mind and i should buy a buffer instead of using my hands or borrowing.


You can get a great buffer package from www.autopia.org (http://www.autopia.org). This is a great website for the insane detailer!

OOOO

I used to work at Meijer's. Now I am in San Diego and I too miss going there for whatever any time of day or night!
I bought some Zymol and need to give my car it's first wax since I've owned it (Aug). I barely have time to wash it, but since I got that out of the way on Monday, or was it Tues? Anyway, I hope to Wax this weekend after touching up the car.

i have been helping at a soccer camp for the school this week but it is over and once i am done cleaning my mothers van I will go out to the harbor by my house and get some cool pictures of my car and post them so everyone can see my stock (but debadged) audi! (look at my other post (summer project) for my ideas on what to do with it)

post photos for us

they will come tomorrow for sure I have the whole day off. Well just have to clean the mothers van then a whole day off and there will be pictures tomorrow. Who thought I would be so busy after school gets out....

Wish I knew what the Penske dealer used on my car to hide all the little imperfections. It did an outstanding job- the car had 100K on the ticker so I KNEW there were going to be rockchips and all. And actually they would've been a lot worse on a 100K car up here. But when I picked it up there were absolutley none evident. And my car is black. Whatever it was, was good stuff!

Well I went to the soccer fields today after stopping at a charity car wash to wash my car. Got some free hot dogs and pop but they didn't dry the thing so there are spots on it but here are the pictures I took (only some) http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c309/Polka_Salad/DSC_0018.jpg
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c309/Polka_Salad/DSC_0028.jpg
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c309/Polka_Salad/DSC_0059.jpg
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c309/Polka_Salad/DSC_0020.jpg
there will probably be more when I re waqsh it and make it uber clean

get that stripe off too

the gold one going down the side? and how would you do that?

pick at the edge of it with ur nail carefully and peel it off like u would vinyl. itll rip in places, but just keep doin it. my eclipse had a silver one. got rid of that the first day. took like 30 min, cuz it kept ripping, it dried out

All this talk of de-badging is giving me the urge to remove the one S6 badge on my vehicle.... Then again, I only have one...

I am Def. glad that I debadged even after the encounter with the idiot friend. I think it just looks a lot better even though it is a little change. If there is only one and it is a S6 you might want to keep it. I don't know that is a little tough

So does the strip leave anything on the car I would have to get off?
Here is another picture from the shoot I did yesterday it is probably my favorite and it is my background...must have slipped through the cracks yesterday in the first post. http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c309/Polka_Salad/audi2.jpg

no, theres no adhesives under it. its just old vinyl

Did mine yesterday. I think the less cluttered look draws a person's eyes more to the character lines of the body..and maybe the exhaust tips too.

Awesome that will be my project for the day probably, taking of the gold strip. I was thinking of it because the Audi rings on one side are not really "round" because they are worn and it doesnt look the best.

audi has awesome lines as is, theres no need to add more by adding vinyl or stickers like they do at the dealer.

Nice lines, indeed

local://upfiles/31680/B36C623DD49F4C72A5F1F4FBF1B47DD7.jpg

Looks very nice..
I started to take off the gold strip yesterday and found that a lot of the sticky stuff was well sticking on the car but I figured out how to get it off really well but it takes a lot of leverage. Only got half done yesterday so maybe I will take pics of the side with and without so I can compare.

I was on Andy's Auto Sport and looked at springs to lower my car http://www.andysautosport.com/audi/1997_2004_a6/suspension/springs/b_g/ (http://www.andysautosport.com/audi/1997_2004_a6/suspension/springs/b_g/)are there better springs? any other places that might have more? also would it be a DIY job for someone like me who has never done anything like that before or would I be better just taking it in? Thanks for the help
Also anyone knowa good place to get smoked tailights and side markers?

http://www.tmtuning.com/audi/ just found that today. black, white and euro tails there. i want the black ones

thanks for the website I will probably be doing buisness with them sometime soon. Is it easy to install tailights and side markers?

yea, lights are just a few bolts and maybe a clip. sidemarkers are on clips

and I take it that the wiring is just some hooking up wires and not hard to all also?