HOW TO: De-Trim Your Ride + De-Badge

[RollaRollin]

Well I woke up this morning and thought, you know what, its a great day to remove some of that ugly trim from my stock 02.

So thats exactly what I did, along with a debadge of the rear. So I thought I'd share with you all how to go about this and what I learnt from the whole process

Enjoy and let me know what you think of my first how to (:

Here is my ride as of this morning

Heres basically what you need, most of it you probably already have lying around.

Bug & Tar Remover, Gloves, Cut and Polish, Rags, Seat

To make the whole process easier I used a plastic Wax Comb for a surfboard, now you can use anything similar, but for Me it worked perfectly! And you can pick em up at your local servo for like $2.50 if you don't have one lying around, Makes the process a heck of a lot easier.

It is also advisable to have a hairdryer. Also an Electric Buffer if you want (optional but they do make it shine)

Heat up the trim with a hairdryer, doesn't have to be too hot, just too loosen up the glue behind the trim

Slide your wax comb or similar in under the trim, it will be a bit hot so just watch yourself.

Keep applying a bit of heat down the trim, and keep sliding the wax comb along

Eventually, you can just pull the whole darn thing off without any heat

Heres what where left with, 10 year old glue residue that looks horrible

Apply some Bug and Tar Remover, we will call it B&T for now on (:

Give it say 2 - 3 minutes to do its magic. I've found that waiting for it to soak in works so much better than going straight at it. Its tempting to try and rush this, but trust me, let it soak in.

The easiest way to describe it, is the glue left over has layers. Apply your B&T, wait, then scrape off. You wont get it all first go! Thats because of the layers of the glue, and the power of the B&T. This glue is 10 years old guys, so its stubborn. Work your way down the panel, take the top layer off the glue off, then apply more B&T and then go for the next layer. For each spot of glue there is about 3 layers. Take your time, and it will be a piece of cake, don't get frustrated if it isn't coming off and try and scrub harder, you will just get worn out, ****** off and quit. Simply apply more B&T and wait, IT WILL COME OFF, I promise, once you get to the 2nd or 3rd application of B&T you will see it all working out.

Another tip is to move around, while your waiting for a section to soak in, start on another section, it will make it a lot quicker and you'll have it done in no time at all.

You can see it starting to clear up and work, this took me about 45 minutes, and thats with all the stuffing around and experimenting I did.

Edited April 2, 2011 by RollaRollin

[RollaRollin]

One more run through with the wax comb to remove any last bits of glue, then give it a wash with a damp rag to remove all the B&T from your car and clean it up ready for a polish

I got my buffer out (SCA for $30, what a bargain) but you can just do it by hand with a few rags, works just as well (:

Use a bit of Liquid or Paste Cut and Polish, either way it dosen't really matter, all does the same stuff

There we go, all buffed up and looking shiny, looks like there was never any trim there in the first place

At this point I only finished one trim as a storm was brewing, and also sticky taped my chrome door handles on.

Bit hard to see now, but with a tint, some wheels and the other trim gone, I think it'll be looking sweet (:

The finished product (:

Things to remember:

* This will take about an hour, the front doors are larger than the rears, so the rears are a pretty quick job.

* Don't get frustrated, just apply more B&T and wait, then scrap, it will come off.

* Do it in a cool shady spot and a good idea it so have a nice low comfy seat

* You don't need a buffer, rags will do just fine, but if you want one, SuperCheap has them for $30!

* Have fun and enjoy, nothing like free ways to improve the look of your car if you find anything or did something a different way to me, post it up (:

Edited April 2, 2011 by RollaRollin

[RollaRollin]

To do your rear badges its pretty much the same process as removing the trim. Except its a 10 minute job instead of an hour long one

Its good because there are no pins that hold the badges in place, so its really easy to de-badge your corolla

Heat up the badge with the hairdryer

Slide your wax comb or similar under the badge and start working away

Heres what were left with, pretty messy

Apply your B&T, wait (2-3 mins), and then start scraping the glue off

Getting there, one more shot of B&T and should be good to go. Make sure the surface is pretty well clean of sticker residue and then give it a wipe down with a damp rag to remove everything completely.

Time for a bit of polish, again you don't need a buffer, just some rags and cut and polish, but the buffer does bring out an awesome shine.

The finished rear end (:

Edited April 6, 2011 by RollaRollin

[dwee.]

Good work mate! Great write up; you can also use some fishing line as well! :)

Peter.

[the-converter]

Very informative. Good works mate!

Would like to see your finishing product.

[RollaRollin]

Finished the other door today guys!

It dosen't look that great now because I have stock pretty much everything else (rims, no tint, springs etc)

But still have so much I want to do to the car, so I think eventually removing the trims will prove to of made the car better than it is now (:

Anyway, heres what it looks like fully removed,

Before

After

Before

After

Finished (:

[Ronnyboy]

Great job there :)

[the-converter]

Finished the other door today guys!

It dosen't look that great now because I have stock pretty much everything else (rims, no tint, springs etc)

But still have so much I want to do to the car, so I think eventually removing the trims will prove to of made the car better than it is now (:

Anyway, heres what it looks like fully removed,

Before

After

Before

After

Finished (:

Not bad at all.

Where is your chrome handle? I thought I saw it on your previous photos. Did you remove it?

What are you intend to do with your rims?

Are you going to do somethings about your interior?

[LFT-OOF]

good job mate i can see that you have had a busy day to two.. looks good

[DemonRolla]

nice work! you should definitely think about colour coding your door handles/ boot trim and mudflaps.. makes heaps of a difference to the overall look

[johnnieboi]

That tool looks so much better than using fishing line.. constricting my blood flow to my fingers and digging into my skin so hard it cuts it.. FML. No more badges for me.. for now anyway

[RollaRollin]

Cheers for the feedback guys

@demon - I've got chrome handles, they don't look too flash at the moment as most of the car is stock

so im going to leave them off for a while and see, they will either be colour coded or chrome

thanks for the tip on the mud flaps and boot trim, didn't even think about those!

@johnnie - That fishing line is deadly! I litterally gave up after two minutes of using it

Seriously though guys, get yourself a wax comb - $5 tops, best tool

I use it for pretty much everything, great for panel removals, you never know when they come in handy

For those of you who haven't used one,

Its a hard bit of plastic with edges, but doesn't do any damage to your trims or car (like a flathead screwdriver would!)

[wrench]

Epic read, great results

[.gorgz]

Nice right up, Might need to give this a go.

I hate them door trimmings

[2204]

looks great mate, i used de-solv-it to help get all the gunk out

[krola8]

Been a while since people have posted on this thread but i thought id just let you know that those instructions were great and i think i may have some work to do this weekend!!

[talevin]

Been a while since people have posted on this thread but i thought id just let you know that those instructions were great and i think i may have some work to do this weekend!!

its been a long time since anyones posted on any thread by the looks of it -___-

[krola8]

Been a while since people have posted on this thread but i thought id just let you know that those instructions were great and i think i may have some work to do this weekend!!

its been a long time since anyones posted on any thread by the looks of it -___-

i agree! most of them have been quiet for a while....

[monkeyboyvin]

Just saw this thread and its gotten me excited, do you think its possible to de-trim the ae112???

I'm a newbie as you can see, so i'm not sure if the trim on the ae112 is actually more than just an exterior accessory that is glued to the car or an actual feature. If i remove it will it be flat? or will there be an inlet I don't really know for sure.

Crazy idea but I have not seen anyone anywhere attempt to remove the trims due to the fact their car came factory standard as the same colour. Mine on the other hand came as black trim on white.

[krola8]

ive got black trims on my silver rola. mine come off, yours should too, just follow the steps at the beginning of this thread.

I just took the badges on the back off, looks much better now and only took 15 mins - definitely recommend it!!