23 Year old car badge removal - Stubborn Glue

**BA540i** · 08-14-2019, 09:47 AM

I recently purchased a 95 BMW 540i and wanted to debadge it. The glue holding the badge on was very dry and very much stuck on the paint as you can imagine. With heat and some WD40 I was able to get the badge off and some of the glue but not all of it.

I continued to use WD40 till I decided to stop and get some advice as I felt I was not making more progress.

After doing some research I am thinking of getting some goo gone and letting it sit on there awhile to really get in there or get a 3M eraser wheel and have at it. The 3M wheel makes me nervous as some have made things worse with it and this is 23 year old glue.

Any help or ideas would be appreciated thanks!

(it wont upload the image so here is a link)
IMG_3981.jpg - Google Drive

**DetailKitty** · 08-14-2019, 10:03 AM

Goo Gone is not a bad route to go.

Have you tried the heat gun to just the glue?

**fly07sti** · 08-14-2019, 10:21 AM

For something locally to pick up, you can try Tarminator and soak the area and let it dwell. Or for something stronger, Rapid Remover will be your best friend. Also some plastic razor blades will help with scraping the residue after it’s been dwelling.
The eraser wheels are pretty effective but can damage paint in a hurry if it’s spinning too fast or if you sit on an area too long.

**BA540i** · 08-14-2019, 01:19 PM

I ordered Rapid Remover and plastic razor blades. I was using a plastic puddy knife I had but will try these.

I also have a clay bar and have heard some people having success with that. To me that seems to grind the glue into the paint more..right?

**SWETM** · 08-14-2019, 01:46 PM

If you soak a mf towel with the glue remover and hold it against the glue. You get a longer dwell time and an easier removal. Wipe it very gently from the outside and work your way in to the center. You can hold the mf towel up to 10 minutes and of cause you do this out of the sunlight. Some solvents can temporary soften the clearcoat a little. But if you are gentle and don't push and rubb hard you are fine. Rinse with flood setting on it after the wipe off and dry it and repeat as necessary.

Just a little tips on how you get the solvents to work it's magic for a longer time without evaporate or haveing it to run off every where. Flip or use another spot on the mf towel when you wipe up the glue residue. So it's able to be picked up by the mf towel as it's gets fastly saturated with the glue residue. After you are done let it be for a day at least before you polishing it. As it's a lot of stress on the clearcoat and can get a little swollen. So you don't get an unpleasant surprise.

**Rsurfer** · 08-14-2019, 02:02 PM

Heat, alcohol and a plastic razor blade works best for me.

**fly07sti** · 08-14-2019, 05:12 PM

I forgot to mention patience! Some emblems residues can be a pain. Also plan on some good polishing or most likely compounding to remove the shadow image from the emblem being on so long.

**Calendyr** · 08-14-2019, 09:05 PM

Glue will melt with many solvents. If you have tar remover that is solvent based, try that. Rapid remover is supposed to be amazing, but I have never tried it.

**BA540i** · 08-14-2019, 11:23 PM

Thanks for all the quick responses and info!

Gave the WD40 another shot tonight and let it sit for awhile with no luck.

How long should I let the rapid remover sit to react with the glue?

**SWETM** · 08-15-2019, 12:21 AM

Originally Posted by BA540i

Thanks for all the quick responses and info!

Gave the WD40 another shot tonight and let it sit for awhile with no luck.

How long should I let the rapid remover sit to react with the glue?

It claims to be effective in 30-60 seconds. But also claims to be able to let it sit/dwell for a few minutes. With removing glue from a vinyl wrap for an example you could go with a minute. You could test that first and see how it desolves the glue from the badges for you. If it's not makes it to desolve enough you could up the dwell time to 3-5 minutes without any problems I think. Go up in time as needed. It's useally what's you do when removing glue to do it in multible applications until you have it off the paint. I useally rinse in between the applications and dry and apply again. So you don't let any solvents stay on accidental for a longer time. Then it's different from glue to glue on how easy it's to desolve and also what the solvents are for a kind can be difference between them.

It's a good rule to not let it to dwell so long so it dries on the paint. Solvents if they are pure often evaporate clean from the paint so not a big problem. The problem is often if you get a lot of solvents liquid standing somewhere where it can getting you problems with it. On a smooth surface and spray on and it's evaporate clean. But all solvent based liquids is not in that way and can have something else in it that leaves residue behind that can damage or be hard to get it off. So I go with the rule of not let any chemicals dry on the paint on it selfs. Also it's about what it's able to be desolveing that often re-attach to the surface again when the solvents dries on the paint. That's why I gave you the tips with a soaked mf towel to get a longer dwell time without any problems with it that it's dries on the paint before it's able to be desolveing the glue residue.