Removing and Painting the Rear Badges on a VW T4

 
So the rear badges on your Transporter have seen better days, now you want to remove them, either permanently or to give them some TLC, here is how.
 
I’m trying to make all of my van black and red. These chrome rear badges were a bit tatty looking and had been bothering me for a long time.

 
Removing them takes a bit of skill and patience. You also need a hairdryer and some fishing line.

1. These badges are stuck on hard, if you warm the glue up with the hairdryer, they will come away a little easier.
2. Tuck your fishing line in between the van and the badge.
3. Use the fishing line in a back and forth – sawing motion.
4. The fishing line will over heat and snap frequently, but just keep going.
5. Eventually you will cut all the way through and the badge will come free.

Be very careful and take your time, you do not want to damage the paint work.

You should have some grubby residue left that you will need to clean off the van before reattaching the badges.

 
The rear VW badge should just pull free. Hold the VW logo and simply pull away from the van. There are two sections to this badge the rubber black circle and the chrome VW symbol. I decided to paint the chrome logo black, so in order for it to stand out, I painted the black rubber section the same colour red as the van.

Before painting always:

• Rub down the badges with fine sandpaper (something like 1000 grit)
• Use sugar soap to wash clean and de-grease.
• Dry thoroughly
• Give a good prime coat
• Give several top coats
• Ensure you paint in warm, draft and dust free conditions.

I used some 3m double sided tape to stick them down because it holds them on really tough.

As you can see the new black badges look the muts nuts. Very pleased.