Full-Black Ford Emblems on our Explorer!

[corpflyboy]

+1 on Jzales..use a hair dryer or a $20.00 Harborfreight.com heat gun and warm up that rear stock emblem then peel it off like an old sardine can. I used needle nose pliers and just rolled the tin metal around the pliers. Once removed, the plastic base will need a lil TLC to smooth out the old glue still remaining. Same thing-heat up the zig-zag glue shaped marks and they peel/break off with little effort.

Buzz

BTW You will need 3M double sided tape to mount it back on the rear of the vehicle. The old black gummy glue is tacky but will not secure it well the second time around. Remove it all with the help of heat and alcohol wash it for a nice surface to tape.

The double sided tape that is included with your tin emblem is strong enough to adhere to the plastic base. No need to add extra 3M tape to that area.

Hope this helps.

 

[monogee]

Thanks so much Jzales & corpflyboy. I will definitely try my hand at it this weekend.

 

[therover1991]

FWIW, I ordered a rear one for my 13 focus, when I say it appeared to be just a cover I sent him a message and he told me that I had to take the blue one off and the black one would fit over just like the blue one did. Haven't gotten around to it yet but I was just double checking online the part numbers and pictures for OEM blue ones and they look identical to the black ones sent. The quality of the work is very good also.

 

[LakersCentral]

I haven't yet attempted to put the vinyl directly on the vehicle. The area is still raised, but the part the vinyl will cover is flat. This will help the graphic to not become distorted, and make application of it easier. I'm just trying to figure out how cover the 3 holes first so that nothing can poke through the vinyl.

For the front, I'm not sure I'll be able to install the vinyl to a flat surface (and it may look visually stranger to do so on the front). But covering the badge itself with my vinyl has proved more difficult than I originally anticipated. Not only is a difficult curvature to install vinyl over, but the "Ford" lettering is raised. Thus, the outline of it shows through the vinyl. I've attempted to compensate for this by cutting vinyl around it to raise the other part (see pic below). But it doesn't seem like this is going to work very well. So now I'm trying to think of what kind of material I can lay down over the OEM badge to make it a smooth dry surface, that would still allow vinyl to adhere to it well.

Here's what the rear badge area looks like once it's all removed:

 

[GSX-WE4]

I got the "gel overlays" from DMB Graphics www.dmb.uk.com in the UK. They took about 10 days to get delivered through the mail. Dave there said they can only sell these until the end of June so if anyone wants them, you'd have to get them soon.

 

[LakersCentral]

Yea, I've researched those. If I just wanted to change the color of the Ford logo, this might be a good option. But I'd rather not drop $40 when I'd just be covering them with my own graphic anyways.

I wonder what the "gel" is made of though? That material may be a good option for me to coat my badge with.

 

[LIrican]

Can you plastidip? Enough coats properly done may make it even

 

[LakersCentral]

Hmm... I would think it would still retain the raised lettering. Also, I wonder if the vinyl wrap will ahdere to the plastidip. I suppose its worth a shot- unless anyone knows for sure this wont work?

I also came across this in my search- looks like pretty cool stuff (whether or not it'll work for this purpose): http://m.instructables.com/id/How-To-Make-Your-Own-Sugru-Substitute/

 

[LIrican]

Just tell me it's not going to be lakers logo or black mamba

 

[LakersCentral]

lol. nah... its the graphic on my profile page... a spade with phoenix wings emerging from the sides. the spade represents death, and the phoenix is a symbol of new life.

which... could correlate to the lakers recently hahaha. but no... you may see a subtle lakers logo on the inside corner of a window at some point... but it wont ever take center stage like the emblem does

 

[LIrican]

Good!

My team is no better.

 

[LakersCentral]

Notice the picture. I included it because no one has yet. It shows that there is plenty of adhesion coverage for the non-post emblem to stick. Once in place, I doubt it will be coming off on its own.

Thanks for the pic of the front Corp.

Do you remember if the underlying surface is flat (i.e. nothing protruding out)? In other words, imagine taking an oval piece of wood and placing it where the badge would normally be... was there anything to stop the wood from laying totally flat?

Also was the back of the badge flat, or did it have a slight bend?

 

[corpflyboy]

Thanks for the pic of the front Corp.

Do you remember if the underlying surface is flat (i.e. nothing protruding out)? In other words, imagine taking an oval piece of wood and placing it where the badge would normally be... was there anything to stop the wood from laying totally flat?

Also was the back of the badge flat, or did it have a slight bend?

Vehicle surface is flat. The badge from ebay will have posts that are plastic. They can be razor bladed off. After that, the ebay badge is flat with no protrusions.

 

[comper]

I just installed my painted emblems. Really happy with the result and thought I'd share a comparison between overlays and painted emblems.

Overlays from DMB Graphics. They're black but the difference between the blue emblem underneath is really subtle.


Painted emblems from Tim at eBay/etsy. Really impressive quality.

 

[croll326]

Tim's contact info?

 

[Mikepaul]

He hasn't sold any since Dec. last year, negative feedback was left for taking money and not shipping on his last sale.

http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback2&userid=tomstubes&ftab=AllFeedback

 

[comper]

He hasn't sold any since Dec. last year, negative feedback was left for taking money and not shipping on his last sale.

http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback2&userid=tomstubes&ftab=AllFeedback

I bought mine from Tim at Etsy last month. No hassle at all, got the correct front and back emblems within a week. His store on Etsy is called CustomizedEmblems.

The back was only a cover and the front a complete emblem with short plastic studs that fitted the same place as the ones on the stock emblem. I found the studs great for fitting the emblem exactly as the original and did not razor blade them off.

 

[Mikepaul]

My mistake, I was thinking of Tomstubes from post #24 .

 

[3587]

Black Ford Emblem

So I purchased this off of Amazon: Ford 9" Front Grille or Back Tailgate Emblem - Black & Chrome (Peel & Stick)

Is this the only option or do they make the actual black replacement emblem?

 

[dentalpain]

Ford is cracking down on the knock offs...so they are out there but hard to find. There are a few guys hand painting emblems too.

I got front and rear OEM carbon fiber hydro-dipped emblems off of ebay. A little pricey but look great. Their ebay store name is coolcoatz. The owner drives an explorer sport and they are located in georgia.