How do I remove uneven clearcoat where debadged?

[Marcus Aurelius]

On my truck, I removed the useless door edge guards and debadged it on the driver side, passenger, and cargo doors.

Now there is somewhat of an indentation in the clearcoat where they were. Probably through the years of being sun beaten, rained on, wind flying by, and a not completely dry clearcoat when put on the truck after assembly.

What would be the best way on evening it out. Maybe wetsanding?
I'll post pictures if you need more info.

-Marc

 

[techieman33]

I would try claybarring the surface, and then going over it with a light polishing compound first.

 

[xplorer03]

ya wet sanding is the last thing u ever really wanna do. clay bar, compound, polish, wax. should even it out for ya

 

[GRNMACHINE]

Marc,

I have the same issue, I thought the same thing you did. It looks like they put the liftgate badges/logos on when the clearcoat was fully dry! Wanted the badges off altogether but the awesome holes underneath the logos stopped that. I bought a new Ford logo but the 95 Explorer rear logo's are OBSOLETE. I ended up finding a new Explorer XLT logo, I removed the XLT part. I didnt want the giant Control Trac part underneath that originally came on my truck but in certain light you can see where the clear isnt smooth. It is somewhat deep, I really dont think any amount of claybar can fix mine. Tailgate looks alot cleaner now, very hard to see the clear problems unless you are looking for them. If you end up getting good results pls post pics/process as I may try it. Thanks

 

[Marcus Aurelius]

I'll check out a few products and post some before and after.

Would this process include a buffer? I have one, but have never used it and would rather not use it.

-Marc

 

[techieman33]

clay bar won't really help fix the clear coat, it will help to pull off anything contaminating the paint before you start using the polish or light rubbing compound on it. No buffer needed you can do it by hand.

 

[Marcus Aurelius]

Good, I'll try to get to it within the next few days. If not, after my mini vacation to PA. Thanks for all the info.

-Marc

 

[xplorer03]

claybar will take the contaminents out of the paint around the badge, bringing it closer to the color of the clean paint that has been protected by the badge. compound and polishing with a buffer will save u alot of time compaired to doin it by hand

 

[TheJackal]

I'm a bit curious myself about this. I recently removed a peeling vinyl dealer logo from the liftgate but I can still see where it was pretty well even after the gunk was removed.