How to Install an Emblem on Your Car or Truck

Custom vehicle emblems are used to show the model, make, or any car's special features.  They are also used to identify the dealership or the company that sold the vehicle. There are various reasons why you may want to replace the emblem.

Reasons why you may want to replace emblem include: the emblem got old or the carwash attendant tore them off.  Whatever the reason for replacement, there are always a few steps to follow when putting the custom chrome emblem. 

You need to have the following items before starting to put the emblem.

• ·       Painter Tape
• ·        A bubble levels
• ·        Emblem adhesive remover
• ·        A new emblem
• ·        A clean lint-free towel
• ·        Emblem adhesive 

Step 1:- Remove the old custom car badge first using a heat gun. The heat gun melts the adhesive present in the old emblem, making it easy for you to pull it off. Ensure you don't leave the heat gun lying on the paint for too long, you may damage the paint.

Step 2: After you have removed the old emblem, some adhesive will be left on the vehicle's paint. You need to have emblem adhesive remover, which is mainly found on various auto part stores.

Step 3: Clean the area where you plan to put your new car emblem using alcohol. This is meant to remove the old wax or other things that are likely to make the custom chrome emblem not to stick on the surface.

Step 4: If you will be sticking the emblem in a place that needs to be leveling, use the bubble level to mark the area.

Step 5: Most emblems are sold with emblem adhesive. However, if this is not the case, you will need to buy one.  You can always shop emblem adhesives at the nearest auto parts store. When buying adhesive remover, also shop for emblem adhesive.  Emblem adhesive is made explicitly to bond painted metal with plastic.

Step 6: This step involves attaching the emblem.  If your emblem has adhesive attached to it. You only need to peel and stick the emblem. However, ensure to stick it on the level line you had earlier marked using a painter's tape.  However, if your emblem doesn’t have adhesive on it, put little emblem adhesive on its edges where it will bond with the painted surface.

Step 7: Stick and hold your custom vehicle emblems or emblem until the adhesive has dried up. In most cases, it only takes  two minutes

Step 8: This happens to be the last step on installing an emblem on your car or truck; you only need to remove the painter's tape and clean the area near the emblem.

 Most vehicles come with custom car badges from manufactures. The badges are either placed at the front, back, or at the center of the car.  Overtimes the emblems become loose and they are often a target for thieves. We offer emblem replacement and we can also customize your car badge.

What You Need to Know About Gold Plating Chrome Emblems

You're probably familiar with silver plated car emblems (since these never really go out of style), but did you know that you can also have gold plated car emblems? It instantly gives your car a sophisticated, classy flair minus the cost. In fact, gold plating car emblems is a DIY project you can explore, for as long as you have access to the right tools and materials. Once you've mastered this skill, you can consider pursuing it as a business, but that is a discussion for a different article.

To work on this project, you first need to have car emblems that have been chrome plated. Once you've got that down pat, you can proceed with the gold plating. Interestingly, the first step of the process is to get rid of any chrome residue from the surface of the emblem. The nickel on the surface then has to be activated before proceeding with the chrome plating.

 Setting Up

As with all things in life, you need to prepare everything that you need before you get your hands busy. Set up all the the tools, equipment, and materials that you'll be using to avoid delays once you have started. If you opt to do the plating while the emblem is attached on the car, you can do that for as long as your water collection system is clean an efficient.

To do this, you need to have a drain apron and a drain pan. Stick the drain apron to the car body with a reusable high quality vinyl tape. This tape is a bit more expensive compared to other vinyl tapes in the market, but it's a worthy investment because it does not leave any residue nor peel off the car's paint. Place a drain pan at the end of the drain apron.

You hit two birds with one stone when you use the drain pan. You can use it to store rinse water, while also collecting water that you used to rinse off chemicals from the plating process. One way to secure this setup is by attaching an apron bar to make sure everything stays in place while you're working. It keeps water from falling off the drain apron and away from the drain pan.

The Plating Begins

It's best if you can quickly finish setting up so you can start plating at the soonest possible time. If you have a cart that holds all the materials (plating solutions and handles included), make sure that it's beside you once you start working.

There are different polarities, current cut-off levels, and polarities required in each step of the plating process. This is the reason why it helps if you can color code the bottles you use so you can easily find what comes before or after the other.

Most emblems are made of ABS plastic that's plate-able. If this is the case, then you need to first metalize or make the surface conductive. Once that's done, you can start plating the plastic with nickel and copper  before applying chrome.

Then the chrome stripping, or the process of electrochemically removing chrome from the surface comes next. The emblem will have a shiny finish as a result, but this will not have any effect on the bright nickel underneath. This is a sign that the emblem is ready for the 24K gold plate.

Fill an empty spray bottle with tap water and rinse the emblem with a few squirts. During this step, it is imperative that the rinse water slides down the drain apron and all the way down to the drain pan. Aside from chrome, the water has chrome stripping solution so it has to be properly disposed.

By now, the nickel underneath is finally exposed and it has to be activated electrochemically. To do this, an activator solution is applied. Make sure that the charge is negative to successfully get rid of the oxides. When the nickel surface is highly active and all of the oxides are gone, the 24K gold plate will adhere easily tot he emblem.

Repeat what you did after chrome stripping and squirt water on the surface of the emblem. Nickel and chrome residues are now easier to spot and remove.

Use concentric, overlapping circles when applying gold. Once the thickness grows to 5 micro-inches, the gold turns opaque. Each concentric circle during application adds 3-5 micro-inches. To make sure that the entire surface of the emblem is covered properly, repeat this process six times. Rinse off.

Gold plating car emblems is something that you can do at home, if you have all the materials, tools, and equipment. The process can be a little bit intimidating at first, but you will get the rhythm with constant practice.