What to use to debadge without damaging paint?

Grab a heat gun or a hair drier and heat up the badge to the point where the double sided sticky tape starts getting nice and loose. Use a plastic putty knife or a credit card and use it if needed to remove the badge slowly.

Once removed, you can use WD-40 or Goo Gone to remove the remaining sticky stuff.

This is assuming the badge on your Prius is just on with double sided tape.

 

While I am not a fan of removing OEM badges, I understand that there are those of us who may actually prefer it that way. Besides, a Prius body style is very recognizable by the emergency personnel should it ever be in a serious accident so taking the badges off may not be a big issue as it is when removing from other hybrid vehicles that actually need them for proper identification.

In any case, I would suggest the use of dental floss to remove the badge. If done carefully while the car's surface is cool to the touch, the badge should come off without much leftover residue or any damage done to the paint.

Cheers;

MSantos

 

pria,

Debadging is very simple and requires no special tools.

As to dental floss and heat guns. Not needed. Dental floss is used to
cut through the double-sided sticky tape that holds the badge on.
Unfortunately, this method leaves the back side of the tape stuck to
the car. Now you have to use some kind of solvent to get it off. Why
bother?

Getting the badge and the supporting body work warm will definitely
make the job easier. Just park the car with the badge in the direct sun
with temps above 70degF. If you want a little warmer, just hold a
folded up wash cloth over the badge and carefully saturate it with very
hot water for 5 min. This way there is no danger from over
heating/blistering the paint with a heat gun.

Once everything is warmed up, just grab the offending badge at one
end with your finger nails and pull gently but relentlessly. With a
credit card or other thin plastic object push against the stretched tape
where you are pulling outward. Very slowly at first, the tape will pull
away cleanly from the paint. Continue, repositioning where you pull so
that you don't bend or break the badge. Just keep at it, slowly but
surely. When your fingers get tired, just stop and let the badge reheat
in the sun. :rockon:

This method works well for more solid badges. For badges with thin
portions,like the Circle-Ts on hood and lift gate, you need to make up
a thin hook to reach behind the thin sections to pull.

Note if this is not enough info, there are lots of debadging threads. Just
use the search tool with "debadging."

Hope this helps.

 

I used a hairdryer to heat the adhesive, and then used rubbing alcohol to take off the rest of it.

 

+1 (works on every car)

 

This is such a common question that I put my answer at the top of my emblem deletion page:
Prius exterior rear

Not much new from what has been said here. It is very easy. You have to actually work at damaging the clearcoat if that's what you'd like to do.

 

I'm thinking I'll debadge the 'Toyota' on the back. That'll make it a little more 2010 Prius-like. =P (I'd need to shift the HSD logo and the "Prius" to make it more accurate though)

 

Its a great idea, just make sure to hit it with wax afterwards. If it does get scratched while you remove it just use a nice polish a some elbow grease and it will smooth out the clear coat.