Anyone here tried to make their badges look good again? If so, how'd you go about doing it?
I picked up some Nevr-Dull today and pulled the badges off. I started on the rear one and it turned out alright, but the gold plating is wearing off, so they have a silverish look in places.
The other 2 badges are in bad shape, but I'm gonna try my luck with them to see how they turn out.
I've thought about it a few time myself. Mine are pretty bad. Here are some of my ideas.
Gold flake paint. Prepping the edges and then very carefully painting them.
Some really thin self adhesive gold foil. I don't even know if something like this exists.
Either one of these ideas would require hours of work and a lot of patience. I'm sure there is a way to restore them to their original beauty but I don't have a clue as to how to do it. Does anyone know if a Jeweler could do something like that? I don't even want to think about how much that would cost!
Mike
I've thought about chipping the red paint out of the badges, and having them redipped in gold.
Don't ask how I'd get the red paint to look as it did before, cause I have no idea, lol.
The goild foil can be bought at any hobby store. It's mainly used on car models.
Maybe give it some rubbing compount and wax? Treat it like regular paint? I dunno, maybe it would work.
I think these badges are made of brass, with a gold plating. Can anyone else confirm this?
I've sanded with 200, 400, 600, 1000, and then 1500 grit wet/dry sand paper on the back of one of the badges. The dark gold color goes away, but a lighter, shinier lighter gold comes through. Kinda looks good.
You could always get someone to print you some TGP badge mockups(or custom badging) made of vinyl until you could find someone to refurbish the badges. :wink:
Nah, I'm actually starting to like the look of the car with them off.
I had it verified today that they are not brass. The jeweler seemed to think they were just made up of a bunch of put together metals. :?
Either way, I was able to sand the gold plating off to reveal a lighter color of gold. So I may just go that route, and then clearcoat them really well. That is IF I decide to put them back on. 8)
Around here, theres a problem with emblem theft, Does anyone make a vinyl decals of the TGP badges?
-Jeff
Quote from: gp90seAround here, theres a problem with emblem theft, Does anyone make a vinyl decals of the TGP badges?
-Jeff
I've sent e-mail's to Reflective Concepts twice now with no reply. They are the company that makes them for the GTP's and I thought they might be able to do up some custom ones for the TGP's. I even told them there would most likely be other people interested but still nothing. I'm going to try one more time but if they don't respond I'm going to forget about them and try another route. I have a friend who makes vinyl decals and I'm going to see if he can do it.
i'll look into some contacts I have as well....
I'll also see what I can do about vinyl badges as I'm getting some made for another car. 8)
Any word on the stickers?
i just checked with my source and he said it wouldn't be too much probably.. just need to make up a good pic of it and he can get an exact quote. i'll post back when i get something more
I'm going to email someone about this tomorrow, I'm going to try to take a nice picture of one of my badges to send w/ the email. Anyways, I guess we would need two different vinyl badges(one for black, one for red) to satisfy everyone..I guess if you want custom colors or an actual custom badge(and not just a stock mockup like I'm wanting), then that could be arranged as well. I'll update this in a few days when I receive a reply back.
Shawn Lin did a TGP badge on his computer which is posted on the W-Body.com website under the TGP section. I'm sure if you ask nicely he'll let you use it as a template.
well... finally got a possible TGP badge made up. I'm going to find out about prices now from a few sources and see what I can find. Here it is:
(http://images.cardomain.com/member_images/11/web/383000-383999/383196_23.jpg)
I'm thinking get the whole thing printed up in gold then just get rid of the black parts... that way it'd look OK on a black or a red TGP, I think... any coments, lemme know :)
Would it just be a decal or an overlay? I think an overlay would be cool. I'd love to get a gunmetal/chrome decal/overlay so that it would fit my color scheme.
an overlay would be cool
by overlay do you mean that it would just sit over the badges to cover the tarnished part up? I'm not sure exactly how that would work. I guess if it is a perfect scale it could be made to fit and just sit over the gold part of the badges.
Well, it would be the same as the GTP overlays offered on the 97 up GP's
if it were to be an overlay like the GTP badges, and just cover the dark parts, you'd still have the problem of the gold being tarnished around the outside. I don't think it'd be possible to just do the gold, it'd be crazy hard to try and get it to line up right. It COULD be done either way though I suppose or as a vinyl sticker.
Quote from: Gearhead43Well, it would be the same as the GTP overlays offered on the 97 up GP's
The 97+ GTP badges are a little different. There is an indentation of sorts in the badge that allows the overlay to fit seamlessly. With a TGP badge, it would sort of be sitting on top, much like the 97+ GT overlays. I'm not sure how good it would look. I'm still going to look for a solution to restore the original badges I have.
IMHO, decals on cars look like crap...especially as replacements for badges like some of the GEN I Special Edition models had in the 90s. :roll:
I'm enjoying my car with the badges off right now. I don't think I'll ever put them back on. :)
I think I may nix the badges as well on the 5 speed. Then just put my Turbo warning decal on the window. Hopefully it will make people try to prove they never made a GP w/ a turbo. (NOBODY wants to race me, it's either the exhaust, or the badges.) 8)
Quote from: god910(NOBODY wants to race me, it's either the exhaust, or the badges.) 8)
You have that problem too? :lol:
Quote from: LukeZ34Quote from: god910(NOBODY wants to race me, it's either the exhaust, or the badges.) 8)
You have that problem too? :lol:
I kinda have that problem when I'm in the TGP as well..although, my dad was driving it the other day and some guy in a late model Grand Am revved on him..my dad didn't do anything but let the guy go on his way. If it would have been me, I would have gave him an earfull of the T25 spooling and a nice display of checkered taillights. :wink:
Any of you that wish to sell the red Badges ... Email me Gearhead43@prodigy.net
I think one of the easiest ways to make decals is to have a color background and then a second decal "overlayed" the background that has turbo grand prix written out.
Then I could get gunmetal/silver badges :D
Quote from: Gearhead43Any of you that wish to sell the red Badges ... Email me Gearhead43@prodigy.net
There was just a pair of NOS red Turbo badges on eBay.
Guess who won them... 8)
(http://i8.ebayimg.com/02/i/01/d9/c2/be_1_b.JPG)
As soon as I get this, we'll see how my plans work out. I think it'll look hella great. 8)
tyroelite, see what they want for 3 black/gunmetal stickers with silver/chrome outlines. A black/silver would fit the theme of my car I'm planning out 8)
I went in to the local vinyl shop with a friend and explained what would be needed. I unfortunately didn't have my car or my copy of the logo at the time as I wasn't planning on going when we did. From my description, he said it would probably be about 10-15 each. I'm going to take the car and the logo in and see what he says. I also have a friend near philly that has some connections with a vinyl shop there who may be able to get a better deal b/c 10-15$ is pretty fookin' expensive! I'll see what I can do and get back to you all. Maybe we can even get a group buy together since most people I assume would want 3 or at least 2... I'll see what deals I can find.
Any news?
hey, is anyones badges gold part turning green, lol, mine is, and its kinda tacky, lol, i think just having a badge on the rear of the car and not the sides would be cool too
hey, if anyones interested, Grafx workz guy makes totlaly custom reflected borderd decals, he said hes make what ever, email him, and give him the demensions and everything
http://www.grafxwerks.com