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If you have black interior like I do, I plan on masking the steering wheel off and just spray paint the emblem with plastidip. Worse case scenario is that I peel the "black rubber" off if I don't like it =)
i have done this.. Warning i suggest you take the battery terminals on your car. You will need a new emblem.
1. the emblem is being held from the back by if i remember correctly 8 plastic pins and are melted flat to hold the emblem.
2. I got one of those pick & hook set put the hook and start pulling the emblem
3. The emblem is plastic so it tends to expand then use a small fine tip x-acto knife and start cutting the pins towards the bottom of the emblem.
4.once you start cutting the pins them emblem starts to be more flexible and you can start putting it with the hook easier and easier to cut.
5. once you cut all the pins whole emblem is off
6. i had 2 emblems i decided to take all the chrome off the emblem and make it white so it stands out and it different. I soaked it on paint thinner to clean it up. i cut the plastic pins to half their size and used some crazy glue on the pin holes and done push the emblem in.
7. plug the battery terminals back on.
I will post pics tomorrow if i get a chance so you guys can see what it looks like.
when i was looking to buy an RL a year ago i found a NBP/ebony w/56k miles,A-spec kit and didnt buy it because the emblem on the airbag was worn bad!!LOL i know but it just trew me off,interior was also worn pretty bad!!!Glad i passed because the one i have now is in great shape.I guess i all depends on the people who owned it first.
I thought about trying that, but the emblem is pretty reflective, so I'd have to scrape all the old finish off first. Then I'd risk getting paint on the surrounding wheel and would really be hosed. Since the worn out areas are the middle raised parts, if I can just touch up those areas it will be a lot easier and safer. I think. Remains to be seen how well it'll match, but anything will be better than how it is now.
Getting the air bag off is a breeze. That takes 5 min tops once you are ready. I didnt care to see how the cover was attached, but I doubt it would take more than 5 min too. I disassbled my entire wheel in less than 30 min and spent the most time with the puller which you won't need.
From the one thread it sounded like there are rivets you have to drill out and plastic pins to melt. I think I'll try painting first. If that doesn't work, I'll try replacing it. If it does work, and then maybe I'll have a way of repairing the chrome strips on the bumper protectors.
As you may have expected, my plan did not work. I tried using some Kraplon on a flaked off section of one of my bumpers first, here are the results.
First a pic of the can. Notice how nice and reflective the cap is.
Here's a before shot:
And then the after (still somewhat wet, I wanted to be able to wipe it off while I still could, which I did):
So you can see, this would not be a brilliant thing to use to try to match chrome, unfortunately. I wonder if anyone sells film sheets that you can cut out and glue on, although that would probably be harder than just taking the dang thing off and replacing it. I've just got so much damaged chrome that I'd like a good way to repair it.
And just to be complete, here's how my emblem looks:
From the one thread it sounded like there are rivets you have to drill out and plastic pins to melt. I think I'll try painting first. If that doesn't work, I'll try replacing it. If it does work, and then maybe I'll have a way of repairing the chrome strips on the bumper protectors.
There is a picture in another thread, and someone above explained it pretty well. It is a simple plastic piece with straight pins sticking into the air bag cover. Once the pins are in, they melted them a little to keep from slipping out. Glue would also work.
Yes I understand the concept. Maybe I'll give it a try sometime if I can find an emblem for sale somewhere (eBay seems fresh out). And I'll apparently need a rivet gun as well. Seems like the options are: 1) live with it as-is, 2) paint the whole thing a different color, or 3) spend the time to do it right and replace it. Leaning towards option 1 for now. Anybody else have luck painting theirs, though?
Yes I understand the concept. Maybe I'll give it a try sometime if I can find an emblem for sale somewhere (eBay seems fresh out). And I'll apparently need a rivet gun as well. Seems like the options are: 1) live with it as-is, 2) paint the whole thing a different color, or 3) spend the time to do it right and replace it. Leaning towards option 1 for now. Anybody else have luck painting theirs, though?
There is a picture in another thread, and someone above explained it pretty well. It is a simple plastic piece with straight pins sticking into the air bag cover. Once the pins are in, they melted them a little to keep from slipping out. Glue would also work.
I recently replaced the steering wheel and at the same time decided to plasti-dip the worn emblem... Here is how it looks after the install back...
Is it perfect, like factory 100% perfect - I have to say it is not... But it is far better than chipped worn out emblem from for sure 😁😁😁
01-29-2012, 04:08 AM
. Not a risk I wish to take.
