More Than Meets The Eye

With a turnaround time of a week for custom cut badges, I can't even begin to complain. There is a slight bit of pixelation, and a wee bit of chipping around some of the edges but overall I am very pleased. You don't even notice the imperfections unless you are on it with a magnifying lens.

The badges arrived last night, I was tremendously excited, and wanted to install them right then and there. I knew that I'd not get any good pictures of the install, so I put it off 'til today.

Here they are fresh out of the package. Normally I wouldn't remove the protective layer until they are fully installed, but I couldn't help myself in this case. I've also included a close-up just so you can see the detail. You can tell how the laser etches the plastic, it gives it a bit of a brushed, which I don't mind at all.







And here we have the Plain Jane blue Ford oval. A timeless classic. As it is a rare occasion that we have a mild day here in Texas, I had to break out my room mates hair dryer and heat things up a bit.









As per the instruction of the manufacturer, I applied a bit of tape to the chrome bezel. This will help minimize any damage that could happen due to prying  out the old badge. Now I take my trusty screwdriver that I've ground down the head, especially for instances like this. With a little finesse it was easy to remove the original badge.








A bit of the adhesive remained, but it was easily scraped away.  You can see how much find dirt/dust has seeped in around the edges over the 12 years this vehicle has been on the road. I made sure to wipe it down, as I want the new badges to maintain maximum adhesion.









Peeling off the backing, and installing the badge with a bit of painters tape folded in to a tab. Having the tab there definitely helps hold on, as you could always have an accidental slip that ends up with your new badge butter side down on your driveway. In which case you have failed lord Megatron and your life is now forfeit.








Apply a little pressure, and just for good measure a bit more heat.











And here we are, simply repeat the process for the rear badge and you'll be fully ready to lay waste to some Autobots.