De-badging made easy (BMWtips.com inclusion?) - The 5 Series (E39) Message Board

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De-badged today, looks much cleaner IMO from the rear. Didn't have a heat gun so decided to try a hairdryer. Dryer worked fine and was quick; no need for heat gun.

Anyhow, my car is almost 4 yrs old and the sticky adhesive was difficult to remove ... until I figured out the trick. Like most car procedures, once you figure out a trick you're almost done - but this may help the next guy who does this. :)

Anyway, I first was using my fingernail to get the adhesive off. Tedious to say the least. I tried heating it up again and no real help there, either. Then (fanfare, cheers, angel choirs, rejoicing across the land) I put the pad of my thumb on the stuff and pressed down, and swiped from right to left slowly while pressing down hard. A whole strip came off at once! I finished the rest in about 30 seconds, which would have taken 15 minutes the fingernail way. Amazing.

There was some discoloration around the periphery of where the badge used to be, but some fine-cut 3M compound made quick work of this. The paint underneath the badge is ever so slightly more light than the rest, but you can't tell unless you get close and look at just the right angle. (My car is Aspen Silver BTW.) Regardless, if you're on the fence about whether or not to de-badge the sooner the better. I probably wouldn't want to do it on a car much older than mine for this reason, but you can always replace the badges if you don't like the effect.