Badge removal ghost

[wswingley]

Hi All,
I recently removed the script stinger badge and the KIA badge from the rear of my new white Stinger Premium, and there is a notable ghost from the KIA oval, but weirdly not from the 'stinger'. Why would this possibly be the case on a new car?
I've asked the dealer whether there was some undisclosed aftermarket coating on this car, but I'm at a loss on what to do to fix this. I went ahead and put my new Korean large 'stinger' script on because I needed to cover the guide holes, but now I wish I had waited to try and remove this ghost first.
I've uploaded a clear pic of the ghost. Any thoughts or suggestions?

 

[voon]

Is that perfectly clean? No traffic film, iron dust, tar film whatever from the road?

 

[Euljiro1ga]

Yeah, it looks like the car has some kind of coating, film over it. Where the Kia logo used to be looks like the right color.

What did you use to clean the surface?

Perhaps, try those all-in-one or one-step polish and see if it makes any difference?

 

[wswingley]

Thanks for the super fast replies!
The car is clean, and I used Goo Gone to remove the residual tape residue and clean the general area.
I agree that it looks darker around the badge, which implies either a protective coat or something else. I'm now concerned that something may be "wrong" with the paint on this part of the car. I might try to do some color assessment with photography to see if it matches other panels of the car. How common is it for a dealership to apply some mystery coat without informing the customer?

 

[voon]

You can always try to polish it a bit there with a mild abrasive/cleaner at first, that doesn't really reduce clearcoat ... or then try with a high polish/gloss abrasive (any from any usual maker will do .. aka 3M, Menzerna, Sonax, whatever).

 

[Chris]

How common is it for a dealership to apply some mystery coat without informing the customer?

Not common. The dealer is not going to spend money on something and not try to make a buck off the customer. If the car was older I would say it is just a change in color from UV, but I have a hard time thinking that happened so fast.. it's also really weird it was only the oval and not the other badge where you see a difference. It's almost like the tape under the oval changed the color..

 

[wswingley]

I think I might try just that. I'm a bit scared, as I've never done any detailing, but I'm probably worrying too much.

 

[Taimaishoo]

Thanks for the super fast replies!
The car is clean, and I used Goo Gone to remove the residual tape residue and clean the general area.
I agree that it looks darker around the badge, which implies either a protective coat or something else. I'm now concerned that something may be "wrong" with the paint on this part of the car. I might try to do some color assessment with photography to see if it matches other panels of the car. How common is it for a dealership to apply some mystery coat without informing the customer?

I think it's part of that $5,000 markup that we've been seeing. At another local KIA shop, I took a closer look at the sticker and it did have that $5,000 and one of the things I remember reading something about? 'paint protection'. This wasn't done by the dealer, I'm sure, so KIA probably coated your car before delivery and when you removed the badge....

 

[wswingley]

@Chris: Or possibly the timing of install? Perhaps the KIA badge is installed right away and the little ones are added much later?

 

[wswingley]

I think it's part of that $5,000 markup that we've been seeing. At another local KIA shop, I took a closer look at the sticker and it did have that $5,000 and one of the things I remember reading something about? 'paint protection'. This wasn't done by the dealer, I'm sure, so KIA probably coated your car before delivery and when you removed the badge....

Ugggh... I hope not. My car was MSRP, no markup, so I'm hoping that's not it. If it is some protective coat, am I totally screwed in terms of getting my color match back?

(sorry for the multiple replies, but you guys are fast, which is awesome)

 

[Taimaishoo]

Well, I don't know if that is the case or not. But either way, I don't think your screwed. I'm sure someone who knows what they're doing (not me) may be buff that out or apply something similar?

 

[voon]

Screwed? Only if the actual paint has a different color for whatever reason. Otherwise any compound polishing will rip down any protective layer.

 

[wswingley]

You guys are awesome. Makes me realize I bought the right car, to have such a community.
I have a front Korean "E" badge that I plan to do, but I haven't tried yet due to this issue. I'm waiting to hear back from the dealership, but I may contact a detailer if it comes to a more complex blending procedure. My concern with just blending it would be that this little area would age differently due to the lack of whatever protective coat they applied. If it's possible to apply that exact coat over this little bit and then blend, that would be ideal.

 

[voon]

I'd find it very odd, if the colour had "faded" in any way ... the paint and car are way too new to have this sort of UV effect. No idea if the glue chemicals can do anything or whatever, but I'd first go with some proper polishing etc before I'd worry. Just make sure it's perfectly clean and that you know how to polish I'ts no rocket science, but you don't want to do somethign silly (like using a rotary at 5 billion RPM and cooking your paint). Might actually just use some serious muscle force at first and try some hand polish.

BTW: Don't be scared of high gloss polish etc, That's not going to rip off your clearcoat or paint in seconds. Not even in minutes of running an excenter machine over it etc ... (simple rotaries can cook the paint though with friction heat .. the only real danger).

 

[Chris]

@Chris: Or possibly the timing of install? Perhaps the KIA badge is installed right away and the little ones are added much later?

I've not seen the them build them, but I've got to believe the badges are all put on at the same time.
Maybe different base materials are a factor? I know some of the back of that car is plastic. I dont know where the plastic stops and the steel starts though..

 

[wswingley]

I've not seen the them build them, but I've got to believe the badges are all put on at the same time.
Maybe different base materials are a factor? I know some of the back of that car is plastic. I dont know where the plastic stops and the steel starts though..

Both badges are installed on the same panel, so that shouldn't be it. If I recall, the adhesive on the script looked different than the oval (black versus grey, respectively).
I just ran out to take a VERY close look to be sure that there was no ghost from the script, and there is absolutely nothing. It seems like it is the "darker" color in that area where the script was.
@voon: I agree that hand polishing will probably be my first step once I hear from the dealership. Scary, but I am pretty handy, so I'll be alright. After removing that oval, nothing will seem scary. That was NOT fun.

 

[Charly]

I'd just slap one of these on there.

 

[westcoastGT]

When I debadged/rebadged I was playing around with adding a Turbo emblem on the left rear where the small Stinger was ..............I decided to remove it and it left a ghost mark as well and it was on for less than 15 minutes , I polished it out with a mild abrasive polish , gone ! Dont sweat this it will be a surface mark not even close to the paint .

 

[Kia Stinger]

Welcome aboard, @wswingley! Thank you for signing up. And congratulations on your new Stinger! I'm confident you'll have this ghost issue resolved quickly. It seems like some good detailing will take care of it...

 

[wswingley]

Welcome aboard, @wswingley! Thank you for signing up. And congratulations on your new Stinger! I'm confident you'll have this ghost issue resolved quickly. It seems like some good detailing will take care of it...

Thanks! And thanks for the new badges as well (if I remember correctly that you also ran the Stinger Mag sales). The tracking for them was a comedy of errors. If you want a laugh, take a look at it. They did get here perfectly fine, despite USPS best efforts to the contrary.