Quick Tip: Badge Refurb.

[Avalon]

As new owners seem to be getting excited about not having the usual compliment of badges adorning the new RAV’s, I figured it was a good time to post this.

As Toyota neglected to use enamel badges on the wing badges, if you own a generation 4.2 D4D, your badges probably look quite tired and weathered by now, something like this:

Rather than replacing them with expensive genuine parts, fighting with adhesive that’s been in situ for 20 years etc. or dubious knock off’s from China, here’s a tip to make them look like new again in about 30 seconds a side and costing bugger all.

All you need is this:

And to do this:

Process is self explanatory, it’s probably a good idea to wipe down the area with some IPA (or an alcohol based wipe) to remove any surface contamination, as the Badge has a distinct channel running round the lettering, it’s a nice easy job. Durability is quite good from other things i’ve used this as a fix on, expect to spend 30 seconds on re-doing it every 12-18 months unless you attack it with harsh chemicals such as solvents, but a lot of car cleaning products have moved to ph neutral formulations.

Oh, yes I am aware I could also do with washing my car, but I have other jobs to do first.