Audi A3. Black Rings (rear)

This is a follow up to my last thread; the teaser of my black Audi rings. Not really much of a DIY, but more like how i did it. Almost a step by step, but i skipped out on the painting process.

NOTE: I am not responsible for any damage you may do to your own car(s). This is simply a documentation of how i did everything. Perform at your own risk. Besides that, it's pretty simple.

You'll need to set off some time to do all of this, as it is a bit time consuming.

Heres what you need (listed supplies for the install only):

BTW, i suggest you use fishing line instead of floss...the floss kept breaking.

Here's a before pic, which you all are familiar with:::

Here we go. First, i bought an extra emblem, with the adhesive backing and all:::

Then you paint it black (or whatever color you wish). I sanded it a bit, then prepped it by wiping it with alcohol. Sprayed it with about 4 coats of gloss black, then hit it with about 3 coats of clear coat. Wait about 10 mins between each coat. Just read the directions on the can.... Here's the end result:::

Before i debaged the rear of the original emblem, i put masking tape around it, to mark where to put the black emblem...as a guide. This is how i got it perfectly aligned in the center:::

First step i did in debadging the original eblem was to heat it up first with a blowdryer/heatgun..w/e..to soften the adhesive backing:::

Once that's done, you take the floss/fishing line and you do the actual debadging by sliding it up and down with a sideward pulling motion..to remove the original emblem:::

After that, you'll be left with the foam adhesive backing that came off of the emblem, but was still left on your trunk hatch:::

To remove that, i peeled it off; again, heating it up to soften it. THIS IS THE LONGEST PART!!! . After removing the most of that, there will still be some left..but don't worry...You can take that off by taking some Goo Gone to it. This will soften it even more, and you can remove it by scraping it off with a cloth or something. After that, i prepped the area for placement of the black emblem by waxing it.

CONGRATULATIONS!!! You are now debadged. That was the hard part...

Here's what it should look like:::

Place the new black badge on by centering it within the guidelines (tape) you initially placed to help you:::

Press it on really well..make sure it won't come off. Here it is after placing it:::

Remove the tape, step back, take a gander, give yourself a pat on the back, and SMILE!!! You now got a sick lookin black audi rings badge on the back instead of the plain old chrome one. Did i mention it looked SICK?!?! :::

There you go..and that's all there is to it.