Aftermarket TTA emblems, do they last?

[Jan Larsson]

I know I'm not the only one with aftermarket emblems on my TTA (had them on there for close to a year now).

Anyway I was wondering how you guys think they hold up for the weather .... any discoloring, erroding etc? I can see my emblems don't seem to last but my car spends a lot of it's time outside in the open, not used that much and not in bad weather or so but it's parked outside most of the time with a car cover on it.

Can see some discoloring on the gold and also erroding (green stuff) on my rear tail light emblem (white bird).

What's your experience?

 

[87buick3825]

Jan could you put a clear coat on them ??? Maybe protect them a little ??

RD

 

[Jan Larsson]

That's what I really should have done before I put them on the car ... I could polish them a bit (careful not to polish away the gold but would have to take them off the car to clear coat them ....

I'll take some pictures later today and post them of what the emblems looks like with less than a year on the car ... bit disappointing actually :-(

 

[89ICBM]

Originally posted by Jan Larsson
That's what I really should have done before I put them on the car ... I could polish them a bit (careful not to polish away the gold but would have to take them off the car to clear coat them ....

I'll take some pictures later today and post them of what the emblems looks like with less than a year on the car ... bit disappointing actually :-(


Howdy Jan!

Here's the deal with the badges, whether they're oem or the nos ones. The plating is 30 to 40 microns thick, that's millionths of an inch. The gold begins to wear when you 1st drive the car, washing and waxing takes even more off. When you wax the car, don't get any on the badges that you have to wipe off and be very gentle washing them. The idea of clear coating is a good one if you don't mind losing some gloss on the badges, it's a trade off really, 6 to 1, half dozen to the other. When a plated area gets green tarnish on it, it usually means the gold is gone and the base metal coat is exposed which is nichol and copper, copper will tarnish green. Examine closely the product you are using to wash the car with, it takes really harsh conditions to bring the coating down past both the gold and nichol.

 

[j13smiley]

which repro emblems did you buy?

 

[Jan Larsson]

These were bought directly from the source (read manufacturer) before they were picked up and marketed by one of the companies selling them today

Thanks Frank, I've washed the car of course but not with any abresive cleaner or anything so I would expect the emblems to last longer than this .... good thing is that prices dropped drasticly due to the price competition out there on aftermarket emblems ... if I get another set I will defenitly clear coat them before I put them on the car.