Remove Cooper Emblem? How [Archive] - MINI Cooper Forum - MINI2 Mini Cooper Forums

: Remove Cooper Emblem? How


rob_lewis
Sep 1st, 2003, 04:39 PM
Couple of questions:

1) How do you remove the Cooper (or MINI) Emblems? Are they bolt on or are the on with some type of adhesive?
2) Are the emblems metal or plastic? I would like to repaint mine (or powdercoat them if they are metal).

Thanks.
-Rob

Goonery
Sep 1st, 2003, 06:20 PM
Rob,
this has been covered before, but anyway. Get some strong thread, quite thin stuff, and gently loop it under the letters, then with a loop of it round each hand use a sawing motion to remove each letter.
ONE owners are good at this!:eek:.:rolleyes:
Then when you've gottem all off, clean up the residue goo with some white spirit, and finally buff to an immaculate shine with Autoglym!.
No holes, no bolts, just 3M double sided tape. Letters are 'PLASTIC' so you could paint em with dome decent exterior grade paint, but its important to key a good surface, otherwise ot wont look too good in 6 months time.
Hope this helps

monsta
Sep 1st, 2003, 06:30 PM
Not sure which one it is, but either the bonnet or boot badge has two small locator lugs which stick in the panel so that it can be lined up properly.

This won't affect your painting or removal but something to bear in mind.

:)

rob_lewis
Sep 1st, 2003, 06:36 PM
Rob,
this has been covered before, but anyway.

Hmm, I searched for "remove badge" and "remove emblem" and all I found was how to remove dealer emblems...... I DID try to search for it. Figured it had been covered before....

Anyway, thanks for the help. Sounds like it shouldn't be too bad.

Now, I just need to figure out how to remove the outside door handles.

-Rob

Goonery
Sep 1st, 2003, 06:51 PM
R U Serious, NO I guess not, but just in case, remove door casings, and the handles are held on by small nuts, which you may be deserving of LOL!

rob_lewis
Sep 1st, 2003, 07:42 PM
Actually, I am serious. Don't know why I'm getting soo much flak from you. Had a bad day?

I don't like the chrome bits on my Cooper. I've got a powdercoating kit and wanted to paint all the chrome black to match my roof. Probably not everyone's cuppa, but I think I'll like the look.

-Rob

MiniOnd
Sep 1st, 2003, 09:37 PM
Best and easiest method to remove badges!

HAIR DRYER!!

Trust me, dont it loadsa times, just heat the badge up, to soften the glue and then after a few minutes of heat just carefull prise the badges up with your finger nails.

When completed, just give the area a quick polish and your done!

The front badge is held on with pins as far as I know! Whats invovled in a powder coating kit!?

Take care
Andy

alphavmini
Sep 1st, 2003, 10:47 PM
hi, this is just my opinion, no one get the wrong idea

i wouldnt use white spirit on your mini, the laquer coating is not as thick as most cars, and doesnt take much, if you want to get the rest of the stuff off, use the hairdryer, but not too much to stress the paint. or just wash them off, it will take longer but wont damage

removing the handles is very difficult

if you need to replace them they are 12.50 each

you need to remove the inside door panel, then you have to get a very long alum key, (or driver) i dont know what size,

you need to look inside the panel with a torch, then you find the white plastic covers inside, they have two alum bolts on them, it takes a long time to get them off, when you do. remove the handles, but look at where the latch cable goes. (it took me 2 hours to find out where it goes)

when you have done your stuff, put the handle to the door and feed the wire round the back of the door electrics, then hook it to the lock mech. sounds simple (it aint) then put the bolts back on.

hope this helps, (i wouldnt take the handles off.)!!!

Goonery
Sep 2nd, 2003, 07:05 AM
Actually, I am serious. Don't know why I'm getting soo much flak from you. Had a bad day?

I don't like the chrome bits on my Cooper. I've got a powdercoating kit and wanted to paint all the chrome black to match my roof. Probably not everyone's cuppa, but I think I'll like the look.

-Rob

Sorry not a bad day, just wondered why you would want to take the handles off, thought it was "ironic" comment:confused:
Anyways its not a fun job taking off the handles and putting them back again, plus they are 'plastic', so I'm not convinced about powder coating, they are not too expensive, though. Good luck

rob_lewis
Sep 2nd, 2003, 11:28 AM
Sorry, Goonery, I guess I wasn't clear as to why I wanted to remove them.

Given that they are available at the dealer, apparently, I may just buy the emblems and handles first and paint them black. Then, if I like the work, I can go about replacing them.

MiniOnd - The powedercoating kit is pretty neat. The way powdercoating works is, you charge the piece you want to paint by hooking it up to an outlet (included in the kit) and then hook up the gun. The paint coming out is of one charge, the metal another, so they are attracted to one another. It truely is a powder that comes out, so whatever hits the floor, you can reuse.

You then bake the piece in an oven for 10 minutes and it leaves a VERY durable finish. A buddy of mine bought the kit and I picked up a used Toaster Oven to bake the parts.

Course, since all the parts seem to be made of plastic, just painting will have to do.

-Rob

monsta
Sep 2nd, 2003, 10:13 PM
Andy (MiniOnd) didn't you do power coating in technology at school ?! :p

Goonery
Sep 2nd, 2003, 10:23 PM
Yes but only on metal ( very heavy metal tho) I'm just about to bang my head I think (enter Sandman!!!)

TheInca
Oct 15th, 2003, 10:46 PM
Hey Rob-

Did you ever powder coat you door handles or did you end up painting them?? Either way I would be interested in seeing a picture

I have been thinking about getting the door handles dipped in black chrome.