Flat-Black Emblems & Hella 500s (Pics Inside)

[Sloan]

I went to stay with my parents this weekend since I finally had a break in my summer so I figured i'd get rid of those ugly chrome emblems and go with black. Hobby Lobby did not have the black pearl paint i wanted so I decided to go with Flat Black for the "murdered" out look since I am trying to add as much black on my truck as possible anyway. Here are some pictures of what the emblems now look like. I figured I would throw in some pictures of my new hella 500s I added to my brush guard as well.

here are most of the items you will need for of the job.

here is the emblems with the 2nd coat of flat black added.

here is the emblems with a couple light sprays of clear coat on them.

back toyota symbol on the rear hatch. (night shot)

and here are the day shots i took this morning.

Hellas mounted

hope you guys like them. to me it is a huge improvement over the old chrome ones.

If anybody is interested in the "poor man's" emblem here is the write-up I used. I used the write-up kinda lightly but basically did everything it says.

http://4runners.org/writeups/blackpearl/index.html

 

[Fo_SheeZy]

I spot a silver Yota emblem in the grille! :biggrin2:

 

[surf185]

Good Job

I was just wondering where you were able to purchase your 3M emblem tape? Thanks in advance!

 

[Sloan]

i bought the tape from walmart in the automotive section. i believe it is near the touchup paint and the sandpaper. its kind of thick stuff but it sticks good so it will work for awhile i hope.


and how do you take out the grille emblem brian? i was trying to figure that out last night actually.

 

[sn0wrunner]

looks fantastic! I definitely want to do this soon. at least by the end of the summer. And i want to buy some lights for my bumper as well. Would you recommend the hella 500's?

 

[Sloan]

i would, they are pretty bright and only about 60 bucks. i will post night shots tonight if you would like to see them.

someone on another forum said they dont know if the emblems will hold up more then about 5 months. kinda worries me though but i guess i can always just take them off and redo them again.

 

[sn0wrunner]

yeah post some night shots!

You were getting a lot of crap for saying "murdered out" over there on yotatech.

 

[rxshu]

I like it Sloan. About how long did it take you to do it all?

 

[Sloan]

yeah post some night shots!

You were getting a lot of crap for saying "murdered out" over there on yotatech.

yea some people on yotatech are stupid at times, if you are not doing what they are doing or if it dosent really serve any purpose other then looks they think its pointless. i though alot of people knew that that meant flat black but i guess i was wrong.


shu, it took me probably about 9 hours at most. that is including time to take off all the emblems spray them and dry them and putting them back on. i gave the clear coat about 4 hours to dry since that is the most important and takes the longest to dry.

 

[rxshu]

9 hours?? I have been wanting to paint my emblems. The gold just doesnt do it for me! Haha. I dont know when Im gonna have 9 spare hours though.

 

[Sloan]

you can do what i did, just take the emblems off one day and ride around with none until you get time to do the paint. the paint dries fast like it only takes about 30 minutes between the two black coats. then when you do the clear coat just let those sit around and dry for awhile before you put them all back on.


i took off work and i'm not taking summer classes so i had plenty of time to do it all in one day.

 

[Ron Helmuth]

looks nice -you did a nice job with the paint and clearcoat.

I like that flat black look. I have the gold emblems and would go for the black anyday. Amazing to me that people paid extra for a "Gold Package"....

In my mind the whole back end just gets too cluttered, I kind of favor just removing them all.

Sloan I wonder if you could easily get rid of the dealership advertising up top-it can't have been on there all that long?

 

[Sloan]

yea i am actually considering removing the back emblems and just leave on the 'yota symbol and the two limited ones on the side.

as far as the dealer thing i havent even tried taking it off yet. i bought this stuff called 'goof off' i might try on it if i cant just pull it up with my nails.

 

[sn0wrunner]

The gold just doesnt do it for me! Haha.

I hear ya! I hate my gold emblems.

 

[Sloan]

Hella Pics

High Beams and Hellas On

Don't remeber if i had low or high beams on here...lol sorry

High Beams and Hellas On.

All the pictures were taken will all the outside house lights off. My digital camera dosent take night shots well but you can see how much farther out the hellas do opposed to just the factory lights. In the first picture you cant even see up to the start of the fence, but with hellas you can see the fence and even the very back of the fence which is pretty far back.

 

[sn0wrunner]

lights look good. Did you buy them online?

 

[Sloan]

neh, i just went to advanced auto parts and got them. i have seen them before at a walmart and at autozone.

they are driving lights so they are for on and off-road use. if you want some lights just to off-road with though my friends jeep has KC daylighters on them and they are super bright.

 

[sn0wrunner]

yeah im just starting to look into it, so i dont really know much about them yet. But yeah i want something really bright.

Did you figure out how to take the emblem off the grill? i want to figure that out before i paint mine.

 

[Rock Slide]

yeah im just starting to look into it, so i dont really know much about them yet. But yeah i want something really bright.

Did you figure out how to take the emblem off the grill? i want to figure that out before i paint mine.

You want something really bright...purchase a pair of Hella 4000s and convert them to HID:

http://www.yotatech.com/f2/hella-4000s-converted-hid-144713/#post50825968


As far as taking off the front emblem, you have to remove the grille first. Flip over the grille and you'll see how to remove it.


Sloan, you def put some time into painting those emblems, but I tend to agree with what others have said about their longevity. I don't believe they will hold up the test of time and still look as good as the day you painted them.

Granted I've never painted emblems before, so I can't say for sure how long they will hold up, but I hope for your sake they hold up longer than expected.

I was fortunate to purchase a set of Black Pearl emblems a couple years ago from the Dealer while they were still carrying them. Nothing beats factory BPs by the way.

Here's a shameless plug for OEM BPs the day I installed them 2yrs ago. They still look great to this day.

 

[004Gunner]

I recently pulled all my emblems off except the yota symbols. When I first got it I had the dealer sticker, 4Runner, Toyota letters, Limited, 4WD, and Toyota symbol all on the tailgate. I immediately removed the toyota letters and dealer stickers. I love the clean look I have now and absolutely refuse to leave anything labeled with a dealership on my vehicle. WD-40 works great for removing adhesive residues from badging or pin striping btw.

Sloan, if the emblems eventually start to peel or flake then try scuffing them with 400 wet. I put on several very light coats allowing each one to dry thoroughly before the next and get good results and longevity on plastics. Your clear coat should definitely give them longer life though. Looks good :bigok: