So following on from my post earlier today in relation to my neighbours excellent driving seen here Click Here, im hoping to get some extra work done in the body shop including my bonnet being resprayed.

The question is whether I should have the badge smoothed out for a cleaner finish. At the moment I’m very much in two minds… Keep the car in its original (albeit LE replica) state, or get the badge taken off for a nice smoothed finish.

I have been looking at a couple of pictures of Coupe’s with the smoothed badge, but are there many owners on the forum who have had this done and would like to share some pictures?

Here is one of the nicest examples i have seen so far...

Clicky clicky

Any others care to share some pictures so I can make a decision?

In red


and


a bit closer


But to be honest I'm a bit underwhelmed by it, hence when the replacement bonnet gets resprayed the car is getting an *in-colour* badge fitted. The badge is already done, just need to paint the bonnet which is a slightly bigger job

http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o180/nrenz123/car/car4.jpg
http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o180/nrenz123/car/car3.jpg
http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o180/nrenz123/car/car1.jpg

a few pic of mine, id say go for it mate.

I like them debadged, especially with a good paintjob. When its all shiny and you've got a massive smooth bonnet, I reckon you'll like it.

TBH I prefer the badge,I find it annoying as I *know* there should be a badge there and so makes it look incomplete to me .

Baz

I think the badge is a bit naff especially when it is a bit faded. I have de badged the back and would love the bonnet debadged as well.

I prefer de-badged

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v605/theresa0666/mycoupelakesmeet2-1.jpg

me to but it was a quite alot of work

http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w15/J20PTJ/1.jpg

I would get mine de-badged if it was in for a respray, I definitely think it looks better.

Ah but if you de-badged you couldn't do THIS

i think that would be a good cover for the new calender

Good thinking batman I just sent Ross some pics but didn't send any 'detail' ones

should be getting mine back later so i'll take some pics of de bagde and post them in a bit....
Nick

Personally I prefer without the badge. Makes the car a little more incognito. Leaving (some) people wondering what the car is, etc.

Just need to make sure, if you do decide to go ahead, that the job is professional done. There's a fair amount of movement in the bonnet skin, and if it's just fillered, it may well crack up after some time. The recess, under the badge, is deep enough to weld in a small plate, and then a light filler to smooth the recess over.

More like you dont want them to know we drive fiats

Debadge it in the flesh its so much nicer

Cheers for the responses - there are some very nice examples there!

Go for debadge it transfers the hole front car of the car,but i agree with circolo you must get a plate welded as the filler can sink which means in certain light you will still be able to see where the badge was, which is against what you wanted to do in the first place.
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k277/jamiecatch/IMG_2371.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k277/jamiecatch/IMG_3156.jpg

Keep it original. Fit a new badge and it will look great.

Bonnet with new badge

http://s60.photobucket.com/albums/h40/montydog1/montydog2/?action=view&current=P1000650.jpg

http://s60.photobucket.com/albums/h40/montydog1/montydog2/?action=view&current=P1000654.jpg

i'm fairly sure carlt told me that it's abit too deep to fill for long term success?? might be imagining it ... saw one at motormech a few weeks ago and although the paint job was good, you could see subtle differences in certain light.
for what it's worth, i think it looks great debadged when first done, but a nice clean/new badge is cool too, imo....

Does suit certain cars. I must confess I do like the totally debadged look:-

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v...tion=view&current=Front3quarters.jpg

Exactly how I feel about it!

Got mine done and I like it...

pic 1
pic 2

pic 3

pic 4

Before

Lots of mixed opinions on whether to keep it or remove it.

My main concern is putting off potential buyers when she comes up for sale. Then again the badge could be refitted should I need to albeit not recessed in the bonnet.

I wonder what it would look like with the old badge removed and the recess filled in

And then one of the new round badges put on

More hassel than its worth IMO. A few people have had shrinking filer, slightly visible welds etc.

Also with out a badge it looks like a mock-up car done on a computer.

Any one who knows about cars will know its a fiat coupe anyway.

A new badge is £8 and looks really good. I think some one has a colour-coded badge, EDz may be and it looks really nice.

*De-badged coops still looks great though, it suits more modded ones with kit, wheels etc.

It looks particularily good on wine-red ones.



This has started annoying me now

To be honest....the only people that wouldnt know its a Fiat wouldnt recognise the Fiat badge at the front anyway. That leaves everyone else that would think we're embarrassed its a Fiat so we have debadged it! So take the rear 'Fiat' badge off as that makes it more discreet but no need to debadge the front as it fools only those who dont care anyway.

Having said all that.....from a purely aesthetic viewpoint, it does look good debadged! There in lies the problem, I guess, which is why its not an obvious choice.

Chris

Has anyone got a picture of a de-badged yellow coupe?

Chris, I can see your point. But the reason most of us would de-badge their Coops, isn't embarrasment of driving a Fiat, but just so that it looks nicer (for those that prefer the "less is more" styling route).

I'm proud to say that all my previous cars have been Fiats, (or Fiat family), and although there's been ups and downs with those past cars, they're always far more interesting and rewarding than the standard 'other' makes out there.

I think it also depends on your previous styling choices; the majority of my previous cars have been de-badged. Most of the time this has been to remove "turbo ie" and "HGT" etc badges, admittedly.

Anyone got a pic of a debadged car in Yellow?