So last week I was leaving the hardware store here in Portland and I met a guy in the parking lot with an 86 4Runner like mine. He told me that there is a shop locally in town that can pop off the clear plastic over the B pillar badges, restore the white and gold lettering and reassemble. Best yet - for only $35 a side.

I gave him my number as he was interested in some spare parts I have. So I planned on getting the shop details when I heard from him - but I never did.

Anyone ever hear of this process? Better yet, anyone get this done locally in Portland? I'd like to get it done but don't even know how what service I'd be asking for.

 

I'm interest.... in a how to

 

I guess I'll pry my emblems off and have a look but I always thought they were "plastic insert emblems." That is, that the "Toyota 4Runner" script was floating in clear plastic. If it is, this company in Ohio, Emblem Magic can restore them. They say they have 16 week turn around.

http://www.emblemagic.com/plastic_expl.htm

They will probably be expensive since their focus is classic cars.

If the emblems are merely paint on the back of clear plastic DIY restoration would be easy with craft store paints.

The company above will also make new emblems. They have a 13 month back log, minimum order is 200 emblems and you must pay 50% of the bill upfront. (!!!)

 

I was told that they're simply paint on the back of the plastic. According to my source of course. Curious what you find if you pry them off

 

I've been curious for a while on how to fix these. Your info was correct. They are painted on the back, not plastic inserts.
4Crawler has a great writeup on how to take the b pillars off. I used a flat screwdriver and plastic pry tools.

http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTri...ml#BpillarTrim


I used a tiny flat blade and plastic pry tool to get the emblem off the pillar. It's held on by a tenacious black foam tape. What appears to be delamination is black paint wearing off. The words are engraved in the back of the plastic and then gold leafed or painted. I will someday go to a craft store and get silver and gold leaf and try to fix it. Not this week. Here are some pix:

 

Awesome! Thanks!

 

I found a local shop that may be willing to reproduce them for me with a black plate containing the lettering suspended within the acrylic. Thus, no way for the lettering to deteriorate even if the adhesive fails.

I wanted to do a quick poll on interest to see if it might be worth producing a 'lot' of them. I no idea what the cost might be yet, but the cost per unit typically goes down if you order a large quantity.

 

I have some interest. I'm in the process of restoring my 88.

 

Keep posting guys!

 

Depending on price and quality, I might be in!

I've seen some nice billet one, here's one example.

 

The quality will be there if I'm going to offer it up. I'm super picky. It will have to be better than OEM and an exact fit for me to take this on.

 

Awesome!Lol

 

I'd definately be interested!

 

I would be very interested in accurate copies. What he is describing is making a "plastic insert emblem." When the gold and silver letters are new the emblems are fantastic.

I have all the paint and letters stripped off mine now. It's clear like a lens. I'm going to get by the craft store and see if I can restore these. Even if mine turns out perfect I'll still buy a repro set from you.

 

Im interested in this as well! good to know its just painted on the back, i might be tryin to paint mine too soon!

 

This is why i come on this site every day. I NEVER would have though of trying to make those things look good again, i assumed it was hopeless...

 

I need a few weeks to work out the details with my potential sources. I'll keep everyone posted. Looking like the initial design cost will be the biggest hit. Glad to know that others are interested.

 

Thanks for the clear pics! Seeing the back side of the badge I think a DIY resto is a fairly 'easy' undertaking. Is there any reason you would have to take the b-piller off or can you simply pop the badges out?

 

I bet a heat gun would work. get that nice an hot and it would pop right off. However, I am interested in the Machined one if the price is right.

 

You don't need to take the B pillars off. I had already taken them off with the objective of getting the whole truck painted. My 4Runner came to me very clean thanks to loving former owners. But there were a couple of mysterious cocoons living under the pillars and the rubber vents need to be replaced as in 4Crawler's write up. The emblems are held on by that black adhesive foam tape Toyota uses for emblems. It was hot so they were heated, I wouldn't do this in cold temps. The look I thought was delamination was simply the foam tape getting old and pulling the black paint off with it. The "Toyota" letters are silver, the "4Runner" letters are gold. Next week I'll get the stuff to paint them. The emblems are a small detail that seems to bug a lot of people. Up to a couple of years ago you could still get them from Toyota for about $79 a set.