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High Specification TVR Badges Leven Technology After finishing some of the major mechanical work that my TVR acquisition required to get it more roadworthy, I decided to start on some of the outside cosmetic bits that needed looking at in attempt to 'pretty up' the outside of the car a little. The TVR badges that came with the car were in a terrible state, flaking and missing gold electroplate, black infill paint peeling and the recessed lines on the TVR logo encrusted 15 years of polish and road crud.
In my opinion, the
TVR badge is one of the important detailing focal points of the outside
of the car. Due to the age of the Wedge series and the low numbers produced
many people when they look at the car simply do not know what it is! The
first thing that they look at is the badge - the condition of the badge
therefore to me is very important, after all it let's people who you have
just overtaken know what just 'hooned past them ;-) The first issue was actually getting the badges off the car. The boot badge was easy to remove, just unscrew the boot liner panel and you then have access to the two nuts and washers that hold the badge on. The front one requires a bit of contortion to remove however. Lying down at the
front of the car (450se in this case) there is just enough room to get
your arm in between the radiator and the grille mesh that covers the back
of the front air dam. It is a bit of a tight squeeze, but it is possible
to get the nuts undone and to gently tap out the badge from it's retailing
holes. Doing the same job on the 350i some years ago, I have vivid memories
of fibreglass scraped forearms due to the much deeper lower front splitter
- you have been warned, take care. After removing the
badges the next thing was to decide on a colour, my car is starfire mica
blue with gold detailing, pinstripes and badges. Now, normally I am not
a great fan of gold as I much prefer the usual chrome, but on this occasion
the gold colour just seems to set off the sparkly mica blue in the sunshine.
I decided to either replace the badges with new gold ones from the factory
or have them refurbished in some way. After a conversation
with Julie and Simon at Leven Technology I decided to have them re-plated
and made into Leven 'High Specification' badges. This involves taking
in your old badges, then having then chemically cleaned and shot blasted
to remove all the ground-in polish, grime, road dirt and flaking electroplating. The badges are then
polished to remove any minor irregularities from the metal. Simon mentioned
to me that this process would not remove any deep scratches or dents in
the metalwork but would remove most of the light surface imperfections. After this process
is complete, it is off to the next process of re-plating the badges in
a choice of colours, in my case bright gold. Once the re-plating process
is complete the badges are then re-polished to a very high standard. It
is at this point that the TVR recessed 'lines' are painted in whatever
colour you like - they can even colour match the lines to the colour of
the car for no extra cost. This certainly looks much better than the usual
standard black. Once the paint has been applied and dried, the final process of 'doming' the badges takes place. The resin coat also leaves the badge with a permanent, hard, smooth & shiney finish which covers the whole surface of the badge, not just the painted lines. It is this process that will protect the badge from deteriorating again by eliminating the ingress and build up of polish and crud into the logo lines and crevices. It also gives the badges more of a contemporary feel to them more akin to the badges that adorn newer TVR machinery.
After a final hand
polish and quality check the badges are then individually wrapped and
returned to the customer in better than new condition. I must say that
the difference is amazing. Both badges came back looking a million bucks
as you can see from the pictures. I used some T-cut and then some sealing
polish to give the paint work that the badges were going to be sitting
on a good clean, after all the last time these areas were cleaned was
before it left the factory! You would be amazed exactly how much crud
congregates under these badges over the years, especially the front one. Prior to re-fitting
Simon mentioned that to keep the badges looking like new it might not
be too good an idea to let any kind of alkaline 'traffic film remover'
type products come into contact with the coating. He also recommends not
to use powerful steam or pressure washers on the badges as this may damage
the resin. He went on to mention
that during the refitting process to be careful not to over-tighten the
retaining nuts on the back of the badges as this might also have an adverse
effect on the badge coating should the metal flex under excessive tension. By following his advice Simon promises me that the badges will keep their good looks for many years to come. Mike Bressington For more information on the above product please talk to Simon or Julie at Leven Technology |
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