Deleting Molded Badge in ABS Grille

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PostPosted: Sun May 11, 2014 4:44 pm
So I'm hoping someone on here can help me out, as I don't have much body work experience and none of my friends really know what the best procedure would be. I have a 2010 Ford Focus. The front grille has a really large Ford badge right in the center and it is slightly raised above the grille surface. One of the most desirable body modifications to this generation of car by the Focus guys is to delete the badge in the center and make it a clean two-bar grille. Only a few people have this modification and nobody really ever shares how to do it. One guy recently posted a picture of one he did and he said he used fiberglass to delete the grille, he is now selling modified grilles for $450 (which is insane) so I am sure he won't be sharing his process. I talked to my old automotive technology teacher from high school, as he is the shop manager of a body shop, and he said fiberglass probably wouldn't work. He suggested I use a plastic welder to fill the cut out badge area, but I am not sure it would work. I think once I cut out the badge, there will be a large open area that I'd have to patch with something. I was thinking maybe I could use a foam block or something and mold it to the shape of the bars across the grille and then fiberglass over top or use an epoxy resin, but I don't know what would properly bond to the ABS on the grille.

This is what the grille looks like or you can google "2010 Ford Focus grille" for better angles.
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PostPosted: Mon May 12, 2014 8:37 am
Any chance you could pop up a pic. of one of the modified ones? It might help me tell just what the other guys are doing here. Trust me, there is a reason that guy is charging $450 to do the mod.s especially if he's giving people back a "stable" product.
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