eBay Side Vent Badge?

[AWE46M3]

Hi Group,

It pains me to pay $50 per vent to replace my oxidized M3 side vent badges. Anyone purchase these $15 badges off of eBay?

This is a classic “buy nice or buy twice” dilemma 😅 If you’ve purchased this set, please let me know.

[Pklauser]

Fwiw I had some luck sanding and polishing my side badges to bring them back a bit. Probably only temporary but holding well since February.

[AWE46M3]

Fwiw I had some luck sanding and polishing my side badges to bring them back a bit. Probably only temporary but holding well since February.

Very nice! Great results. What grit combo did you use?

[C///M]

You could always purchase once from FCP and then keep exchanging them I suppose.

Sent from my Pixel 6 Pro using Tapatalk

[Pklauser]

Very nice! Great results. What grit combo did you use?

I don't remember exactly but I started pretty coarse since they were really bad. Maybe 80, 220, 400, 600, buffer on a drill?

[TexaZ3]

eBay ones are wrong font, color on stripes, and spacing between the letters - they just scream "fake". Don't do it.
You can sand/polish your old ones, depending on how bad they are you can sometimes get away with just some magic eraser.

[jdamore44]

I "refurbished" mine as well and it lasted about a yearish, maybe a little longer. It's a good temp fix until you can side hustle 50 bucks

[Tbonem3]

Don't do it.

[AWE46M3]

You could always purchase once from FCP and then keep exchanging them I suppose.

BRILLIANT - thank you. I just recently learned about FCP and their liberal warranty policy (they even accept returns of used oil - wild). I’ll for sure buy from them vs Turner.

eBay ones are wrong font, color on stripes, and spacing between the letters - they just scream "fake". Don't do it.

You can sand/polish your old ones, depending on how bad they are you can sometimes get away with just some magic eraser.

That’s good to know. The image is blurred in the posting and the seller wouldn’t sent me images of the actual item. Thank you

I "refurbished" mine as well and it lasted about a yearish, maybe a little longer. It's a good temp fix until you can side hustle 50 bucks

Great idea! Thanks man

I don't remember exactly but I started pretty coarse since they were really bad. Maybe 80, 220, 400, 600, buffer on a drill?

Thanks a lot! Appreciate your input 🤝 From your pics, you got great results

Don't do it.

Copy that 🫡

[dukeofchen]

I bought these on eBay a while back, look to be the same ones.

To be honest I never looked closely enough at them to realize that the spacing was off, but at $120 to replace two of them with originals I'll save that money for other things on the car.

[AWE46M3]

I bought these on eBay a while back, look to be the same ones.

To be honest I never looked closely enough at them to realize that the spacing was off, but at $120 to replace two of them with originals I'll save that money for other things on the car.

Thank you for sharing a pic of the rear thing. I agree, not bad at all. How’s the adhesive holding up on the backing plate?

[dukeofchen]

Thank you for sharing a pic of the rear thing. I agree, not bad at all. How’s the adhesive holding up on the backing plate?

Adhesive was 3M (or at least stickered as such), and they've stuck on without issue for the last 5 years. Some fading but OEM clearly fades as well.

Good enough for government work 😅

[PSUEng]

I balked at the price for new badges, and pulled out some fine polish compound and hit them with that; made an improvement.

[powerbait]

To prolong the polishing of the faded OEM badges, I shot them with a few coats of clear coat, 1k dupli-color from autozone. They look immaculate.

[old///MFanatic]

I bought these on eBay a while back, look to be the same ones.
To be honest I never looked closely enough at them to realize that the spacing was off, but at $120 to replace two of them with originals I'll save that money for other things on the car.

On the old forum some members had listed an eBay seller that had good results. I bought them over 5 years ago and still holding up well. Although I think the size was ever so slightly off. But you’d never know it to see it. These are inset and you don’t notice with the black background of the mounting plate.