Here's a couple of in-progress pics of my stripped and smoothed beauty bar. It was originally chrome. I removed the Chevy emblem. Then I used a cutting wheel on a dremel tool to cut off the top and bottom of the chevy emblem base on the beauty bar. Followed by grinding off the base of the embossed Chevy emblem with an abrasive pad on my 4" grinder. Not only did it remove the base from the emblem but I was able to strip all of the chrome with it. I smoothed the suface with my vibrating sander. What you see here is the bare plastic. The small chrome piece on top is the piece that I cut off placed into the space that was created when I cut off the top of the Chevy emblem. I will either plastic weld it in place or J B weld it in then smooth it again. Hopefully I will have it painted by next weekend and installed on my HHR!

 

I guess that debadging an HHR's bowties takes some determination and skill. Nice work. Will be a one of a kind.

 

Actually a few have debadged the bar, looks real smooth. I like the idea of re-using the pieces you cut off instead of just slapping some filler in there. Let us know how it works out.

 

Looks good, Jim!

 

is that the one i sold you? you gonna try adding a brake light?

 

That be the one! I'm not sure about the brake light yet. It may be a little tight on space with the tailgate latch in the way. If I don't put a brake light in it, I'll just paint it. Though I did want to do something a little different... I also removed the rear wiper and I'm debating what to do with the 1" hole left behind. I may just put a smaller Chevy emblem over it.

 

Do yourself a favor and block sand it before you paint. A smooth surface isn't necessarily a flat surface and that's what you want.

Paint is no better than the prep work and nothing shows off flaws better than a coat of glossy paint.

 

I just used a little plastic plug from inside the doors, til I'm able to fill it! They do look good without that bowtie, don't they?

 

How hard is it to get the bar off the car? I was going to remove the bowtie, but do it with the bar still attached to the car.

 

its pretty easy to remove just drop the interior panel off the hatch and remove a few nuts and thats it.