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Following the break in at my folk's house by scum who were after my Golf V6 4Motion and Audi A3 3.2 Quattro, I'm feeling pretty nervous about collecting the RS4 in 3 weeks. Of course I'll be keeping it in the garage and we're also in the midst of building walls, railings, electric gate as well as waiting for a survery/quote from ADT to upgrade to a monitored system for the house.

It's probably a small action to take but I wondered whether it was useful to just simply debadge any of the vehicles or in fact to slap on false one's... eg:

RS4 -> 1.9 TDI or 2.0
3.2 Quattro -> 2.0
V6 4Motion -> 1.6

Has anyone done this? What do people reckon? I feel debadging can draw maybe slightly less attention from passers by but possibly may increase interest in the potential scum's mind of "have they debadged it to hide something?".... if it's a different badge, this may possibly make the pillock more confused: "is it or isn't it??"

Your thoughts please...

Gekko,

I know exactly what you mean. I debadged my B5 S4 as soon as I got it, and invested in a Disklok to obscure the two remaining "S4" badges inside the car. This means that the only real giveaways are the standard Avus 17" alloys..... but you'd really have to know what you're look for there.

With the RS4 it has real potential to confuse people who don't know the cars well - hell, i keep on thinking i've seen an RS4 on the road and then it turns out to be a TDi! However, that sort of level of thief is, i suspect, not the sort you'd have to worry about with a car like the RS4 - the car's security system would see them off. The problem is that the sort of people that are presumably stealing these cars are less likely to be fooled by the debadging or re-badging. Given how quickly some of these cars have been nicked after delivery, it seems likely to me that they have "inside knowledge" of who is taking delivery of the car and when - an altogether more chilling thought. Debadging would certainly reduce the risk of opportunist crime, I think, but i'm not sure its gonna stop an organised gang who KNOW that there will be e.g. "a black RS4 saloon, registration number RA06 ??? with bucket seats in the garage of no.42 acacia avenue".

just my 2p..... might be worth doing, and might reduce petty crime like "keying" the car etc..... but even though it looks so much like other S-line A4s to a casual observer, I'm not sure its gonna help prevent actual theft too much.

Tim

False rebadging of a lower spec car takes guts TBH . Debadging leaves a seed of doubt in the mind but puttin on A4 2.0T on the boot ( as this has the twin exhausts aswell) might just convince an opportunist. That said most are stolen to order by the more savvy lowlifes so its debateable.

Think it all comes down to whether youve bought the RS4 for status down the golf club or your a complete petrolhead who likes to keep em guessing.

I would just debadge and try and keep the car in the garage as much as possible and not leave it sitting out the front of your house for all to see.

But i am guessing if someone wants the car they will get it.

It is a shame really as its a total waste of a great car and takes some of the shine off buying such a smart car.

I had my dealer debagde my RS6 before delivery. I just felt it reduced the chance of any opportunistic theft attempt or vandalism, and I prefer the anonymity. I've never bought cars with the intention of "impressing" people - what difference does it make what some passer-by who I'll never see again thinks?

Gary.

So anyone tried this themselves?

I am told warming up the badges and fish wire will do the trick. Worst thing that can happen is a small area of paint needed a respray.

Hi folks.

Had my Golf V6 4Motion debadged today by my local bodyshop- superb job. Took 5 minutes. Nice chap also removed the V6 clip from the front grille. I'll be px'ing this against the RS4 in a few weeks or selling privately so I'm not going to bother rebadging it with anything else. Looks quite ordinary now!

As for my wife's A3 3.2 DSG with Nothelle styling kit & tints.... I was contemplating px'ing it and getting a normal looking A3 2.0 but to be honest... it's got lovely spec and I love driving it- xenons, alacantara seats, winter pack. So sod it, I love the car and I don't think I could find a smaller engined vehicle with the same spec... where she drives to get groceries & school, there's always a few lads who stare at it and I think the appearance of a 1.6 or 2.0 FSI badge on the rear would hopefully cease any unwanted interest? Or maybe scum just want to nick it for the body kit parts??? Should I get rid of it and find a high spec 2.0 Quattro S-Line instead????

As for the imminent RS4- I think it's a real shame that the silver plasticy wing mirrors can't be ordered in the same body colour (mine's black... damn, maybe I should have gone for Avus silver after all!). Then you'd only have the 2 fat exhausts & 19" alloys left to make it look obvious. I'll definitely get it debadged and perhaps rebadged with 1.9TDI if more people convince me that's the way to go.

very easy to debadge a car - you just need a hairdryer and dental floss and a bit of patience. They come off a treat - just heat it up well using the hairdryer and then use a GENTLE sawing motion with the floss behind the badge. If you come up against any resistance, stop and heat up the badge again with the hairdryer before proceeding.

HTH

Tim

flossymeister wrote: you just need a hairdryer and dental floss and a bit of patience.

So are you a Floss master, flossymeister?

LMAO Bob

Tim

If there is some of the sticky stuff left after the hairdryer and the pealing, try some of Autoglyms intensive tar remover. Mine came off a treat and after the zymol was perfect.

Got the A3 3.2 debadged by my local bodywork geezer... did a fantastic job, cost me a fiver. I've ordered 2.0 FSI badge from Audi which I'll get put on this week.

Gecko.. Try Ebay.. hundreds of badges available says direct from germany, all under a tenner!
They even have an RS 3 badge! but thats the opposite to what ur trying to achieve here right?
Think 2.0 FSI would be the best thing to use as u said.

Gekko wrote: As for the imminent RS4- I think it's a real shame that the silver plasticy wing mirrors can't be ordered in the same body colour (mine's black... damn, maybe I should have gone for Avus silver after all!). Then you'd only have the 2 fat exhausts & 19" alloys left to make it look obvious. I'll definitely get it debadged and perhaps rebadged with 1.9TDI if more people convince me that's the way to go.

Correct me if I'm wrong, I'm not an RS4 owner and haven't looked into it all that much, but if you get the black optics pack, doesn't that come with body coloured mirrors?

It's ok, you can ignore me, I just proved myself wrong