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I got pretty good at this, our body shop more or less passed on installing these individual letters after they saw I could get them on decently.
If the old letters were there USUALLY they'd just come off by hand or maybe with a plastic wedge. Never used floss, anything like that I'd just use mechanics wire.
Yes, I'd definitely want to polish the paint, etc, then wipe the area with rubbing alcohol to remove the wax, you want it shiny, but not waxy.
You can measure the placement of the bottom site line if the original letters are there. At a dealership it was nice to be able to find a similar car to take measurements from, if you were dealing with a car without any badging on it, like a bodyshop repaint deal.
So once you know the bottom site line (imaginary line underneath the letters) you can measure and put a line of masking tape underneath where the letters will go, make it longer than it has to be. Then on the tape you can mark the left side of where the first letter will go, then put a vertical line of tape in that location too.
Now grab the new ID stickers. They should be on the white paper pretty close to where they should be. Take a piece of masking tape and hold it tight and place it dead center horizontally across the top of the chrome letter/numbers, then press the tape onto the letters. What you need to do then is seperate the letters from the white paper, hold the tape tightly (which the letters are attached to) and put it onto the deck lid into the proper position using the horizontal and vertical pieces of masking tape as your guide. JUST get the letters lightly tacked onto the decklid. Remove the guide tape and carefully remove the tape you put on top of the letters. Stand back and make sure it looks OK. This is why you don't want to press the letters on very hard initially, so it's easy to make a minor adjustment. Once you're happy with it, tap the letters on tightly with the heel of your palm. Plan on not washing the car for a week or so.
The "MB" way to d this is they offer template sets that the letters all go in to individually and have guides to make sure you have everything in the right place. This is I suppose how the factory does it. MB doesn't make you buy the templates though, never seen them except in print.
Gilly
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