I want to take the flying m off my 08 3 hatchback. I want to take them off and paint them. Whats the easiest way to take them off without breaking anything. Any suggestions would be a great help, thanks in advance.

 

Use fishing line to saw through the adhesive behind the emblem. There are also two pegs which go into holes in the sheet metal.

 

In addition to what icspots said, you would also have to get the holes filled.

 

He said he was painting them, not shaving them. If he's planning on putting them back in then he doesn't need to have the holes filled as they're the things that align the badge when he puts it back on.

 

The front emblem is held on by clips only. Be careful as to not break them but is pretty easy to remove. The rear "M" is held on by glue and has two pegs for alignment. Using fishing line or dental floss is a easy way. I sawed in from each side then from top down and bottom up until I hit the pegs. It then just popped off. I also heated it with a heat gun to get the glue soft. You can use a hair dryer or just leave it in the sun for several hours. If you use a heat gun, do not use the highest setting, you could ruin your paint with too much heat. The other emblem on the rear(and I am not sure what the sedans have, I have the hatchback.) is just held on with glue. Again the fishing line/dental floss trick works here very well. I also taped an outline of this position with painters masking tape(very little glue) to assure proper positioning when I reapplied them.

Now I have heard a lot of people just painted right over the chrome with no problems. I did the bleach bath thing. Soak them for about a week, changing the bleach everyday. Ate the chrome right off and left just the blue plastic. It is very smooth, but I hit it with some 400 grit sand paper then finished it with some 1500 grit. Very smooth. Then prime, paint and clear coat. I bought a new set of emblems from the dealer, did then in black. I have a 08 Black Mica Speed3. Looks good, but not quite what I wanted. I have the original emblems now cleaned up and am just about to paint them red. Think this will add an aggressive and sporty look.

Oh, the bleach bath will eat the old glue off, so get some 3M emblem adhesive to reapply. Can be found at any auto parts store with the paint.