Gold Emblems

I have a 2004 Civic SI that came equipped with gold emblems, last spring I
had them all replaced due to winter salt corrosion and now it's spring again
and they all need to be replaced again. Is this a common problem, and can I
expect Honda to replace them ever spring?

 

there's no difference between the gold and silver in terms of sealing,
so there's no reason for a corrosion differential. they're just
metalized plastic with a clearcoat over-layer. if that over-layer
becomes perforated, whatever is beneath is free to corrode, and being as
it's so thin, that doesn't take long.

what are you doing to "clean" them? what chemicals?

 

I think they are just plain metal plating on plastic. They're no clearcoat
over-layer. You can scratch the surface and it's purely nickel or copper.
The solution to the peeling is to catch the pinhole leak and seal it before
it could spread.

 

Nothing other that soap and water.

 

The problem I have is that this is in the middle of the winter, doing
anything to them is difficult because of the cold.

 

Robert,

I used to work at a tint shop that "gold plated" the regular "chrome"
emblems. The best way to preserve them in gold is to clear coat them after
plating, but before re-attaching them to the car.

Kent