So, when I bought my car back in April 07, the front bumper was a perfect match. Last winter, I hit a coyote on the highway and the Infiniti dealer's collision center replaced my front bumper cover. Since that time, my bumper has not matched correctly. I brought to their attention, so they showed me several brand new slates on the lot which had bumper colors that were also slightly off. They told me the job was considered acceptable and wrote me off. What bummed me out was that my original bumper was perfect.

Today, I was at the dealer for some life fluids and I paid a visit to the general manager as well as the service manager. I explained that the collision center manager was done with me, and that I wanted their opinion on my bumper before calling this a loss.
They walked out and looked at my car and found it to be acceptable while under the sun. I then pulled it back into the shop so they could see it under the lights and they immediately agreed that the bumper color was too far off.

They called the collision center to discuss this with the manager there. He remembered me and said the job was as good as it was gonna get. The service manager asked for my key, drove it to the shop, and had a private conversation with him. When he came back and greeted me in the waiting room of the dealership, he said that I was getting the job done again.
I'm bringing it in around the beginning of April and they're painting it again. That means new 3M as well. I hope they do a good job.
I have to say, they treated me with respect today. I didn't expect it and it was greatly appreciated. He even offered to drive a loaner to my house and to then drop my car off to me when the job was done, since I live 2 hours away from the dealer.

Anyone else notice the Slate color being too far off on their cars?
A few of them on the lot looked just as bad as mine.

My front bumper...

 

I havnt notice it being off yet, I will be sure to double check when I wash off the salt and have some sun. So I'll let you know in a couple of months.

 

from the pic. from the distance..it looks off from the reflection...hows the rear of your car?

my bodyshop guy told me, the paints on metalics are a little off, metal vs plastic...
its never exactly the same from factory.

but from here, its off...some shops have a hardtime matching...

gl in getting it fixed

 

I'll go check later they redid my rear quarter panel and rear bumper.

 

I never noticed on your pics until you mentioned it. Yes, from what I can see the color is off. This would bother me as it has bothered you. There should be no excuse for a shop not being able to color match this for you.
The shop that I went to have my front lip color matched to my car had some sort of meter (the name escapes me right now) that they used to gauge the color and it looks 100% matched to me.
GL!

 

Your bumper color (judging by the pics) is off - it seems lighter than the body. Kudos on getting the dealer to repaint it, would've bothered me and it's BS that the color should be "slightly off" - dealer-employed or not, seems that they dropped the ball when color-matching. While I can't make a fair comparison of a stock paint job, can say this: my bumper was repainted along with the roof, hood and one of the side panels after I parked overnight in a NYC garage resulted in drip damage that ate through the clear coat. The body shop did a great job, the color of painted panels matches the unaffected panels perfectly.

 

A crack ***** bumped me at a red light and I had to have the rear bumper skin replaced and painted. The dealer's collision center did that work flawlessly.
With the front, I think less steps are taken to blend and match, since it would have required the entire 3M to be removed from the hood and fenders and not just the bumper skin. That's just a guess... I'm no pro when it comes to body work.

I do know they did the rear perfectly. I only hope for the same on the front.

 

NO but i do have to give a bow to to the service dept that took care of you!

 

i deal with this everyday and rarely do you get a plastic bumper to match the steel panels on a car.. it is the metallics in the paint most of the time !
congrats on getting it redone.

 

Actually, a couple days after I brought it home from the dealer, I noticed the color of the front bumper being a little off, but only in direct sun. I didn't think too much of it, but I'll def keep an eye out now for other parts of the car being a different color.

Good luck with the repaint!

 

I know that bumpers are all but impossible to get a direct match on, and it's definitely tougher with these metallic paints like the slate. This color changes in different light conditions and from different angles... it can't be an easy match.
I threw the question out because some are worse than others. Mine was damn near perfect when I bought it... I just want it back the way it was. The dealer has been awesome... no complaints there.

Acura's white is horrible. Check out a white Acura next time you see one. The bumper is a completely different color!

Mine is worse that what's accepted as normal though. The pics above are not due to reflection and the difference is easy to see in almost all lighting... it's just worse from some angles.
They lost their case when they told me that all the slates are that way. Luck had it that there were 5 new slates on the lot today, all parked right where mine was.
Once I pulled it into the shop, there were another 2 or 3 slates, all loaners. All of these were a close match... mine was much worse.

 

both of my bumpers were replaced, front and back and they both match perfectly,

the paint was done at a local shop.

 

Hard to do it or not. To me it is simple. It is possible to get it so close you won't notice. Some people have it done. If it is possible why can't they do it? I would not be happy.

One of my car had metalic paint before and got t boned from an 80 years old lady who did not think the red light worth to stop. The local bodyshop did a perfect job. No color mismatch at all. At least not visual. I know if I have to get one of my car done next time. I would take it to that shop again. They also have a life time warranty on there paint job.

 

That does look pretty off. But I remember you posting these pics in another thread yet I didn't notice it at all.

Perhaps the rest of your car grew darker over ~2 years of exposure to the elements, polishing, waxing products?

 

mine is oe and looks fine.. gl on the next one