Maybe u guys saw my post w/ the damage to my bumper. Tried to polish/buff/wax it out, but no good-the scratches are through the paint-so I'm having a body shop overhaul and paint/clearcoat the bumper for me.

My q is- is is true that you can't perfectly match the color of the bumpers w/ the body panels of the car. All 3 body shops I took it to said that they can try to get the color (DG) to match as close as possible, but since the bumper is plastic, the color might be a little off from the panels which are metal. They suggested I look at my car right now to see a little variation b/w the color of the bumper and the body panels. I could'nt really tell.

Is this BS, or fact that the plastic parts of the car (bumper, rocker panels, side sills) are slightly a different color when compared to the body panels which are metal?
Thanks

 

My question to them would be that if the metal and plastic pieces matched in color before the accident, why not after. My understanding is that they can match any color. It's not like the old days were the body shop found out what the color code for your car was and then painted it. My son just had the rear quarter panel of his ten year old car painted, and the body shop matched the color perfectly to the rest of the car.

 

It is true. You can paint the whole front clip of the car, and the bumper may not match 100%. For some reason, the color on urethane bumpers can be a shade off. Usually, the average person cannot tell if it's only a shade off.

I've painted hundreds of urethane pieces, and the majority have been a shade off....I always blended the color onto the adjacent body panels and cleared them all. 99% of the time, the car owners were always happy with the color and finish.

 

Not true, I've looked at my rear bumper from 100 different angles during different times of the day (morning, afternoon, evening) and I can not detect one bit of difference. That was a 450 dollar paint job by the way.

 

$450 for what? A bumper? If that's the case, then your body shop did a good job, they blended the color into the adjacent panels....unless it's black. I'm glad you cannot see it, but a trained eye will be able to spot it in a heart beat. That's what body/paint shops rely on....the Average Joe.

That's one thing I noticed when walking around the Infiniti dealer before I bought mine, red, blue, and IP G's all stood out to me that the bumpers didn't match the rest of the car. Darker colors match better.

Not all urethane bumpers will dry a shade off, nobody has ever figured out why, but most do. There is no rhyme or reason to it.

 

What happens is that the bumpers hold a lot of static electricity that causes the metallics to lay differently than on the car, causing a difference in color.

If you walk down the lot at a new car dealership, you see a slight difference in colors of the bumpers versus the car.

It is extremely difficult to match the paint 100%, trust me, I know!! All we can do is get it close enough for the the untrained eye to be acceptable. A quality shop should be able to match the color to your satisfaction.

Good luck.

 

Can anybody recommend a quality auto body shop in/around Chicago? I've got an estimate from Glenview Auto Body, but looking for other estimates..

 

Get it close and blend it if you are that concerned about it...otherwise just paint the bumper and leave the rest alone.

I really only see blending necessary when you are adding a large body panel to the middle of the car--a custom hood is the perfect example--you should blend the fenders to make it look perfect. It will cost more but look better in the end.

 

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