Here's the deal. I got rear ended (car was 2 weeks old) and had to get my rear bumper cover repaired and repainted. I keep arguing with the Body shop about the color not matching, and they have repainted it 3 times now. It's very close, but I can tell a difference (beginning to go crazy after staring at it for so long.) I would swear it wasn't as mismatched before it was painted, but now I am looking at the pics before the wreck and (at least in the pic) noticing a similar variance in color from the rear bumper cover, mud guards, side marker, and body. Does anyone else notice this on their Titanium cars? These pics were BEFORE the repaint.

And, yes I am aware that the shading of the paint will vary at different angles. My arguement is that the actual color is slightly off. The new paint seems more "blue" and the factory more "green". Anyone have any bodywork done and their body shop matched the Titanium perfectly?

Before wreck pics

 

It's extremely hard to get a perfect match on rubber/plastic parts. These pieces are sprayed with a different primer, and it's a completely different surface then the rest of the car. (metal vs rubber) There's also a flex additive that has to be added to the primer as well on plastic or rubber parts. All this taken into consideration and bumpers may tend to look slightly different then the rest of the car, especially on harder colors to match. ie - Blacks, Silvers, Reds and anything with Pearl in it.

Check out some new cars in parking lots and look closely at the bumper to car paint match. I'll bet you find quite a few cars with visible paint differences.

It shouldn't be that bad thou, only very slight. Your entitled to a job done right, but do keep the A/M in mind as well.


Click on my sig pic and look carefully at my rear bumper. Thats all factory and you can see that the Sterling Mist paint on the bumper really doesn't match the car 100%.

 

this guy is 1000% correct.....the same was told to me by my buddy who owns a body shop here in NY

 

And that's just it--I know it won't be a perfect match. But with that in mind I would expect it to be the same color, only lighter or darker. In this case it seems that it's a slightly different color. Appearantly the clear coat seems to be making the most difference. The painter told me he only applied color to the area of the cover that was repaired (the right half of the outermorst surface) and merely cleared over the rest. The whole cover is the same color now, but looks more blue than the body. I need to get a pic of it to compare against the original pic. It bothers the hell outta me, but maybe I'm being too critical.

I know the owner of this body shop. He's telling me basically the same, that it's more than likely as close as he can get. Only other option is to blend into the rear quarters and decklid, which he does not recommend doing nor do I want him to.

I just don't want everyone to be able to spot my new car and think "gee, what happened to the bumper?" Concered with resale value too (yeah, I know, quit laughing.....)

 

I definitely hear you on your concerns. I have a few nicks and scratches on my rear bumper from parking lots, and was hoping to get them repainted after I collect some more (inevitable). However, after reading a few posts, it seems like a perfect color match will never be possible. In other words, it will never blend in with the car like the original paint on the bumper did.

Therefore, I'm kind of bummed right now cause I don't know what to do. As of right now, the scratches and nicks don't bother me to the point where I want to start shelling out $$$ to repair them. However, my tolerance is growing weak, and I was thinking of getting this done in the near future, but now don't know what to do.

I have Sheer Silver, which has pearl in it too, so I'm assuming it would be just as hard to match the factory paint.

Has anyone had a good experience with bits and pieces(preferrably the bumpers) of the car repainted AND matching perfectly?

 

i understand that it is hard to match colors but it is their job and they should get it done

i have a few experiences with this, my mom's toyota camry came from the factory with a slightly different colored rear bumper i argued with toyota about getting it repainted and they said they couldnt do it any better then it was done from the factory, so about 3 months ago the car was hit in the back and had to get the rear bumper replaced and repainted...let me tell you the colors match 100% and it looks perfect, so it can be done

body shop just has to know what the heck they are doing, on another note, i just had my tungsten blue mud guards repainted cuz they had some scratches on them( it was part of the deal when i bought the car) and now they match also PERFECTLY even in the sunlight, where as they were a tiny bit darker in the sunlight then the rest of the car

point here in my long post is, if they cant match it then they arent doing a good job, a good and respected body shop should be able to match the paint, considering the fact that your car is basically brand new and the paint has not faded on it yet

 

Some clears do look quite different then others on some colors. Were using a new clear from Sherwin Williams and it seems to be producing perfect factory like surface texture as well as good color matching. Your cars color is a tough one! Good luck with it.