I have the option of having my front bumper repainted or leaving the countless number of scratches and scrapes on it. My car is excellent except the front bumper which is quite flawed.

I was told by this body expert that there is a posibility that the paint will not match 100%.

I was told to consider the Acura TL silvers as their bumper does not match exactly.

When asked if anybody can match it 100% he said no one can.

Should I get it done close and clean or leave it matching and scuffed?

 

IMO without question, DO NOT repaint it.

You can't paint only one part, it needs to be blended with the hood and fenders. If they could only paint the lower part of the bumper and blend the upper part of the bumper with the hood and fenders, then I would have it painted... but that'll only be like the lowest 5 inches.

Theres a reason body shops repaint entire mini vans and work trucks after accidents... you can tell if the paint is not blended.

 

yea my initial "gut" response was no but thought i would check around.

He did say the fenders would be blended but not big on that unless I can see what it would be like before hand, but couldn't even say if it would be darker or lighter.

You got me more skeptical now.but maybe the front bumper can be blended into itself. I'll check on that.

 

Its generally just accepted that it won't match. What I was told is that its got to do with the base material being plastic while the rest of the car is metal. Something about how the paint lays.

Silver is especially hard to match. Tough call.

 

for those interested, here's the finished product.
I had them do a mid bumper blend.
So the paint goes from bottom up to about the grill.
I think it was descent though a little hard to tell in the gloomy cloudy winter.

 

looks good, hope it stays that way.

 

Lokks like a pretty good job in the pics... As said, its hard to blend silver correctly.

 

Yea , I even looked at some older pics I took and can't tell any difference but even with those the light was different. I'm thinking only careful, professional, scrutiny under ideal lighting conditions can one tell the difference if there is any.

I'm mainly glad they straightened up the uneven gap between front bumper and hood which was really bothering me.

 

This thread came at the perfect time for me. My 2001 was rear ended this afternoon, scratching the left corner of the rear bumper. Maybe I can find a body shop to do as good a job as was done for Alan.