Repainting The Bumper

Micah.Berry · July 20, 2011

I shopped for cars online last year, and when I came across the car that I would eventually buy, I noted that in the pictures, the bumper needed to be painted due to what I thought were caused by rock chips-the paint was missing in good sized chunks. Any way, before I picked up my car, the sales guy had "a buddy" of his respray the front bumper at no cost to me (we had already worked out the price). The problem is that the "buddy" resprayed just a hair lighter than the original color, which I discovered after I bought some some touch up paint from Paintscratch.com.

So, the original problem didn't concern me too much-it didn't cost me anything more than I agreed to pay knowing that I was going to have to fix the paint. Now, the "buddy's" work is flaking off.

I've taken it to a couple shops and have received quotes of about $600 to remove the bumper, remove all the old paint, and respray the proper color with a flex agent in the paint.

Just looking for a little sanity check here-is this quote reasonable by anyone else's experience?

Thanks!

Micah

TA in KC · July 20, 2011

$600 sounds very reasonable to me. A few years ago when my previous pearl-white 92 LS was involved in a rear-end accident, the cost to remove and repaint the bumper alone was over $1000 at a reputable body shop.

billydpowell · July 20, 2011

Micah I used SEM 39073 BUMPER COATER spray on mine to cover the chips and it looks ok.

1990LS400 · July 20, 2011

Unless the color mismatch is glaring, I'd let it go for a few years until the bumper gets scratched and dinged up by other cars (parking) and flying rocks. Who knows? Maybe someone will do you a "favor" and trash your bumper so you can get the cover repainted/replaced at no expense. This happened to me a few months ago when some sort of road debris bounced across six lanes of heavy traffic taking out my front bumper cover and damaging lots of other cars. Now I've got a perfect looking new front bumper cover replaced at zero cost under the comprehensive coverage of my auto policy.

If you decide to go ahead and have your bumper repainted, consider contacting one of the mobile touchup guys who service car dealers. I had the front bumper of my LS painted in my driveway maybe six years ago by the same guy who touches up and repaints bumpers for the local Lexus dealer. My cost? $100. The quality was great, he used flex additive and the new paint held up well.

billydpowell · July 20, 2011

FROM Jim.... If you decide to go ahead and have your bumper repainted, consider contacting one of the mobile touchup guys who service car dealers. I had the front bumper of my LS painted in my driveway maybe six years ago by the same guy who touches up and repaints bumpers for the local Lexus dealer. My cost? $100. The quality was great, he used flex additive and the new paint held up well.

that sounds like the way to go............ thanks Jim.... very smart..

used car mgr should have his name..

Micah.Berry · July 21, 2011

1990 and Billy - I like both of those ideas (used car detail guy to do the respray and the SEM product).

Billy, when you resprayed using the SEM product, did it match exactly? The PaintScratch.com touch up paint that I bought to cover nicks and scratches is too dark for the front bumper (that was repainted), but matches the OEM paint elsewhere on the car. Using the PaintScratch touch up makes the car appear to have large pimples or freckles. It'd be funny, but not quite the look I'm going after.

Seems like every time I take a good sized road trip in the LS, another large (may be 1/4" square) comes flaking off.

As I think about this and type it out, I'm still leaning more towards having the bumper professionally done. I looked at the bumper "ribs" (at the bottom of the air dam, supporting the lower bumper lip), and the paint is peeling there also, so it looks as though I would be continually either respraying myself or picking up the phone to call the used car detail guy).

Thanks for everyone's input!

Micah

1990LS400 · July 21, 2011

the paint is peeling

OK, I now see that you've got a bigger issue than just a paint mismatch. Either the bumper wasn't properly prepared for painting or the paint was improper mixed, applied or cured. Removing the bumper cover and having it professionally prepared and painted by a body shop may be your best option.

cduluk · July 21, 2011

How long are you planning on keeping the car for? If a while, let them sand all the flaking crap off, prime, color and clear it. $600 sounds on the cheap side actually...

Micah.Berry · July 22, 2011

I'm planning on holding on to the car for a few years, and I see the front of the car frequently. I think the $600 sounds like a good quote based on what I'm hearing.

Thanks!

Micah