[An-Cal]

Hello all, I had my front bumper scratched and went for a full repaint of the entire bumper, but honestly it doesn't feel like the color matches quite well to me. The body shop I went to was not cheap ($1300 for the service), and has very good reviews on yelp and google. They did give me a whole schpiel about bumper never truly matching the rest of the car since it's different materials and the paint reflects differently under light. However, the rear bumper looks to me like it matches perfectly. Anyhow, some pictures for everyone else to judge.

https://ibb.co/4TC4ks8
https://ibb.co/XjDw0HR
https://ibb.co/k21j76k
https://ibb.co/RTx91L8

[MADBMWX5MC]

There is certain truth about how paint will look on plastic and metal. I repainted the front bumper on the Mustang, same paint code as the rest of the car and under direct sunlight and certain angle it will look slightly different. By now, I am used to it, no issues. Hard to tell on your pics.

[noemon]

I'd say they did a pretty good job.

It is indeed impossible to match colours 100% due to materials and age.

I have a deep scratch on my bonnet, not very large, this happened on the motorway and my dash cam captured the whole thing.

Plumber's van ahead of me was carrying various canisters and metal bits strapped on to its roof, one of the straps came loose and a metal bit flew on my bonnet and windscreen. Informed insurance, they agreed it was a no-fault accident and agreed to repair it. But I never took it in for the repair, cancelled the claim and decided to not repair it until I get the car back to some European specialists during the summer eurotrip.

The car is an Individual Grigio Telesto colour and its paint thickness is as new. If they paint my bonnet, doors and wings to blend, I will lose the Individual colour on half of the car and will never be able to make it right again.

The scratch is about 4 cm long but relatively deep, I'm hoping that certain Italian and Greek specialists can sort it out without re-painting the whole bonnet, .ie massage the scratch to repair(instead of refill) and then use a bit of touch up paint instead. So I'm holding out until I drive the car to Europe again.

Imagine that, refusing a free repair because I know for a fact that even if the guys genuinely make an effort on my car, it will still not match and will drive me more insane than the scratch itself.

[BlackM750i]

I have to admit, it does look off to me compared to the brighter white of the rest of the car. It would definitely bother me, but I guess it depends on the person.

I had a poyurethane bumper lip spoiler painted recently and it was 100% perfect match, although the color is black sapphire metallalic, you can see it's 100% identical to the rest of the bumper, compared to other black colors. The shop used some type of camera against the paint along with the paint code to get a 100% match.

I was hesitant about it not matching, but it was worth the $400.00 and the amount of time (according to them) to get it to be an exact match. I just dropped off the lip and picked it up a week later so they did not even have the car to test matching after it was painted.

I've heard that before but I don't agree about the bumper never matching. A high quality shop, especially if you find one that specializes in exotics and high end cars will make sure it's done right by adjusting the blend of colors to verify the match and not just using the paint code.

[An-Cal]

Thanks for the replies, everyone.

noemon I can definitely relate to what you are saying. I will say I regret having it fully painted myself as maybe an expert would have been able to just repair it without a full repaint. While I do think they did a decent job, It does look like it has a bit of a yellow undertone to me. Kinda like an older white lego brick?

BlackM750i Well, we are the same, then, as it does bother me too! At this point I am not sure if I ask for a repaint at the shop I went to (as they did not do a bad job I guess), or just go straight to a BMW service center and ask them to repaint it.

[noemon]

BMW service centres in the UK do not have a "native" BMW body shop, in Cambridge they use Porsche's body shop instead.

And nationally they use the same body shop the insurance sent me to. It's the BMW approved body shop for the entire England.

Yes mate, there is a s minor tint in the white colour. It's frustrating af, I know and feel ya.

[nowayout]

$1300 is a lot of money for a bumper repaint. I would go back to them with your complaint and try to get them to repaint it.

[noemon]

I've seen 12, 13, 14 hundred for a bumper respray quoted both to myself and others several times seems to be standard rate now in the UK, cause "how much can we get away with?"

Hence preference for Greek and Italian paint specialists where I have familiarity with, this is the key to these jobs, unless you 're familiar with the people working on your car in a personal way, you get tourist prices and sometimes tourist treatment too, but tbh this does not seem to be the case here.

I think the job is as good as it will get and you should not waste any more time thinking, arguing or downtiming about this. You 're just going to waste time and money and may even make it worse with a respray.

My mentality now is let it be, and then once acculated enough, respray the whole car. Saves a lot of worry.

[tcphoto]

I would expect better for $1300, I just bought a Sport bumper with paint for $1120.

[scubajim]

It does look a little off, almost looks whiter. I would go back.

[DmaxBMW]

I used to work in vehicle smart repairs (dents rather than paint though) and have worked with many painters over the years, I have looked at literally thousands of car repairs.

In my view, that is a poor paint match and the difference is more than just plastic v metal. If the rear bumper matches correctly to the car, there is absolutely no reason for the front to be any different. Whoever mixed the paint has done a poor job. A good painter will spray a test sample and confirm a good match before painting the panel.

I would be very unhappy with this match and I would insist that the bumper is repainted to the correct colour.

[Chihuahua]

Originally Posted by DmaxBMW

I used to work in vehicle smart repairs (dents rather than paint though) and have worked with many painters over the years, I have looked at literally thousands of car repairs.

In my view, that is a poor paint match and the difference is more than just plastic v metal. If the rear bumper matches correctly to the car, there is absolutely no reason for the front to be any different. Whoever mixed the paint has done a poor job. A good painter will spray a test sample and confirm a good match before painting the panel.

I would be very unhappy with this match and I would insist that the bumper is repainted to the correct colour.

This. All paint codes will have a certain number of what are called 'variances' within that one color, and that number of variances can even vary from one paint manufacturer to the next (Sikkens vs. Spies vs. PPG etc etc). I've seen some GM black paint codes with 13 variances in them. Painter either didn't take the time to spray let down panels, or may be color blind (not a dig, I've literally encountered this with more than one painter). Good luck.

[G35POPPEDMYCHERRY]

I would assume this is mineral and reality is, in shade or a cloudy day its going to look off from the factory. if they did a good job it should blend perfectly in the light.


if this is alpine take it back

[Forzanerazzurri]

One poster says its whiter another poster says its yellower. You guys are all nuts. That's a good match. I've seen new cars with mistamached bumpers worse than this.

[Chihuahua]

Originally Posted by Forzanerazzurri

One poster says its whiter another poster says its yellower. You guys are all nuts. That's a good match. I've seen new cars with mistamached bumpers worse than this.

Decent chance the bumpers on those cars were repainted once the car got to the dealer, it happens more often than you'd think.

Based on OP's photos, I see too much yellow.

[cbpip]

Should have been blended into the surrounding panels for corrected color match. With handing them the bumper cover only to paint without the car being available you will not match in most cases. If I were the paint shop and you came back afterwards in this scenario it would be "Sorry, next time bring me the whole car" .

[G35POPPEDMYCHERRY]

Originally Posted by cbpip

Should have been blended into the surrounding panels for corrected color match. With handing them the bumper cover only to paint without the car being available you will not match in most cases. If I were the paint shop and you came back afterwards in this scenario it would be "Sorry, next time bring me the whole car" .

bumpers are not blended into body panels. its metal vs plastic.

but to your point if the car is not there then you really aren't giving much the body shop to go after

[S EyeLand]

put a sheet of white paper across the panels and take more pictures so we can see the contrast better. Looks fine to me from those pics. Also, the angles will cause a perceptive color distortion upon reflection so this would best be done opposite of a solid surface.

[An-Cal]

Originally Posted by cbpip

Should have been blended into the surrounding panels for corrected color match. With handing them the bumper cover only to paint without the car being available you will not match in most cases. If I were the paint shop and you came back afterwards in this scenario it would be "Sorry, next time bring me the whole car" .

Well, that's the thing, they had the entire car for 4 days... So they could have matched.

[BruinMan]

My 2 cents. With my iPad Pro with correct color; I see a yellow tint and not a match. If your paperwork says color match, I would asked them to correct. Otherwise, I would take it to another body shop, have them color match and have them document the problem. Give your body shop an opportunity to fix; or tell them you will take them to small claims court. Which you should, you deserve your nice car to look great.

$1,300 is reasonable; it sucks.