Front Bumper - Touch up or repaint?

[nahc]

Hi all,

I wanted to see if my front bumper can be touched up using something like Dr. Colorchip or if it would need to be fully repainted. There are quite a lot of the rock chips (white specks on the front bumper), if you look at the picture (not sure if the quality of the picture would be good enough once posted).

Let me know your thoughts. Thank you.

[N1rve]

Are you okay with your license plate holes? Could be a good excuse to repaint and fix everything.

[nahc]

Originally Posted by N1rve

Are you okay with your license plate holes? Could be a good excuse to repaint and fix everything.

I'd love to remove the plate holes but wasn't sure if that would require a full replacement of the bumper or if a body shop is able to plug them and repaint over it.

[N1rve]

Originally Posted by nahc

I'd love to remove the plate holes but wasn't sure if that would require a full replacement of the bumper or if a body shop is able to plug them and repaint over it.

Depending on the body shop, some will say no they will want to replace the entire bumper because of the integrity of the bumper and it won't flex correctly to absorb impact. For me, I would just fill the holes and repaint the entire bumper.

[RugbyBro]

If it were mine I’d respray from any point onward. If your hood is chipped up as well, I’d take the opportunity to respray that - it’ll help with the color match. Blending the fenders would then make the color match perfect

[Redacre]

The bad news about Austin Yellow is that it is a "full respray" color by BMW and it is very hard to match. I just went through this with my GTS hood and basically the shop had to custom mix the paint and we did exactly what RugbyBro described -- painting the hood, bumper, and fenders to get the match closest. Unfortunately AY is just such a unique color that it will never be a "perfect" match unless you do a full respray.

I also used Dr. Colorchip before doing the full respray. It works well if you only have a few marks but again it isn't really a perfect match. I found the Dr. Colorchip AY to be a little bit darker than the factory AY. If you just have a few chips, it wouldn't be that noticeable, but if you fill in all of those marks with Dr. Colorchip it might look like a connect-the-dots drawing.

I would recommend trying the Dr. Colorchip first on a couple small marks, wait a week, and then decide next steps.

[nahc]

Thank you, all. Very helpful. I had a feeling that the entire bumper might have to be repainted but didn't expect it to also expand out to the hood/fender/etc.

[RugbyBro]

Originally Posted by nahc

Thank you, all. Very helpful. I had a feeling that the entire bumper might have to be repainted but didn't expect it to also expand out to the hood/fender/etc.

Metallics are always hard to match, but especially colors like AY, YMB, SO, and the holy grail of PITA colors: MW, these colors are never a perfect match. As such, if you would like it to be seamless, you will need to expand the paint past just the piece you want painted. Otherwise you will have a potentially noticeable difference where there is a hard seem such as the bumper/fender/hood line.

[N1rve]

Originally Posted by RugbyBro

Metallics are always hard to match, but especially colors like AY, YMB, SO, and the holy grail of PITA colors: MW, these colors are never a perfect match. As such, if you would like it to be seamless, you will need to expand the paint past just the piece you want painted. Otherwise you will have a potentially noticeable difference where there is a hard seem such as the bumper/fender/hood line.

Mineral White aka Pearl White aka Satin White.... hugest PITA to match. Can confirm from previous cars. Also can confirm that hood and fenders will be painted for "blending".

[nahc]

I guess this would be a good time to have the body shop also replace the grills for me while they remove the bumper. Not sure about others but the chrome grill really bothers me on the car :/

[fiveohwblow]

Great. I’ve a MW x5 and a Java Green m4. When my tow hook cover went missing it was a nightmare to match.

[Redacre]

Originally Posted by nahc

I guess this would be a good time to have the body shop also replace the grills for me while they remove the bumper. Not sure about others but the chrome grill really bothers me on the car :/

Oh yeah, totally black that out. Looks awesome with AY. It's pretty easy to remove the grill yourself, just take your time to avoid breaking the tabs. Basically you just pull.

Here is my 2015 bumper after the respray. It can be done well, you just gotta go into it knowing that it isn't as straightforward as most colors. I ended up speaking to 3 different paint shops before I found one that I felt confident could do the work right.

[nahc]

Originally Posted by Redacre

Oh yeah, totally black that out. Looks awesome with AY. It's pretty easy to remove the grill yourself, just take your time to avoid breaking the tabs. Basically you just pull.

Here is my 2015 bumper after the respray. It can be done well, you just gotta go into it knowing that it isn't as straightforward as most colors. I ended up speaking to 3 different paint shops before I found one that I felt confident could do the work right.

Wow, looks awesome. I just got a quote from a local body shop for around $2.3k for just the bumper repaint (no fender or hood). Does that sound somewhat accurate?

[RugbyBro]

Originally Posted by nahc

Wow, looks awesome. I just got a quote from a local body shop for around $2.3k for just the bumper repaint (no fender or hood). Does that sound somewhat accurate?

Woah for a respray that's a lot... I'm in the Bay (arguably the most expensive area in the country) and the dealer shop (most expensive option in the area) is $1,500. A very highly reputable high end body shop in my area is $1,200-$1,500.

Honestly, I would expect $1,000-$1,500. I don't think I'm off-base here as prices where I live are very expensive relatively speaking so $2,300 is way out of bounds. $2,300 including blending fenders and hood is probably fair

[RugbyBro]

Originally Posted by Redacre

Oh yeah, totally black that out. Looks awesome with AY. It's pretty easy to remove the grill yourself, just take your time to avoid breaking the tabs. Basically you just pull.

Here is my 2015 bumper after the respray. It can be done well, you just gotta go into it knowing that it isn't as straightforward as most colors. I ended up speaking to 3 different paint shops before I found one that I felt confident could do the work right.

Did you have headlight washers and have them filled? I can't remember from that time in Moraga when I saw your car lol. If it were possible with good results, I'd love to have my washers deleted next time I respray

[RugbyBro]

Originally Posted by fiveohwblow

Great. I’ve a MW x5 and a Java Green m4. When my tow hook cover went missing it was a nightmare to match.

Glutton for punishment

[Redacre]

Originally Posted by nahc

Wow, looks awesome. I just got a quote from a local body shop for around $2.3k for just the bumper repaint (no fender or hood). Does that sound somewhat accurate?

Thanks! The quotes I got were between 2,000 - 3,000 and that was for bumper, hood, and fenders. Plus all the fitting work on the GTS hood and the shop I went with painted the reinforcement bar for me too. So yes, 2.3k for just the bumper does sound on the high side.

Originally Posted by RugbyBro

Did you have headlight washers and have them filled? I can't remember from that time in Moraga when I saw your car lol. If it were possible with good results, I'd love to have my washers deleted next time I respray

Nah, just cropped the picture lol

[nahc]

Originally Posted by Redacre

Thanks! The quotes I got were between 2,000 - 3,000 and that was for bumper, hood, and fenders. Plus all the fitting work on the GTS hood and the shop I went with painted the reinforcement bar for me too. So yes, 2.3k for just the bumper does sound on the high side.



Nah, just cropped the picture lol

Thanks, all! Actually found out that the estimate included the hood repaint as well and the body shop apologized saying that they mistakenly estimated both. Bumper only estimate is around $1.3k. But reading about others, it might make sense to have them do the bumper/hood/fender altogether. I should probably ask around a couple more body shops though...

[RugbyBro]

Originally Posted by nahc

Thanks, all! Actually found out that the estimate included the hood repaint as well and the body shop apologized saying that they mistakenly estimated both. Bumper only estimate is around $1.3k. But reading about others, it might make sense to have them do the bumper/hood/fender altogether. I should probably ask around a couple more body shops though...

Yes shop around, but I would expect quotes around $2,500 +- $300 for everything. With AY, I would strongly advise erring on the side of the best quality shop you can find even if it means paying more. You really want a shop that will get the color right or as close as possible the first time. A really good shop would be able to get the color to like 95% match just with a bumper respray and the blends will just be to provide a very soft color gradient over the hard lines to make it indistinguishable.

[notnow]

I've seen Ferraris use touch up paint, leveler and a light polish that got rid of similar rock chips. I'd try to touch it up and see if it's acceptable first for like $30-$50.

I'm about to DIY plug my license plate holes as well, there are these things that lots of people are using called "3/16 plastic hole plugs" and they are using touch up paint on them. These are like 1/5 the size of traditional bumper plugs.

[Mortis]

My front bumper is scratched and pitted to hell as a result of my steep driveway, highway driving and track use. At first it was agony, but once you reconcile yourself to the fact that its the core of the car that counts, you can live with the cosmetic scars. I'm planning to do a full bumper respray at the end of the track season - most good shops should be able to do a good full respray for $1,000 - but I have MG so perhaps a bit less complicated on the blending.

[nahc]

Originally Posted by wonton1017

I've seen Ferraris use touch up paint, leveler and a light polish that got rid of similar rock chips. I'd try to touch it up and see if it's acceptable first for like $30-$50.

I'm about to DIY plug my license plate holes as well, there are these things that lots of people are using called "3/16 plastic hole plugs" and they are using touch up paint on them. These are like 1/5 the size of traditional bumper plugs.

I am now leaning more towards the touch up route and see if it's decent. Does anyone have recommendations on the AY touch up paint aside from Dr. Colorchip?

Thanks!