First off let me say, our 2020 Pacifica is WORLDS better than our 2017. Its night and day. Almost 3,000 miles in we have had no problems, everything functions properly and well, and the van drives much better than the 2017. We are both happy campers with this van.

But, I was walking out to it today in a parking lot, and the sun caught the back quarter of it just right and highlighted what is IMO a very surprising difference in paint color between the rear bumper and the quarter panel.

Its true that there is often some variation between color on plastic bumpers and metal panels, but this is REALLY different. Thought maybe the bumper had been repainted by the dealer, but the front bumper is the same way. In normal light the color is so dark you don't notice.

Its strange, because the flake matches, its the overall color under that direct sunlight. Really looks like a poorly matched repaint. I really don't care, but thought it was interesting:

 

Yeah that’s a lot different. The weird thing is up near the tailight where the sun hits the bumper on the curve it looks like a good match.

 

Yeah, thats what I'm talking about with the metallic flake, it looks like a good match up there because what you're seeing is the metallic flake effect, lower down you're just seeing the underlying base color.

I really don't care on this vehicle, but if that were on my car I really cared about that would make me super unhappy.

 

It has to do with the adhesion promoter. They can't use a traditional urethane primer on a bumper like they do on the metal. The paint is essentially translucent, with pigments in it to change the color, so what you see is the difference between the color over gray primer and color over the adhesion promoter (which is clear and is applied to the black plastic bumper cover). There is literally nothing that can be done to prevent this, as without the adhesion promoter, the paint (would not adhere, or if it did would just flake off.

 

I get that, and like I said there is always some variation between bumpers and metal, but that's more than I have seen on other vehicles I've had, including the other Chrysler vehicles I've had.

In non direct light you really can't tell:

 

That is true and I always notice it but this is way more off than what I am used to seeing. That’s why when I needed some of my previous cars and current car rear bumper repainted I didn’t want them to blend with the quarter panels because they are typically off in color anyway, just not that much.

On my 2013 white GTR it was pretty bad too. The plastic parts that were painted like the gas door and the parts over the door windows were really noticeable. Not as much on my black GTR but I can still notice it more compared to say, my black BMW.

 

in recent years, many manufacturer's have gone back to black primer, because the plastic is black, so the black primer helps even out the match. But on colors like this, if you use a dark primer, it takes away the some of the sparkle and can change the tint of the color drastically. I guess FCA production designers figure this is the lesser of two evils.

 

FWIW the color match on my silver LS460L and my white S560 is spot on perfect between the bumper and body

 

Honda/Acura used to be the worst on their white cars. The bumpers had a distinct yellow tint and looked horrible.

 

Yeah Hondas and Acuras used to be really bad on silver too.

They were notably different on my silver LS400 too, the small part of the upper bumper that was the body color Alpine Silver.

 

Yes, for 2 reasons:

1) the cars were closer to the 100k mark than the 40k mark. Most people buying minivans are gonna destroy them so they don't pay that much attention. Which is why a $50,000 Honda Odyssey is worth $5,000 in less than 5 years. Minivans especially, get trashed by the soccer moms of suburbia.

2. Lexus and MB both use flat black primer under their lighter colors (silvers and whites).

 

A slight tint-difference between sheet-metal and vinyl-bumper paint is quite common on many vehicles....the contrast is rarely picture-perfect, for the reasons (and other reasons) that have already been posted.

 

I’ve owned other cars at this price point though and the difference hasn’t been that distinct, including the same vehicle 3 years older.

 

i've noticed too that the bumper under certain light will appear a different shade than the rest of the car



glad it's always been this way haha

 

Not saying it's the case here, as I don't know the specific paint process for the Pacifica body vs fascia pieces, but when I was at an OEM we had a hard time working with the fascia suppliers to update with a waterborne paint process to better match the factory's waterborne paint process. Impact the way that flake hits and adheres. Maybe between your 2017 and 2020 there was a change in paint process with the supplier. Lots of variables.

Here's some of our 2020 Pacifica, metallic white.

Front 3/4 looks okay


Rear you can kind of see a similar illusion like Steves.



From a side view it looks okay.