slm9s

My wife didn't pull our es350 in all the way to the garage and the garage door scraped the paint off the bumper, about a 2" x 3" section where the black plastic (?) shows. I've covered it with white gaffers tape, but its still noticeable. My question is do the bumpers have the same "impossible to match" Starfire Pearl as the body panels, or will white touchup paint match it pretty closely and look tons better than white gaffers tape?

What are my options and what would you do? (I really don't want to spend a ton as we will probably trade it in on a newer ES in a year or two.

Thanks in advance.

st1800

Bumpers are painted the same colour as the body, but has a flexibility additive to compensate for minor flexing of the bumper.

slm9s

Anyone know of a touchup paint would look ok for this application?

lesz

The Starfire Pearl is a color for which it would be virtually impossible to get even a decent color match with the touch-up paint.

Your only real options are either to leave it the way it is or to have the bumper refinished. To do a proper paint repair, the bumper needs to be removed from the car. Then, it needs to be refinished with new color and new clear coat over the entire bumper. Depending on labor rates in your area, such a repair from a good shop is likely to run at least $500 or $600.

There are guys who do less expensive mobile bumper repair work, but the quality of the repair, especially with a color like the Starfire Pearl is not likely to be great.

ronkelley

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The reason it's hard to match your paint by using any touch up method is that it's a 3 layer, i.e.; the base coat (white), the pearl coat (with the specks in it), and the clear. Responsible shops will take the bumper off so they can do a better job around the corners of the grill and fog lights and don't have a paint line where the masking tape stops. Charges can be from $400. to $900. at most places.

You can use something like:
Dr. ColorChip | Car Touch Up Paint & Paint Chip Repair (drcolorchip.com)
With methods like this for less than $70., you can fill in the holes/grooves with the base color paint (077), but not with the pearl. On a bumper, most people wouldn't notice the difference. It all depends on how perfect you want it to be. If the dings were on a hood or top of a fender, the difference of repair would be more visible.

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st1800

It’s only a car, now used, it doesn’t have to be perfect. I can’t see the bumper when I’m driving. Or spend the $$ and have it repainted. Dr color chip sounds good.