Outrage

I had my front bumper replaced and a sizable dent in my passenger side front fender pulled out. The front fenders were not repainted as blending the fenders' color due to mismatched front bumper paint was unecessary. After painting the front bumper, the body shop will evaluate the color differences. If blending is required, a good shop will do it.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/gs-...e-l-sport.html

onexcite

Agreed.

Sadly my insurance company had to paid $8000 for my ES paint job at one of the Lexus's body shop. They couldn't even match the color between the hood and the fender or door panel. When I picked up the car and show them the color different, they told me it will take a week or two before the new paint will blend in. What's a joke!

SW17LS

Yep, one other reason not to automatically use the dealer shop...

FNR32

People hear the word bondo and freak out. As others have stated, they're talking about body filler. What will happen (without seeing the damage I can't be sure) is they will work out about 90-95% of the dent and use no more than 1/8th inch of filler to make sure the contour is correct. If it were my car, i would rather the OEM fender be repaired than replaced. Depending on the color of your car and where the damage is on the fender, blending may or may not be needed. Impossible to speculate without pictures. I'm also a fan of NOT using the dealer body shop. Take it to the most well respected shop in the area and have them do the work for you. Just because a shop is attached to a dealer doesn't mean the work is of high quality.

Nexson

One of the positives to using a dealer shop if you own a car that is represensted by the dealer shop is that the techs in the shop are more familiar with your car. They are more opt to know how to take it apart, how to tint or mix a color since the car in most cases is in the shop often enough.

SW17LS

Good points...

ShermanMR2

Thanks for all of your comments. I haven't felt reall warm and fuzzy with the Lexus certified shops, however if something doesn't go right I feel like I have more recourse. I did find a non Lexus shop that had VERY high reviews and am going over ther to talk with them.

SW17LS

You may feel like you have more recourse, but you really don't.

The independent shop...you can write a bad review. Thats pretty important to them. Let them know from the get go you will only accept like new. I told my shop to feel free to turn me away if they couldn't achieve that...and they said they could and they did.

Fizzboy7

I've had bad luck using a dealer's bodyshop. As mentioned above, they are geared for quick, cheap jobs to get used cars back on the lot for fast resale. High volume and rushing often equate to low quality.
For someone finicky like you and I, I'd research private body shops approved by your insurance company that have a good BBB rating. Go to each shop, ask questions about their processes, see who actually does the work, tell them how picky you are, and look to see some finished cars. Inspect closely and look for hazing, orange peel, ripples, panel alignment, and cleanliness.
Word of mouth is also good, so coming to this forum and asking was wise.

UpSideDown

Good luck with the paint match. Silver seems really hard to match well. My last IS250 was in silver and had the front bumper, driver side fender re-painted. The paint shop has done it couple times including blend in to the rest of the panels, the difference in shade is still noticeable. Speciallt under inhouse lighting. I gave up in the end and had to live with it.