# BMW Bumper repair



## PedroC (Apr 23, 2014)

Hi All. Looking for some advice. Just got my car back from the dealer who replaced the rear bumper after an accident. They have replaced and painted the bumper only - without any blending of surrounding panels.

In the daylight there is a noticeable difference between the colour of the bumper and the rest of the car.

After some Googling, I came across some posts that states the colour match on a plastic bumper compared to metal bodywork is going to be very slightly different.

My issue with it, is it looks like a completely different shade of black.

The dealer has told me this is normal and the paint on the bumper will darken down over time. This sounds like BS to me as I had some paintwork done by an independent bodyshop on the door where the completely painted the door and blended it in to the adjacent door. The colour matched exactly and I couldn't tell any difference.

I insisted to my insurance co that the car gets repaired at BMW, and now I'm not sure if that was a mistake.

Should I just swallow this and move on?:thumb:


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## rubberducky1957 (Jan 8, 2016)

My (white) front and rear bumpers were a different shade to the rest of the car from new. Had the rear resprayed after some parking damage and the difference was even more pronounced. After some time and several layers of Collinite 845 its pretty much reverted to the way it was originally. Only obvious under certain lighting (that yellow disc in the sky that I vaguely remember) and if I point it out to friends they say looks the same to me. Aaargh! It's bleedin obvious - but I've gotten used to it - almost.


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## PedroC (Apr 23, 2014)

Haha, I’m not sure I can get used to it. I told the dealer I’m gonna go see him tomorrow. I can’t believe they can paint a part of the car and it be a totally different shade of black. I insisted taking it to BMW thinking that I would get a proper repair. Having a different colour bumper doesn’t strike me as a proper repair.


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## rubberducky1957 (Jan 8, 2016)

I know, I wouldn't put up with it if it looked like a different colour but this was second time around and a close match which is difficult with pearl white. It was a highly respected bodyshop that do Astons etc and first time they blended the repair but left a distinct edge when they advised they would remove and respray the whole bumper -they didn't even second time around but at least the whole bumper was done. I wouldn't be entirely surprised if yours is actually a totally different colour:wall:


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## Derek Mc (Jun 27, 2006)

Black can usually be painted panel to panel so it sounds like they have not quite matched the shade perfectly My Vectra had the bonnet done in Sapphire Black pearl and it really was invisible, so technically it can be done with no over blending.


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## SamD (Oct 24, 2015)

With the right match they can go edge to edge with black, if you are seeing a huge difference just take it back


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## enc (Jan 25, 2006)

There is some truth painted plastic bumpers can look different from painted metal panels especially with metallic finishes... even on a brand new car. something to do with the way the metal flakes in the paint lay i believe. another thing to bare in mind.. lots of "main dealers" wont have an onsite body shop .. instead they sub out to an "approved" bodyshop. So insisting your car was repaired by BMW wont necessarily guarantee it was actually painted by BMW.


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## Kerr (Mar 27, 2012)

Bumpers are nearly always a few shades out from factory. Some of the repairs I've seen the bumpers are a different colour. 

Personally if the bumper isn't painted well enough I would ask them to repaint the bumper. I wouldn't want them to attempt to blend it in with steel panels.


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## PedroC (Apr 23, 2014)

Thanks for all the replies Gents. Much appreciated. I'll jog along to the dealer tomorrow and update you all!


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