# Front Bumper damaged VW Golf Mk5



## Ready2Party (Aug 4, 2013)

Hi guys

I have a little situation here

VW Golf mk5 

I purchased the car from a family freind already in this condition

The bumper sub structure is cracked and most of the clips are broken. 

I'm in the process of buying a new bumper. I'm a little concerned as to why in the image "vw bumper 5" the bumper sits low as I don't see any damage to this area. I'm guessing this is because of the sub structure 

If anyone can shed some light on the situation would be pleased.

The new bumper I'm getting is primed and ready to paint does anyone know the usual price to have a bumper proffesionally painted anyone in the Hertfordshire region do this service? 



Pictures attached below

- Kev


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## Clancy (Jul 21, 2013)

Most likely the cracked bumper is just sitting low because of the amount if damage, I wouldn't worry just check your new one fits perfect before painting it 

If the bumpers prepped ready for painting And off the car, probably get it done for £50-75


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## Ready2Party (Aug 4, 2013)

Clancy said:


> Most likely the cracked bumper is just sitting low because of the amount if damage, I wouldn't worry just check your new one fits perfect before painting it
> 
> If the bumpers prepped ready for painting And off the car, probably get it done for £50-75


Thats pretty reasonable are these the going rates in Hertfordshire?

I'm gonna call up some shops and find some quotes tomorrow.


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## Clancy (Jul 21, 2013)

No idea about Hertfordshire but round here that's right 

Bare in mind your bumper is off the car and ready to paint, there's no labour needed to prep And remove it


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## robdcfc (Sep 17, 2012)

How do you guys get to these prices? 

I would charge you around £150 to paint a bumper off the car as I still have to pay the bills from that. 

I would still spend 2-3 hours on it by the time I've polished etc and would have spent £50-60 on materials. 

Rob


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## Clancy (Jul 21, 2013)

robdcfc said:


> How do you guys get to these prices?
> 
> I would charge you around £150 to paint a bumper off the car as I still have to pay the bills from that.
> 
> ...


Personal experience, I had a bonnet done for £50 and rear bumper was about £75 iirc

My mate had a few his boot and front bumper on a bora done for £150


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## craigeh123 (Dec 26, 2011)

For those prices its prob gun finish no polishing and id love to know where they buy their paint as far as I've found most paints 30 tp 50 a litre then lacquer


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## squiggs (Oct 19, 2009)

Clancy said:


> Personal experience, I had a bonnet done for £50 and rear bumper was about £75 iirc
> 
> My mate had a few his boot and front bumper on a bora done for £150


One of the cheapest ways of painting is using rattle cans. Personally I've never used rattle cans and therefore don't know how many cans you would need to do a bumper - but let's say at a rough estimate a rear bumper requires 3 cans of paint and 2 of lacquer. 
Thats 5 cans at about £6.50.
Without any other materials (masking, cleaning, prep or finishing) that's £32.50 of the £75 you paid gone on the most basic of materials - leaving the guy with £42.50 for let's say 2.5 hrs work. 
That works out to just £17 per hour before paying out any overheads associated with running a business (tax, vat, rent, rates, utilities, etc,etc,)

Presumably this job was done by someone who was self employed.
I honestly don't know of any other self employed trade or profession (plumber, electrician, cafe owner, mechanic, whatever) who can make a living and run a sustainable business on £17 per hr. 
Even a window cleaner doing a smallish house that takes him 30 mins will charge £10 = £20 per hr. 
Go to barber for a quick trim and 15 mins later you'll pay £7.50 = £30 per hr.

Logically you must realise that the prices you've quoted cannot possibly be considered as anywhere near 'normal' and therefore the info you're giving the OP is very misleading.


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## Cthrower (Sep 19, 2011)

squiggs said:


> One of the cheapest ways of painting is using rattle cans. Personally I've never used rattle cans and therefore don't know how many cans you would need to do a bumper - but let's say at a rough estimate a rear bumper requires 3 cans of paint and 2 of lacquer.
> Thats 5 cans at about £6.50.
> Without any other materials (masking, cleaning, prep or finishing) that's £32.50 of the £75 you paid gone on the most basic of materials - leaving the guy with £42.50 for let's say 2.5 hrs work.
> That works out to just £17 per hour before paying out any overheads associated with running a business (tax, vat, rent, rates, utilities, etc,etc,)
> ...


The keyword in your comment is "sustainable" 

A friend of mine opened his own spraying business after being made redundant from a big coach firm, and he charges ridiculously low prices.
Needless to say he didn't make enough money to keep his business going!

I guess a lot of people doing cheap jobs are either not very good, or using a little compressor in their garage!


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## Clancy (Jul 21, 2013)

I do not know what materials or pricing was etc as I paid them to do it, not order the paint myself etc. I was just stating the price I had paid and the price a friend of mine paid. this was at a local body shop place

And you pricing on £6.50 a can etc, yes of you bought it yourself at halfords, but trade price in bulk would be considerably cheaper 

Either way, that's what I paid. There's a company here in Plymouth that will do any bonnet, roof or boot for £60 iirc


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## squiggs (Oct 19, 2009)

Clancy said:


> I do not know what materials or pricing was etc as I paid them to do it, not order the paint myself etc. I was just stating the price I had paid and the price a friend of mine paid. this was at a local body shop place
> 
> And you pricing on £6.50 a can etc, yes of you bought it yourself at halfords, but trade price in bulk would be considerably cheaper
> 
> Either way, that's what I paid. There's a company here in Plymouth that will do any bonnet, roof or boot for £60 iirc


I was only pricing up in cans to give an idea of cost at the very cheapest end of the market. (And you wouldn't be bulk buying a load of cans in one colour unless you knew you had loads of jobs on a fleet of vehicles all of the same colour. Cans of lacquer you could buy in bulk - but even then I would think you'd be lucky to knock £1.50 of a can.)

But as I said - that is the very, very cheap end of the market and I honestly don't know of any companies that use rattle cans.
All in all what I was trying to point out is that a business couldn't be sustainable even by using the cheapest of products whilst charging so little.

Anybody turning out quality jobs that will stand the test of time use quality products to provide themselves and their customers with the reassurance that the products are up to the job. They would be using sprayguns and 'proper' paint which, as pointed out in earlier posts, comes at a cost (a lot more than a few cans). And then they would be using 'proper' lacquer which would probably cost more than the paint.

Most - in fact I'd go as far as to say - all professional set ups that wish to remain sustainable and maintain a reputation for quality would be spending more on products than the price you paid for a whole job. And even at the very cheapest end of the market there are very few that can charge as little as you paid (because they simply can't survive without charging more) which made the price you quoted to the OP slightly misleading.

As long as you're happy with the job you got for the price :thumb:


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## Clancy (Jul 21, 2013)

Yeah I know what your saying mate, but there are places that do it cheap 

Granted there not all going to be top quality, but if you go somewhere with a good reputation it's worth the punt, I can't knock what I had done, but if I was gonna do a major amount of paintwork of probably go to a higher end place 

Best bet is to always go to a reputable place


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## squiggs (Oct 19, 2009)

The other thing to bare in mind is that this Detailing World where people can be a little OCD about their cars 
:detailer:
:buffer: 
.........:car: 
:detailer:
:buffer:


:thumb:


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## Andyb0127 (Jan 16, 2011)

If its a pattern bumper check to see how it fits first, as sometimes they are not the best fit. Then check the primer it has come in as it can be a bit hit and miss with the finish on it. As others have said be cautious about how much your going to pay to have it painted as if its cheap then its normally cheap for a reason, cheap end products will be used and the end result will probably be something your going to be less than happy with.


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## Andyb0127 (Jan 16, 2011)

squiggs said:


> The other thing to bare in mind is that this Detailing World where people can be a little OCD about their cars
> :detailer:
> :buffer:
> .........:car:
> ...


Ain't that the truth. :thumb:


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## Ready2Party (Aug 4, 2013)

Quoted 

between £150 - £450

£150 if their happy with the condition to start, which they will probarly choose to prime themselves so realistically the price begins at £250.


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## squiggs (Oct 19, 2009)

Ready2Party said:


> Quoted
> 
> between £150 - £450
> 
> £150 if their happy with the condition to start, which they will probarly choose to prime themselves so realistically the price begins at £250.


Prices from 'the real world'! 

For a start it's going to need degreasing - then (and even if the primed bumper has arrived in perfect condition) most reputable sprayers would want to give it at least one quick coat of the primer of their choice.
As said so many times in other posts 'the beginning of a good job is good prep' and in most cases for whoever is carrying out the job part of that 'good prep' will include applying paint over a coat of primer that they know and trust.
Then it can be painted - then it can be lacquered - then it'll get baked off - then it can be finished.

(Did anybody mention taking the car along so they can get a good colour match?)


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