so yesterday i hit a mercedes at like 35mph kinda bumped hit switchn lanes. i had like 3 scratches and i bent his exhaust. no serious damage that i can tell.

so now i come down to replacing the bumper.
what would you guys suggest?
OEM acura or ebay? or whatever else

 

The actual part doesn't have to be acura, aftermarket is just fine but don't get a painted one. You'll need to spend the money on the paint job after the install because blending is an art that only some shops excel at.

 

if you go to a damn good shop, blending into the existing body panels will not be necessary. both of my bumpers and side skirts were repainted. my painter sprayed about 3 sample boards, making slight adjustments each time and checking the car in different lighting. the job came out perfect and not one person can tell the difference.
so shop around and find you a good shop but it will probably cost you extra. or go to macco and let them rattle-can that bumper.

 

It's a bumper not a body panel there shouldn't be any blending needed.
However since it's plastic & new paint the shade may be off a little until it fades a little. However on a bright gold this shouldn't be noticeable.
Get any bumper you can.

 

Hm, I didn't know that you don't need to blend a bumper.. I thought regardless of the body part, I thought blending was necessary..

My bad

 

Correction you do need to blend the bumper. For the very reason you just sighted fading it needs to be blended and on brighter colors is when you can tell the most. I was the victim of a bad repaint/blend job done on the bumper of one of my other vehicles and you could definitely tell the difference.

 

It's a complete bolt on part? What would you blend?
I'm not a body man so I'm just going on what I have experienced. On a front or rear bumper I never had to do anything but paint the bumper.

 

See if there's a Certifit in your area. They offer plenty of parts for our cars.

http://www.certifit.com/

 

yes a complete bolt on part, but blending it refers to matching the paint (aka buffing) so that the color matchs and is a smooth transition if it happens to be slightly off in color



and techically speaking a freashly painted should not need blending, but it is kinda hard to get a perfect match with just painting, and most shops find it a whole lot easier to just blend the paint

 

the color is only off cause the fucked up... or they used CHEAP clearcoat on the bumper. u can get 50$ stuf and 250$ stuff so they cheap out all the time and when u see how MANY people's bumpers are just off in color, it is because the CHEAP clear coat has a yellowish tinge ..

i know this cause a relative of mine has been doing pro body work for over 30 years. and he's the WIZARD of bodywork... so i trust anything he tells me about bodywork

 

Even though I dont paint, my line of work has a lot to do with orange peel of paint and i can spot defects in paint like black in white. I can look at a panel and tell you if it was repainted, but on his, if it wasn't for the lip kit, i couldn't even tell.

And its not really a question of blending, but matching the color right. u have to make sure the person can prep it right and keep a similar orange peel through out. Matching color is one art, and matching orange peel is another. if you really want a perfect job, u'll have to pay for it. I do work for numerous bodyshops here in Houston and so far I've only came across 3 or 4 painters who can get it almost perfect. so its not gonna be easy to find one.
if ur car is just another CL with dings and scratches around it, a decent paint job shouldn't bother you.

 

I'm not sure if I'm the only one who has no idea what orange peels and paint have to do with each other, lol.

 

go look at the surface of your paint very closely, and it will kinda look like orange peel on it, (more noticeable in daylight though) geneally speaking factory paint has the least amount of orange peel, but it can still be improved upon for the perfectionist







others:
also can't you get rid of most of the orange peel by color sanding it

 

The guy that painted my car after my accident failed at blending. The front end is way off and even has dirt in the paint. I am saving up to have it professionally repainted.

 

was it that guy that painted yoour bumper suppose to be a professional

i seen a company repainting bumpers for the bmw dealer outside before in the wind (was shielded from the wind some, but still) just imagine the dirt in that paint job

 

Yeah, he was supposed to be, but I can't complain. It was cheap, and I got what I paid for, lesson learned. This time I will have it done professionally and spend the extra money.

 

^^ if your getting your whole car done you don't really need to go super expensive because they wont have to match paint to anything else, just make sure they arent just painting over the old stuff