Hi All,

I picked up my 2007 WDP TL w/Nav on March 10. I live in NY and the day I took delivery the weather was pretty crappy and has been until recently. The day I got the car home, I noticed that the back bumper looked a little yellow and was definitely a different color than the rest of the car. I've been reading the threads and realize that this seems to be a common problem with WDP. I contacted the sales manager as well as the service manager and they told me that:

1) the pearl finish reflects different colors depending on the lighting that it is in
2) the bumper is plastic on the TL and will never match exactly because the body of the TL is metal and a flex additive is added to the bumper so that it will not crack
3) when the car is shipped, the bumpers are wrapped in plastic. No matter how hard they try to remove the plastic and detail the car, it may take 10-12 details to for the car to show it's original color

This whole thing is making me sick. I expected more from a $36,000 car. Acura is suppose to be known for their perfectionism. I am a perfectionist! I realize that nothing in life is perfect, but this really upsets me. I went as far as taking it to a reputable body shop today and he told me the bumper definitely has a yellow tint to it. Not only that, he pointed out that the bumpers are not matched up evenly. One side of the bumper overlaps a little bit on both the front and back sides. His personal feeling was that I should leave it be. He said if they offer to realign and paint, it could make matters worse. What is everyone's opinion on this? I loved the look of the Acura, the realiabilty, value, etc., but at this point, I am so upset, I don't even want to keep the car. Like I said, for $36,000 and change, I expected more from Acura.

Any thoughts on this would be appreciated. If you think I'm being to neurotic about this, let me know that too. My husband thinks I'm out of control and should just drive and enjoy the car.

 

Haha...I'm just like you in the sense that I want my car to be as perfect as possible ESPECIALLY when I just bought it...If it were me and it was noticeable as you say...I'd be at the Acura dealer's front door step waiting to speak with the general manager and make them take the car back...and probably just get a dark color TL (as from what I hear, they dont have the issue with non-matching colors)...

...if they refuse, call up Acura corporate and b**ch them out until they get it through there heads, and are willing to do something about it

 

I just picked up with NBP TL-S Saturday and let me tell you there were alot of wdp tl's there I'd like to 6 of them from dealer demos to 04's to 07's of which all are mismatched, Your gonna have to live with it . Pearl is the worse color to match and it's a known issue. See if you can return the car and get a darker color.

 

Can I do that? I thought once the car was delivered and the title was processed, it's mine. I don't think the Lemon Law covers this either. I would have to let Acura paint, replace, etc. and once those options were exhausted, then I think the Lemon Law would kick in. I am upset that I didn't look at everything closer when I picked the car up. I would have NEVER taken delivery if I noticed this stuff.

At this point, what do I ask of the dealership? I don't think that I should start messing with repainting and realigning bumpers. Am I wrong to think this? The car is 2 weeks old!

Thanks again for any insight you can offer. I don't want to be unrealistic or unreasonable with Acura. I bought the car outright (cash deal) and it is making me sick!

 

I think, we need pics

 

You should tell the dealership that you didn't realize the colors didn't match due to the weather conditions upon delivery and that it's unacceptable to you that a $36,000 car doesn't have matching colors for the body and bumpers, and that you need to have the car replaced with one of darker MATCHED color. If they refuse/give you a hard time, call Acura corporate and file a complaint and stay on their a** for however long it takes, request to speak with managers/supervisors and don't let off until you are fully satisfied

 

Also after persuing the car replacement route and getting no where, you could elude to the fact that some sort of monetary compensation may do the trick (I wouldn't take less then 5-10k being that you paid MSRP (36k) for the car)

 

My 2006 WDP TL has matching color bumpers / body.
I have no idea what you guys are talking about; I've washed this car 6-7 times(hand washed) and waxed, and I noticed no yellow tint on anything. Except I find little orange spots all over the place, but it could be some other issues, I just use clay and rub it off.

Dealerships use weird lights, if you ever look up, so the cars look perfect. I didn't notice some stuff about my car when I got it also. They brought it to the show room, and I didn't see a huge scratch on my bumpers... not until a couple of weeks after I bought it. They refused to repaint my bumper, so there was nothing I could do.
I didn't see a bunch of stuff, for example
my truck: the piece that covers the sub / speakers / wires on top is not aligned. On the left side is a crack, and when I play my music loud, it rattles.
I havn't brought that in yet, but I doubt they would do anything. Dealerships are real asswipes. Plus, it's been six months, I should have noticed by now... according to businessmen.

 

Are they going to give me a hard time because the car has 508 miles on it? They will give me a song and dance on how they can't sell it as new because of the mileage. They've already tried to tell me that the bumper will lighten up as I wash it more. I haven't even discussed the bumpers being mis-aligned yet. I'll take that up with them tomorrow. I'm afraid that they are going to tell me that they will re-do the bumpers (paint & realign). That is not acceptable to me. If that is the only thing they offer me, what recourse do I have...in their mind they are trying to rectify the situation. This is where I don't know if I'm being ridiculous or should prepare to either live with the car the way it is, or let them try to fix it. I just dread the thought of a new car being disassembled. My gut feeling is that it will be worse than what it is now.

 

If it were me, I would not let them try repainting etc as it would lower the value of the car...Honestly there is nothing to FORCE them to take it back or even replace it...but if you make a good enough case etc AND the fact that you paid them MSRP for the car (a 2k profit to them) they can almost certainly sell your car as used to someone else without losing money....there is a chance they'll do something about it that is acceptable to you

 

This is what I'm afraid of. That at the very least, they will do nothing and at the very most, they will offer to repaint/realign. When I picked the car up, it was in the showroom. The dealership knew how picky I was and the detail shop prepped it a day early so they didn't want to leave it outside. Whe the salesrep showed me the car, someone had put their coffee cup on the front hood so their was coffee spilled all over and the rear bumper was covered in black dust from the blower above it. I said to the rep, I hope you plan on re-washing this car. They did rewash, but I had to wait over an hour because the detail guys were at lunch. By the time they brought the car back around, they started showing me the basic stuff, lights, etc. so I never did another external check. I only wish I had read this forum more thoroughly. I probably would have never bought WDP, in fact, part of me is wishing I had gone for the G35 which was the other car I looked at

 

Thanks for your insight. I didn't pay MSRP, the $36K and change was with the 8.125% sales tax, title, etc. I actually paid dealer invoice for the car $33,806 and had to wait for the car to be shipped from Ohio. The dealer didn't have WDP/w Ebony interior on the lot but was expecting 2 of them on the next shipment which was two weeks from when I left a deposit. Now knowing this detail, I don't know if you still feel the same. I definitely agree that I do not want them repainting the bumper as there is NOTHiNG IMO that holds up as good as the factory paint.

 

i hate to be the bearer of bad news, but once you take delivery, the car is yours. the dealer will be willing to do anything in it's power to help make you happy... repaint, new bumper, etc, but i don't think they will give your any money back and DEFINITELY not let you trade it for another new car as neither of those are considered remedies under the Lemon Law. it is up to the buyer to inspect all aspects of the vehicle before driving off the lot. the moment the car is off the lot, it can never be a 'new' again.

if the yellow tint is really obvious, i think you should have the dealer repaint it. at least that way it will be a lighter/darker white as compared to the rest of the car instead of yellowish.

 

I have the same car, same problem. I ignore it, and will go dark when the lease is up. Maybe a Lexus next time. Not at all impressed with Acura. Nice car, but for $36,000 I expected better dealer and factory involvement as well.

 

Woops...my bad, I assumed it wasn't the OTD (out the door) price...now knowing this...I guess worse case scenario, you tell them you'll pay 1k maybe 2k to have them swap it...but this should be the VERRRRRRRY last, desperate attempt to get it switched....try everything you can before offering money...but yea being that you paid invoice, they will be a little tough to budge...I was thinking...GO on saturday when there are a lot of people at the dealership, in which case if they refuse to do anything about it (thats acceptable to you)...you can make a big scene which can definitely help IMO

 

Did you buy that invoice BS?
The invoice in mine in November was 33,000 and some change. I dropped it to 31,600 about.
White / Ebony with Navi.
All you have to do is sit there and complain about the price. I found every little thing to complain about to drop the price, they ended up giving me the protection package instead of making it 31,500. I guess I made 170$, or what ever the protection package is worth. These salespersons are full of it.

Yeah, you should have checked, I spent 15 minutes checking the exterior before I drove off. They tried to drop a scrached rim on me. I told them they needed to change it, right away. It was 9:30-- time after all the negotiation, I came there at 6:00. It took them 15 minutes, and I was still not satisfied, I complain to them all the time. Especially the dealership I bought from, McGrath. I get whatever I can get off them, these guys only care about the $$, they don't care about our satisfaction.

 

I tend to agree about the satisfaction part. I know they made $$ on the car. I checked several dealerships and Internet services and the dealership I bought it from was by far the best price. No one else would even come close to dealer invoice. The dealer also threw in the protection pkg (all season mats & trunk tray at no cost to me). So I thought the $33,806 was fair. I am all for getting the best price possible, but also realize they have to make something on the car. If the car was on the lot, I might have been able to negotiate a little bit more, but they had to get the car for me so I lost a little leverage there.

 

The people I bought from were real jerks. I had to come back three times before they dropped....
If you really want a car, you have to really put time into it, it's just like everything else.
A little more effort will bring a little better quality.
I actually spent 3-4 months dropping prices at dealerships before I came to one...
I had a deal in late August for 35,000 out the door at 2.9%, but my brother paid 34,000 out the door in March of that year with 2,9%... so I pissed away the offer...
I ended getting 34,600 out the door at 6.49, so I guess I lost there. But sometimes you have to really shop around and spend your days arguing about prices...
I went to 5 different dealerships.

 

In my opinion... Just let it go. I made a thread about my 07 WDP (you may have read it). I looked at everyones input, thought about if I wanted a repainted car and decided to just forget about it.

It's a beautiful car, and there are alot of cars on the road with non-perfect bumper matches.

See, it's still a good looking car:





boxstock

 

Here are recent threads on mismatched paints:

WDP Mis-match SOLVED!! ---Pics inside

Wdp Color Mismatch From Repair

and boxstock's thread:

POLL: Should I complain about the bumper color match on my 2 week old WDP?

 

[QUOTE=boxstock]In my opinion... Just let it go. I made a thread about my 07 WDP (you may have read it). I looked at everyones input, thought about if I wanted a repainted car and decided to just forget about it.

It's a beautiful car, and there are alot of cars on the road with non-perfect bumper matches.

See, it's still a good looking car:





boxstock[/QUOTE

Your car looks great! Thanks for posting the picture. Did you tint your windows more or is that stock?

My bumper looks almost identical to what you posted. I love the WDP, but the bumper bothers me. They are trying to tell me it will get lighter the more I wash it. Do you think they are BSing me? They said part of the yellowing is from the plastic that was on the bumper while in transit to the dealer. I really don't want to mess with repainting it because I'm afraid it will make matters worse. I've read the other threads where people have had the bumper repainted and have been happy. Unfortunately, my luck doesn't run that way and I'm afraid I will say that I should have left well enough alone. I'm taking it to the dealer this afternoon to see what they say. I can't believe this is a known problem with Acura, and they have not fixed it. I bought the mud guards that are painted WDP. They are the same material as the bumper and guess what, they actually match the metal part of the car. If they can get mud guards to match, why can't they get the bumper to match. I was eventually going to invest in the A-spec kit from Acura. I don't want to do that now because I'm afraid I'll have 3 different colors on my car....I'm still at a loss about what to do.

Thanks for all the feedback!

 

The dealer tinted my windows.

I don't think the bumper is going to get lighter. Atleast I hope my paint doesn't dramatically change from washing!

You're just gonna have to let go of the anger regarding this. The same things that are making you angry are the same things that I don't understand, but I've just decided to let them go.

The fact is, if I hadn't starting looking at acurazine, I probably would have noticed the bumper, said "that's weird" and continued to enjoy the TL.

If you want to get your car repainted, go for it! It's just not the way I went.

boxstock

 

Thanks.....do you know what color the tint is and the percent they tinted? This is something I want to do, maybe I can negotiate with the dealer to tint my windows in lieu of fixing the bumper. It will draw my attention to something other than the rear end :-)

 

I'm not sure what it is. Probably the legal limit for Harris County, TX.

Put a TL-S lip on your trunk, that'll draw your eye away from the bumper

boxstock

 

Sorry but most light colored cars have this problem. The bumpers will be slightly off compared to the rest of the car due to the flex agent in the paint. Infiniti, Nissan, Toyota, Lexus, etc all have issues with this. My WDP is good enough where I can live with it.

 

Hahahaha...Hopefullly you are enjoying the ride of the new car! But I know what you mean; you want a uniform color everywhere on the car. I know that paint on plastic dries to a different tone than it does on metal, but why cant acura work with its paint supplier to formulate a different shade for the bumper so that when the paint dries, it matches the color of the rest of the car? Rhetorical question

 

Boxstock, your TL is gorgeous. My 07 is like yours and I didn't notice the paint mismatch until I joined this group....it is real difficult to pick up on the paint nuances in a showroom. The three stage paint process for diamond pearl finishes is a lot more complicated than the one or two stage process and there is more room for shade differences. People who have looked at my car don't notice and don't comment on the paint unless I point it out and then they say so what, the care is still super nice....

 

Check out my recent thread on this, just had mine repainted and now it's neon white....