I've noticed (and frankly) hate the fact that my rear bumper/fascia is a couple of shades Satin Silver darker than the rest of the car. Should I be able to get this redone under warranty?

 

Absolutely!! Take it back to the dealer!

 

This defect is common among almost all car brands. I believe that this is because the bumpers usually come from an outside supplier and are not painted along with the rest of the car. Look carefully at any BMW, Mercedes, Audi, Chevy etcetera.

Jim

 

I'd certainly try it, but expect to hear how the paint reacts differently to the plastic bumper cover versus the body's sheetmetal. To that I would respond that that's a development issue and not my problem.

 

The way this was explained to me once by a body guy is that there is an additive they add to the paint to paint the bumper that makes the paint flexible for the flexible surface. Without it, they can match the color they just painted on the sheet metal, but the paint on the bumper skin will be very subject to cracking as the bumper skin flexes. With the additive, they solve the latter problem but create the issue you are seeing. I asked why they can't return the color. He said the'd never get closer than using the same color as they used to paint the body and adding the flex additive. Once I srted noticing this, I notice it on a tremendous number of cars. It seems to be worse with some colors than others. These kinds of match issues are why they don't stop a paint job on a door at the edge of the door. No matter what they do, when it's right next to the paint on the adjacent panels there will be some mismatch.

As to the poster who said to tell the dealer it's a "development" issue not your problem, so are the facts that the car can't go at light speed and can't avoid other cars autonomously. Just a little more technology and we'll be there. That doesn't mean I'd want them to try to fix those "issues" on my car. The results might be worse than the problem.

 

let them do it right,

 

The paint on my car matches that on the bumper. I'm with jyg, you should take your car back to the dealre to have it done right, especially since you're driving the manager's (former) toy, RockDog.

 

There is a common problem among ALL cars with the polyurethane bumpers. Some of the plastic chemicals can leach out through the paint over time, allowing the paint to discolor over time. It is most easily seen as a yellowing with white paint. I had to have my Solara bumpers re-painted after 3-4 years. Advances in primers have controlled this to a great deal.

However, it should all REALLY match when the car is new.

 

Rockdog,

I good friend of mine is also in autobody, when he saw my car, he said how am I going to repaint the TL's because of all the angles, the paint looks like it does match as it is catching the light diferrently.

He said to him, none of the panels match.

Make that this is really what you want, as repainting the bumper can create problems later.