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Over the weekend a car ahead of me and one lane over ran over a mangled piece of metal (I guess the driver wasn't paying attention because I don't know why you wouldn't avoid something in the road) which was thrown in my direction. It happened so fast and, in all honesty, it appeared to float towards me like a piece of paper.
I knew it wasn't paper when I heard the "thunk" hoping it hit very low on the bumper but was also worried it went right into the headlight.
This is what I found as soon as I had a chance to look at it:
Granted that my front bumper already has its fair share of dings, dents, and chips (I commute about 135 miles per day on freeways shared by lots of other cars and big rigs) but this really bothers me.
option 1: no need to buy another bumper, that can be salvaged and repainted.
option 2: if cost is your number 1 concern and you're pretty handy, i've used scratchwizard's spray paint repair kit before and the results decent if you put some time into it. mine costed around $50 last time I bought one.
Last edited by chardness; May 17, 2016 at 01:05 AM.
Reason: more options.
2nd would be the use some compound and wax on the bumper (including the rest of the car)
You might be surprised if a lot of it comes off. I can see a few black spots which will still be there, but the rest is hard to tell if it's on the surface and can be buffed or it's past the clear.
If none of it comes off, a very good body shop can do prep work and paint it.
honestly man, that does suck, but your bumper is not in the best condition to begin with so just get the compound to it and see what you can get out of it. I wouldnt be sweating it unless the car was just painted lol
Take advantage of the opportunity to have your bumper repainted and 3M that beezy.
Seriously though cost-wise any reputable shop should be able to touch that up easy. Also silver is not hard to blend (not like white pearl, at least).
Actually Silver is the hardest to blend. I agree with you that OP should have it repainted. If only the bumper looks that way and the rest of the body is clean, why not.
I'll hit it with some rubbing compound to get the white scrapes out. If that's successful then I probably can live with what's left. This is my daily commuter (almost 269K miles) and I came to the realization when I bought it that it was going to "see a lot".
In that case, compound should remove the white scuffs, but if the you need to repair it; buy some fine sandpaper and smooth out the edges and touch it with touchup paint.