Yzerguy

Arg. Actually my car was parallel parked on the street, an early 90s white Ford pickup bumped me when parking -- I was coming out of the store two blocks away. He took off and turned off the road before I could get a licence plate. *$#@!*#$&^$

The car barely moved, but now I've got scratches, a gouge with black showing through and a quarter sized chip showing black. Man I've had the car (05 TL AT Navi, silver) for 18 months and nooo problems... I always try to park in the street instead of the lot to avoid door dings, and now this.

Anyhow, apologies, I'll stop crying on the forum and keep crying in my beer -- I realize it's a long shot, but does anyone know of the best body shop in small Victoria, BC (Canada) to handle this, or do you know which ones to avoid?

I'm guessing they'll have to take the rear bumper off. I'm not crazy about the idea but anything short of that and it'll look worse. I know the metallic colors, especially silver, are hard to match, but then the paint always looks a little different on the plastic/fiberglass bumbers than it does on the sheet metal at the best of times.

Any feedback would be apprciated, specific or general thoughts, just had to get it off my chest... this happened an hour ago, the tequila bottle was opened 10 mins ago...

Cheers, Sean

subinf

So the damage was just to the bumper (assuming no panels were impacted)? Throw up some pics of the damage if you can. I was rear-ended and I just let the bumper how it was - figure I was going to get hit more than once anyway. Its a little better for me since my TL is black. Too bad the guy took off before you could get his plate.

csmeance

take some pics of it also i'd bet the bumper will look better than before because alot of the lighter color TL's have a bumper mis-match problem becuase the black plastic of the bumpers isn't primed when the paint is put on.

Yzerguy

Hmm, nice, a potential silver lining (no pun intended), it could look better... Now to find a shop that'll take care of it properly. Thx for the responses guys.

I will post pics, it's been raining pretty much all the time since it happened, so photos wouldn't show that well and I'm not willing to take my DSLR out in the wet.

Yzerguy

This is a good argument against silver... that said I love how it looks and will buy it again, even with all this grief. It's one of the hardest colors to match, if not the hardest, but I'm gonna get this right... may take awhile.

Photos have been a long time coming since I first posted, feedback if you're interested is still welcome -- weather hasn't cooperated. I finally took photos of the bumper, damage is minor but has been bothering me non-stop. The plan is to buy out the lease and then sell the car right away with an upside (and lease again), I've been babying it, even tho it's a daily driver, to max resale. Even then, if I keep it I want it looking good.

I thot several times about leaving it b/c a) it could get nudged again and b) color matching paint/bumpers is hard (look at threads in these forums!), again, especially SSM. I decided I needed to deal with it.

The shots below are before-body-shop-photos and aren't great -- there have been maybe 6 days since the damage was done without showers/rain and I was too busy to get this done sooner -- I booked the body shop for today a full month before hand, I managed to just get in a quick clean by my awesome detailers (not a full detail) just before delivering to the body shop, and took photos as a reference - normally I'd do the clean/detail/dress the car myself, but needed these guys b/c the rain wasn't cooperating, they can do it indoors.

I got lucky with some rare sun when I took these -- there was a visible rain storm coming in so I shot hella-fast to get the car over to the body shop asap -- idea being that I delivered a car that looked close to new (bumber aside) and expected to get it back the same. Would have liked more time to position the car, adjust saturation and check photos, but I didn't have it.

I got it back today at dusk, I'm hoping the weather holds tomorrow so I can shoot the after-shots to post. Knowing the weather around here, that could be awhile so I thot I'd post the before shots now.

Bottom line, the repairs and bumper look great, no wavy paint, the fit is arguably better than before, there is some minor dust in the clear, which can be expected, but that can be wet sanded and polished in the shop -- but the colour match, I think, is way off. My detailers agree, but they're reluctant to admit it as they were one of the people who referred me to the shop I used... I'll leave them out of it.

Right now I'm going to wait a week for the paint to dry/cure and see how it looks. I'm fairly sure I'll be taking it back to address this. After a quick look in near dark, the body shop owner told me they'd guarantee it as long as I owned the car -- I told him I'd take a good look in the light - he gave the usual speech about how matching paint on plastic vs. metal is hard given how the metalic flakes bond to different surface (agreed, to a point), and went on to say that the clear needs to be so thick (water based, harmful solvents no longer allowed) that it will look dark. He suggested I wait until after 10 washes to judge the final result...? WTF?

The bumper better lighten up fast because I think it looks like a completely different body part from a different car. I'm not an expert, but am somewhat anal -- I wasn't expecting perfection (again, see any other threads about colour matching).... but I was asking for "very close". I better hold off on any other comments until I can get the after-shots up.

FYI - the dealer had the front bumper painted at delivery b/c there were 3 small scratches just in front of the front left wheel when I rec'd it -- that paint job wasn't an exact match, but close enough that I was happy, especially compared to new cars on the lot. That will be my main arguement to the body shop.

Higher resolution versions of all files are here (much more clear, even tho they're snap-shots):


http://sean.phanfare.com/album/221554



I'll post a few lower rez ones below.

Chipped paint and licence plate left-overs from the Ford, left side plus close up





Left rear bumper and quarter -- Factory paint, not a perfect match, close enough tht I'm happy and what I was hoping for coming back after the fix. Rain was coming, no time to lose my shadow in the shot...




Closeup of the bumper + rear quarter




A lot of the damage disappears with sun reflected from the opposite direction.



After-photos as soon as the weather allows, likely 2 days or less.

Would you have left it as-is?

Yzerguy

Had a brief break in the clouds got some sun shots of the "fixed" bumper. I'm going to wait a week as a cool down period, then consider options.

All photos of after shots here:

http://sean.phanfare.com/album/221925

Lower resolution versions below.

---

Sun shining on the left side of the car. Pretty obvious...








Repair work is good, color isn't (there's dust/dirt on the bumper from the drive to work, paint is still soft so I'll leave it for now, there's also some reflected light)





Shade side of car



Front bumper painted a year and a half ago (on deliver) for comparison



Rear again

csmeance

damn that is way off. Go to them now and ell them that it looks like crap and to redo it. Letting the paint gas out won't make it any lighter to make it match for sure. The body shop is supposed to match the paint, not just spray on ASM or SSm without properly matching it. The front bumper looks much better compared to the back. I'd go and get a refund and get the dealer to do it.

Yzerguy

The sun was fully out by 2pm so I took it to a different body shop and then Acura for their thoughts. It seems like as soon as you say "bumper" to anyone in the business everyone gets sheepish and vague, because of the troubles matching paint on plastic bumpers vs. sheet metal... amazing. It's like they all circle the wagons to protect themselves and/or the industry, even though I didn't tell anyone where the work was done, at least not until the end of the conversation.

Thing is I could tell both guys wanted to say "it's bad", they both did eventually get around to saying, in vague ways, that it's too dark... but they're not sure if it can get better, I think they're just covering their asses even though I promised to diplomatic and not go back to the original body shop and say "this guy says you suck" or some such.

The 2nd body shop said it can happen, and if I'm not happy that I should take it back, they will address it. It's more noticable just in the shade but with bright sky and sun surrounding the shadows.

Both the 2nd body shop and Acura said the work done would have involved painting just the repairs and blended paint on either side of the repairs (see photos for damage location), but they would not have painted all the way around to the sides, and therefore the paint on the side of the bumpers, where it meets the metal, will be the original paint. The paint will look darker on the sides b/c the clear coat that was applied to the entire bumper will be making the orignal paint look darker. Both the dealer and the 2nd shop agreed the front bumper looks better (also painted at delivery).

My last stop was back at the shop that did the work. The owner was happy to come out and look with me and called out the painter who did the work. First they confirmed only the repaired damage is painted. My problem with these guys were that they say the front and back bumpers look the same. That said they're willing to try and solve it, but how? Paint the entire bumper? If you look at back trunk lid (vertical part), the bumper actually matches very well, and it's metal. They're concerned if they address the sides of the bumpers (color) then the bumper won't match the trunk...

Does any of this make any sense to anyone??? This shouldn't be rocket science, but it's starting to feel that way. Do I ask them to paint the entire bumper to match? Will there be too much clear?? Is there already too much clear and if so, can it be fixed? Thinking I need to take this to another level, if there is one.... don't know where to start.

We're expecting anothe week of rain or clouds starting tonight, the shop is busy, he said he could maybe get me in on Friday but every single shop is busy. Problem is I need my car to be out of town, so this'll have to wait for at least a couple of weeks.

Thanks for reading my rants (if anyone gets this far into the post) any and all feedback MUCH appreciated.

Yzerguy

Fixed bumper matches trunk (forgot to post, too late to edit)

csmeance

it seems to match due to :
A lighting Conditions
B The way the photo was taken
C Having a Semi-Clean car reflect the color of the ground

Yzerguy

I've looked at it about 40 times since yesterday, I think it's how the light is reflected off the trunk, but it doesn't seem to matter the nature of the light or the source, or what the light is reflecting off of, other than the trunk itself.

I know I'm not alone in this, here's the latest

https://acurazine.com/forums/ramblings-12/i-think-ive-lost-my-mind-154127/

Yzerguy

I doubt many are interested, but since having the color mismatch issue (or clear coat issues, depending), which I haven't resolved with the body shop, I've been nudged again...

Noticed it today, someone rubbed the bumper again, I'm fairly sure it happened yesterday and know where and which vehicle (an 07 RDX no less), ... very small damage, but it's there regardless. If it's the vehicle I think it is, it had a personalized license plate so I remember it but I'll leave it alone, can't prove it, even though I'm close to 100% sure it was him/her.

I'm still negotiating with the body shop with the original color match issue, plus a scratch and dust in the clear coat. I'm not sure right now if I should bring up the new damage, still need to think about it.

Regardless, thought I'd post about it for anyone who may be researching bumper damage, if it's minor, you may as well touch it up and leave it alone, it's not been a week since the (bad) repair and I've been rubbed again... It took 18 months before any probs, but I guess it'll get ya sooner or later... a good case for leaving minor bumper scrapes/chips alone.

Cheers, Sean

csmeance

loook at the last picture in post 6. THat can sum up to you the differernce. Get them to get acura to paint it properly. Just the dust in the clearcoat can show you that they aren't professionals. If they noticed the dust, they wouldn't have given you bac the car until proper. Just tell them that you are nont happy and you either want a refund, they can pay acura to repaint it or you face them with a lawsuit. Just the lawsuit will show them that you are not joking around with this matter and that you are serious.