Hi guys,

So I posted a while back about my TL's mismatched bumpers issue (2012 BWP TL), which is pretty common among white TLs. There's a new twist - I was talking to my service department and the Acura corporate rep on my last visit, they are willing to swap my bumpers with a loaner TL (same year) that does have matching bumpers. They would let me compare the two cars side by side to make sure the ones on the new car match my car before I actually do it. I have two hesitations:

1) There a vin number sticker on each bumper, but not visible on 2009 and later TLs from the outside. But with the swap, they would be different and may cause issues if someone looks when I trade it in. (Although you would have to take the bumpers off for them to be visible, so I'm less concerned with this one)

2) Since it will be paid by Acura, it would be reported to carfax etc. as having the bumpers replaced. Even though carfax does report car accidents specifically, having the bumpers replaced in the carfax record may look suspicious and insinuate an accident. I'm more concerned about this one impacting the value of the car when I trade it in down the road.

Any thoughts on whether I should do it? I plan to keep this car for a while so I was thinking it may be worth it.

Thanks in advance for any input you can offer. Happy Holidays.

 

is a slight mis-match in paint worth ALL of those troubles?




my 3G silver TL has a darker shade of bumpers.
Does it bother me? sometimes. Will I take a hit on trade in or create confusion to future buyers? NO!

 

That is a known issue on the acura white colors/light shades. 1 - should not be an issue if the numbers are on the inside of the bumpers. How often are they going to take them off to look at the inside of them? 2 - A clean carfax is usually a very valuable asset for your car - whether you sell to a private party or trade in to a dealer. We had a 2001 civic that looked good but had a minor accident show up when the acura dealer ran the carfax - they were very excited about it until they saw the report on it. They gave us 3k less because of having a blemish on the carfax report.

 

dont do it.. lowers your car value.

 

Yeah, not worth the trouble....

 

To the best of my knowledge it would only end up on a carfax if the dealership reported it. Since there is no damage I can't imagine in any senerio in which someone would report this. Regarding the VIN issue I'm not sure that anyone would care about all the parts being numbers matching as our cars are not collectors items. The only real concern in my mind would be related to the drivetrain i.e. motor, tranny, etc.

If it bothers you I would take them up on the offer. Just my 2 cents.

 

Would be interesting to compare the two. Yours may really be defective because they rarely entertain such ideas. Quality is usually very consistent so even though the paint is too thin, it is consistently too thin across every Acura. I would switch if you see the difference. I have seen dealers sell cars at any price they thought they could get even if it had a bad Carfax. Get real they are dealers they will argue both side of the street to make money! Who is going to check vin numbers on bumpers, seriously!

 

Can you not rip off or grind down that VIN sticker on the inside of the new bumper ?

 

We're talking about bumpers, bumpers, seriously, bumpers...c'mon we're talking about, bumpers? Bumpers, we're talking about bumpers...right, bumpers.

 

You put a lot of work into it already so why not.

 

Maybe the dealer would write up a detailed statement for the work, showing they were changed to correct color match, not because of any damage. Keep that invoice copy and show it to any prospective buyer who gets nervous about it down the road.

 

Sometimes it's more a lighting thing than a paint mismatch. Although I can't say in your case, you may want to be sure it's nothing more than that.

 

Thanks everyone for your input! Acura initially offered to repaint it, but since that will definitely impact the value of the car and the color still may not match, I had pretty much decided to let it go. I was recently at the dealership for service and the topic came up and we talked about swapping bumpers, I was pleasantly surprised when they agreed, so I thought it was worth exploring it a little bit.

JM2010 SH-AWD: Thanks for the suggestion! I did talk to the service adviser about writing up the work as a warranty item so it doesn't show up as damage in carfax. This is a possibility.

Treblig: lighting definitely is a factor, it's definitely worse in cloudy/rainy weather but it's noticeable pretty much all the time. The dealer/Acura rep said while this is common for white/lighter color cars, my car is definitely among the more noticeable ones that they have seen, which is why they are willing to correct it.

Anyways, I looked at the loaner today in the rain, its color match is not perfect, but much much better. I plan to go see it again on a nicer/sunny day just to see how the colors match. I'm not looking for perfection (although that would be nice), but realistically just something a little better/closer.

Thanks everyone again for your input! Happy Holidays!