vesnyder

A month after I picked up my 2014 ES I drove into a parking lot curb and really scratched up the front air dam. In most lights it is barely noticeable but in the afternoon brightness it is really noticeable. Any suggestions on ways to fix short of having the front clip repainted? Thanks

lesz

There are people who do minor repairs on bumpers that don't require completely repainting the bumper. Just like the guys who do paintless dent repair work, the bumper repair guys are mobile, and they likely move from one dealer to another to do repairs at various dealerships in an area. You might want to talk to the service managers at a few dealers to see if they have someone that they work with. I'm guessing that they might also use that type of repair if they have cars in their inventories that get scratches or other minor damage on the bumpers as transport damage or even while sitting on their lots.

I suspect that this kind of repair is likely not to be as flawless as it would be if the entire bumper was repainted, but, if the damage is down low, it isn't likely that you would ever notice minor imperfections unless you crawled down on your hands and knees and looked at the repaired area from a few inches away.

As an alternative, I'd guess that, if the damaged area is small, a body shop could sand down the area and spot in new color just on the damaged area and, then, finish the job by respraying clear over a larger area but not the full bumper. Again, the results would not have the same level of perfection as they would have if the entire bumper was refinished, but, if the area is low enough, the repair would likely not be noticeable. If it was my car, I'd check with a good body shop to get their opinion about whether this or some other solution short of repainting the entire bumper might work satisfactorily.