Car was hit&run on parking lot
#16
Lead Lap
iTrader: (10)
I had a metallic blue Avalon where the paint was damaged by some a$$holes throwing eggs. Went thru to the primer. Front bumper, driver's side, rear quarter, and rear bumper corner. Required refinishing on 2/3 of the car. All paint damage, $2500. After painting you couldn't tell where the new paint started and ended. Point is, it all depends on the paint shop.
The guys' in OP's case simply masked the car and painted the bumper with the color code on the door without taking the time to blend the fenders as well...
#17
Lexus Fanatic
A good painter should be able to match the bumper without blending into the fenders. Remember on the ES you'd have to blend the hood too since the bumper comes up over the grille.
Take it back. Make them keep redoing it until its done right.
FYI, the bumper wasn't masked and painted. I'm sure they painted it off the car, they just didn't match the paint well.
Take it back. Make them keep redoing it until its done right.
FYI, the bumper wasn't masked and painted. I'm sure they painted it off the car, they just didn't match the paint well.
#18
Lead Lap
Thanks for the helpful input, lesz. I'm afraid for them to touch the other panels to get a decent match. I don't mind if the bumper shade is a bit off, but, as others have mentioned, the shade difference is too great. There is a shade difference with the rear bumper and the rest of the body, but that difference for me is acceptable. The front is a different story...it really looks like the bright white you would see from the Camrys/Corollas.
Possibly, but, more likely, there would not be a need to blend into the hood. The slope of the nose of the ES changes at the intersection of the hood's sheet metal and top portion of the bumper, and the hood and the top portion of the bumper are not on the same plane. When the paint technician is evaluating to determine whether to blend or where to stop a blend, he/she is going to look for places in the shape of the vehicle where the planes change. With a change in the plane from the hood to the top portion of the bumper, the hood is going to catch the light differently from that top portion of the bumper, which is likely to make blending into the hood unnecessary because the two different planes will make slight differences in the paint unnoticeable.
#19
Lexus Fanatic
In his picture I can clearly see a color difference between the area above the grille and the hood...
#20
Lead Lap
On my Nebula Gray Pearl ES, which has not had paint work, if it is parked in the sun, you can clearly see, from various angles, how the light hits the hood differently than the way it hits the top portion of the bumper, and the same thing would be true with most metallic or pearl colors.
With metallic and pearl colors, you judge whether you have a good paint match, not by looking at adjacent panels where there is a change in the angles of their planes, but by looking at adjacent panels that share the same plane, such as, in the OP's pictures, where the bumper meets the fender on the side of the vehicle.
It should also be noted, though, that in the case of the repair on the OP's vehicle, if the problem is that the proper amount of pearl was not used in the second stage of the refinishing process, it could well be the case that the top of the bumper and the hood might not satisfactorily match, but, if the proper amount of pearl were used, the changes in those plane angles should make it unnecessary to blend into the hood. If any blending were still necessary with the proper amount of pearl, it would likely only be into the fenders. If the proper amount of pearl was used in the 2nd stage of the painting process, you likely would not notice any difference in color between the hood and bumper, but you still might see a difference between the fender and the bumper. Because using the right amount of pearl is so critical, that is what makes a tri-coat pearl finish like a white pearl so much harder to work with and match than other colors with a normal 2-stage painting process.
Last edited by lesz; 07-28-14 at 12:48 PM.
#22
Lexus Fanatic
The body of the car is together (doors, etc), but trim (bumpers, mirrors, trim pieces) are typically painted separately.
#23
Lead Lap
While modern cars with integrated bumpers come with a higher level of beauty in their design, there is a part of me that longs for the old days with the chrome-finish bumpers. The last vehicle that I had with a chrome-finish bumper was a 1998 Toyota 4-Runner. With it, I could open the tailgate and let the dog jump into the back of the vehicle without worry. With my current Lexus GX, I can't do that because I have to worry about the dog's nails catching and scratching the pretty painted bumper. When I want to put something in the back of the GX or in the trunk of the ES, I have to be careful to make sure that my clothing is not brushing up against the bumper and scratching the paint. If a bumper on the 4-Runner had gotten damaged, it could have easily been replaced without having to worry about whether it was going to match the rest of the vehicle. It seems like it used to be that the purpose of bumpers was to protect the rest of the vehicle. Now, the integrated bumpers seem to have a need to be protected themselves.
Last edited by lesz; 07-29-14 at 07:14 AM.
#24
Driver
Thread Starter
Paint match was corrected. Now with new problems:
1. Front sensors not flush with bumpers
2. Paint accumulation in the holes for sensors (it seems sensors were forced through the holes)
I try to be an easy customer, but these are simply horrendous!
I'm bringing it back in. The employees there already know me as I'm constantly visiting their shop.
1. Front sensors not flush with bumpers
2. Paint accumulation in the holes for sensors (it seems sensors were forced through the holes)
I try to be an easy customer, but these are simply horrendous!
I'm bringing it back in. The employees there already know me as I'm constantly visiting their shop.
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