lexusk8

This really sucks

This morning I just discovered the long scratch starting from the middle of the rear bumper to a good 14 to 16 inches towards the driver's side. What irritates me is that there's no trace of who did this, and that no one left a note saying they will pay for the damage. There's just no honesty out there. Some people are just not being careful out on the roads, and it's those people that should either get stiffly penalized by the DMV or should never drive.

Anyway I posted some pictures of the scratch, which should give you a good idea of how bad it is. Although I haven't taken any action yet, it looks like I have a few options:

(1) Have Toyota repaint the bumper
(2) Have Lexus repaint the bumper
(3) Purchase touch-up paint and do it myself

I hope that the bumper does not have to be replaced, as it would be very costly, and I don't want to have my insurance company involved with this. What am I looking at price-wise if I have either Toyota or Lexus repaint the bumper? Has anyone gotten previous body shop experience from Toyota?

Any feedback is much appreciated, thanks.

lexusk8

#2

lexusk8

#3

lexusk8

Last one.

George Hsieh

I have the same feeling,,, those people out there just don't know how hard we try to take care of our car...
hope you feel better soon.........

steviej

iTrader: (1)

Doug, my friend, you may luck out on this one.

It looks like white paint and scuffs on top of your. I took some black marks (very similar to this out of a white bumper) for my friend. I can't really tell from the pics, but does it look like any of your paint is missing?

I used 3M Fine Cut polishing compound (liquid not paste) and a small swatch of a clean terry cloth towel.
Dampen the cloth and squirt some compound onto it. Work it in in small circles. Keep a squirt bottle of water handy to maintain moisture. Take it slow and don't apply tons of pressure. Let the polish compound cut the white paint out not your elbow, if you know what I am saying.

Once that is done, then go to a cleaner wax and repeat process for the entire area.. This is much finer grit than the polish compound.
I got all the stuff, when's the next time you coming to Boston?

If that doesn't work, high speed buffing may work.

I hate touch up paint on large areas (bigger than 1/2" square). It never looks right.
Any good body shop can do the painting if you need to go that route. I suggest having the entire bumper repainted so that it blends well. Keep in mind, if the bumper has to be repainted, they gotta add flex to the paint besusse it is on plastic.

steviej

D2-AUTOSPORT

Ditto everything Steve said man, sorry someone did that, but it may come out, I have seen worse come out with the wheel!

Good luck man

Kohinoor

iTrader: (22)

sucks dude, but ill post pics of my bumper after a hit n run and youll be like

lexusk8

Steve, that "white paint" you see on top of the scratch is not actually white paint; it's part of the bumper paint missing. This seems to be sort of a sharp, clean scratch, probably from the chrome bumper of a pick-up truck since there's no different colored paints left behind on my bumper. Any kind of damage like that seriously gives me an eyesore every time I walk into or away from my car. And when I'm left in a position where I don't know who the perpetrator is, it gives me serious despair and anxiety. <sigh> These people...

Sorry for venting my frustration like that guys. I decide that I'll probably try to bring the car over to a Lexus body shop tomorrow and see what they have to say about fixing the scratch. I gotta get this scratch repaired before the winter rolls in as I don't want any kind of corrosion to set in

Anyone have any idea of how much a full bumper repaint costs?

EGainer

dont use lexus or toyota.... their prices are too high. find a reputable body shop.... thats what i did, cost me 1300 for my tail light and bumper, but they did an awesome job. not mako style either, and i had to have my bumper replaced....

squarehat

I feel your frustration (especially since my car is the same color as yours), but at least my bumper mishap was due to my own stupidity . In August of '02, I was running a little late for work in the morning, and the garage I park in was getting full. Eyeing a spot on my left next to a giant pillar, I sped up and quickly pulled into the spot, to beat out a brand new Camry trolling for spaces. Unfortunately, the joke was on me, as the long front overhang of the '96 ES came to haunt me as I took the turn too wide, and scuffed the front passenger side corner of my bumper on a concrete pole. To make matters worse, the concrete had little bits of limestone that put three deep scrapes in my bumper. I used rubbing compound and sandpaper to smooth it down. I used touch-up paint, which looks fine from more than 4 feet away, except on bright sunny days, when the metallic interference of the touch up paint sticks out like a sore thumb compared to the even metallic pattern of the factory paint.

My local Lexus dealer has an airbrush guy who comes by in a van twice a week. I was quoted $120 to airbrush that side of the bumper. This guy takes care of doing touch-up work on the pre-owned vehicles before sale. When I talked to him for the estimate, he had just finished doing a touch-up on an off-white LS430 (I think the color is called Parchment). The paint was very pearlescent (not sure if it's a two stage metallic or a 3-stage pearl coat), but anyhow, the work looked incredible, and this was in bright sunlight, where repaints of metallic colors are most obvious (once again, due to the way the interference lines up). I never got around to having this done due to sinking a lot of other money into the car (17" wheels/tires, new power steering pump, and the 90K service with timing belt/water pump), but as soon as my car spending gets back on budget, I'll give the guy a ring. You might want to call your dealer (or even another nearby highline dealership like BMW or MB) and see if they have a similar guy who does touch-ups to the CPO cars. $120 sure beats out $600 or so for a full repaint, especially if you park the car on the street frequently and have repeated problems with idiots hitting your car (I watched a lady back into the front of my parked car when she had a good 4 feet behind her car to manuever, but my license plate took the impact like a champ).

Toysrme

$120 a shot is a great price. Hell I'd take that up any day. (except now 'cause this new stereo I'm piecing together is killing me hah)

lexusk8 I doubt that is going to be polished out. To myself it looks like you've been scrape dthrogh the primer to the grey plastic bumper, but maybe that's just me!

By all means touch up if you're comfortable with that.
Touch-up Guide

Anywho's; I have a great repair shop down here that's going to take care of all my dings, three spider cracks & billion chips on the front end.

juan01

Damn, that sucks man. Those look pretty bad. I myself have lots of dings and scratches on my car.. plus the missing foglight and broken plastic underpiece from hitting a dog , but it's hard to see with the beige..

Hope you find a way to fix it cheap. Good luck.

lexusk8

squarehat: I'll give that a shot and call up the Lexus dealership to see if such a specialized airbrush or touch-up person exists there. The price you mentioned seems very good, as long as the paint adheres and blends really well with the rest of the bumper.

Toysrme: As much as I like to do the touch-up job myself (especially after I got the Auto Sharp Pen for the black body), I don't think I'll go with that route this time. For one thing, this scratch definitely requires primer, paint and a flex additive. Another reason is that it's getting pretty cold here, temps in the 40s or 50s, not particularly the ideal weather to do touch-ups.

Thanks for all your helpful comments and support guys; keep 'em coming. This forum is evidently growing everyday...

D2-AUTOSPORT

Hey Doug, I was just thinking this may be a good excuse to do that black painted cladding project that we were talking about at the mini meet!!

May I offer up a little encouragement?!



Sorry man, but for some reason i LOVE this car!