I picked up a 2013 Starfire Pearl on which the previous owner replaced the front bumper. The color is quite off, especially on one side compared to the fender. Is it possible that the car was parked partially in the sun and one side was exposed more and aged more towards the original color and the more white version just hasn't aged yet?

It bugs me, I'm considering having it repainted to get it closer to the fenders. One shop I went to didn't want to attempt it.

 

Those urethane bumpers never quite match the rest of the car. It is an 11 year old vehicle. Leave it alone and save your money for necessary repairs and maintenance.

 

I was in a minor accident a year ago (not my fault so I didn’t pay for the repair) and the front bumper cover needed to be replaced.

I knew it was going to be extremely difficult to paint match since the vehicle is #1 white #2 older and #3 not garaged.

Every “reputable” body shop I got an estimate from told me I should expect the bumper color to be slightly off when finished due to vehicle age, etc - and when I looked at before and after examples on their websites, mismatched paint everywhere. I just couldn’t accept that.. So I took my car to the only Lexus certified body shop in my state. They were the only ones to assure me I would not be able to see a difference in the paint. They were right. I have a keen eye for it and I cannot see any difference in the paint work.

So if you really want the paint to match you may want to reach out to a Lexus certified body shop and ask them what they think. You’re gonna pay big bucks for it but only you can decide if it’s worth it.

 

What Clutchless said. Urethane bumpers are indeed tough to match up, especially in white. Your vehicle is old enough to allow you to ignore that very minor paint difference.

 

LOL. That shop that declined to make the attempt knew it would be hard to color match the bumper and that you as a customer would not be pleased even if they got it to be a closer match. The best thing you could do is maybe have the body detailed with polish and a clay bar to get the best shine out of the old paint that may better match the newer painted bumper cover.

 

A quality job can be done.
The shop will mix (look for a body shop that mixes their own colors) your original paint using the code of your paint. If necessary they can adjust slightly.
They will paint your entire front bumper, and they will paint both front fenders, the front of the fenders will get full color application, and they will taper the color off as they near the doors. This is blending. You see the difference now because it is a straight cut between body panels. By painting the bumper closer in color to the existing paint, and fading into the the fenders, you will not see the difference. Both fenders and bumper will get applications of clear coat (3) to finish the job.

 

I know what blending is and I don't want that. If the entire bumper looked like the other side I would be fine, the side in the pic has the big difference for some reason.

 

I just had my Starfire Pearl LX570 bumper replaced due to road debris. It's my 3rd Starfire Pearl Lexus. Starfire...like some other whites... MUST BE blended as it can't be perfectly matched. In my case the only damage was the bumper...and I did not want to mess with the factory paint on the metal panels. So I only did the bumper ...and yes you can notice is you have a keen eye. But it doesn't look as different as your does in the picture. By the way....I have owned a 2013 like yours but traded it in on a 2019 a few years ago. I still miss the 2013. In many ways it was a more refined truck.

 

Yeah I'm not sure why one side is so different than the other. Either they sprayed it differently or one side had different sun exposer for a while and aged differently.

 

I can't say for sure that you do or do not have a difference from side to side. The paint fades over time and the fading is based on exposure to Sun and other things.

Pearlesence (sp?) adds depth in paint that makes the paint matching even more difficult.

Salim