I just bought a 1998 SC400 and the rear bumper is several shades different(darker?) than the rest of the car. Could this be from the sun? Is this a common problem with these cars? The carfax was clean with no accidents and the lines are all perfectly straight. It's just bothering me and I hope it didn't get hit and replaced...

 

Basically what you have is paint on two different materials handling the aging paint differently. The bumpers are plastic and the car is metal.

 

Usually the sun will whiten paint as.it fades. Try to buff it out with compound and see what happens.

 

Bingo - we have a winner!

 

Don't know about that. I've never seen a plastic bumper darken with age. The OP said his bumper is several shades darker than the rest of his car.

A PO might have had the bumper replaced or repainted, and didn't go through his insurance company.

 

I should have updated this thread sooner. I ended up finding out that it was in fact repainted. They claimed that it was due to fading and it was never hit. I am hesitant to believe that but I like the car so much it's whatever even if it was. There is no accident history and the inner trunk doesn't look tampered with. Good enough for me.