Hit a curb, scratched up my bumper, what are my options?

[MitsukiGT]

I was parking my car and used the car next to me to judge distance to curb. I hardly felt anything at all, but was enought to know I hit something. When I got out to investigate I found the car next to me had its wheels touching the curb, so I misjudged. it mainly scratched up the bottom of the bumper in the center, only in the very center can I notice it walking by. But it is some pretty deep scratches and some paint is missing.

I have a few questions

1. Can I order a brand new bumper painted from the factory? Or will it come with no paint?
2. Take it to dealer
3. Try to fix myself?

My main concern is the dealer will not match the paint, I had dealer work done in the past on another car and the paint (white) didn't match, so I am very scared to take my G8 in.

What would you guys do? I can get pics up later today.

Thanks

[SRG963]

I was parking my car and used the car next to me to judge distance to curb. I hardly felt anything at all, but was enought to know I hit something. When I got out to investigate I found the car next to me had its wheels touching the curb, so I misjudged. it mainly scratched up the bottom of the bumper in the center, only in the very center can I notice it walking by. But it is some pretty deep scratches and some paint is missing.

I have a few questions

1. Can I order a brand new bumper painted from the factory? Or will it come with no paint?
2. Take it to dealer
3. Try to fix myself?

My main concern is the dealer will not match the paint, I had dealer work done in the past on another car and the paint (white) didn't match, so I am very scared to take my G8 in.

What would you guys do? I can get pics up later today.

Thanks

Bumpers come with no paint or primed, they typically always need painted.

I would take it to the dealership, that way you can complain if something's incorrect.

Another option is to order a GXP bumper cover, which is what I would do :)

[DQGTO]

Started this thread a little while back and the members gave me some excellent info: http://forum.grrrr8.net/showthread.php?t=4552

[Chewy]

Lets see pics...

I know first hand that this clear coat on these cars is VERY thin... VERY... I have wet sanded a ton on my Ford P/U truck with nary an issue but this car bit me and bit me hard! 475 bucks later I have a front fender that looks as good as new and has 3 coats of clear over the base instead of the factory 1.

I would take it to a professional body shop and have them look at it. It may be fixable and it may not be.

Chris

[MitsukiGT]

Here are the pictures, been raining here last 3 days so car is really dirty.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3628/3468091555_ec708fe563_b.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3510/3468904566_33e6afd2a2_b.jpg

[DQGTO]

some others will chime in i am sure but this is just what happens sadly. I know a lot of people on here who stressed about it at first and tried to do stuff to fix it but then it just ends up happening again. I would just try to touch up what is on the vertical part, not the lower horizontal part bc that will just get scratched up again and again.

[SRG963]

Most of us have similar scratches :)

[Chewy]

You could spend the 500-700 bucks having it removed preped and painted but why? You can't really see them unless you're down there. I know it sucks but it it what it is... I have a huge chunk out of mine from a piece of rebar that was sticking out of a parking block. Nothing I can do about it but replace the whole front which isn't going to happen.

[norm8332]

I would leave it, it doesn't show. Mine is cracked even.

[majesticix]

I agree. Mine was scraped up too from going up my drive way a few times too quick. Never even knew how bad it was until someone on this board mentioned scraping theirs...damn them.

I had to get my painted anyway when I bumped into someone on the highway. Cost them $630 to have the bumper repainted and fixed. Yours would probably cost a bit less since there is no shaping necessary for your bumper like mine. I received a few estimates anywhere from $480 up to $760 from dealers and detailers.

Took mine to a dealer which had a nice paint booth and they did a fantastic job. My $625 bill also included a new Pontiac Badge which was about $80 in and of itself which they *HAD* to replace because reusing the old one would be too difficult. BS...but what did I care, I wasn't paying :)

Minus the license plate bracket and Pontiac badge which I needed...you shouldn't have to pay much more than $400 from my experience anyway, but I wouldn't bother unless you've got a good painter and extra cash to burn.

[MitsukiGT]

Thanks for the response. I guess I am more worried that the paint will continue to peel away.

[SRG963]

Thanks for the response. I guess I am more worried that the paint will continue to peel away.

I've had mine for a year, and it hasn't peeled.

[-Ray-]

Thanks for the response. I guess I am more worried that the paint will continue to peel away.

You'll be fine, only you know it's there. I'll pretend I don't know. ;)
I scratched my bumper cover in Chicago's McComick center last summer. Really made me sick. I had it fixed and painted a couple weeks ago.
The bottom is already scraped. It's the nature of the beast as they say.

This thread will self destruct in 2 seconds. :poof:

[PerfectD3]

Man, before the pics I was wondering how bad it was. Take a look at any F-body, everyone of their underbody bumpers are scratched to heck. It's the nature of the beast, no one will no it's there but you.

[PostalCherokee]

Last month I bottomed out leaving a Walgreens. Looked and it's scratched good but you can't see it unless you lay down and looked so the hell with it.

[Junkman2008]

I think everyone who has a front fascia low enough to hit a curb or parking block has damage like that. The only thing you can hope to do if it bothers you is to make it less noticeable. Here's what I did for a friend with a really nasty scratch in a much more noticeable area.


Okay boys and girls, another one from the desk of The Junkman. A friend of mine showed up in her 2002 Black Corvette Coupe with what appeared to be the damage caused by a truck which had backed up onto her front bumper. The damage was deep and nasty. I washed the bumper and dried it off just so that I could get a clean look at how much damage was actually there. Here's what I was looking at:

http://www.pc-surgeon.net/images/cforum/vondavette1.jpg

http://www.pc-surgeon.net/images/cforum/vondavette2.jpg


Here's a short video of the same damage:

Initial Damage Assessment (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DldwXPQxrqY&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Eyoutube%2Ecom%2Fmy%5Fvideo s%5Fedit2%3Fns%3D1%26video%5Fid%3DDldwXPQxrqY%26ne xt%3D%252Fmy%5Fvideos2%253Fpi%253D0%2526ps%253D20&feature=player_embedded)


As you can see, this was not going to be a walk in the park. :willy: Armed with my Batman utility belt filled with various Adam's products, I confidently stepped up to the plate!


Step 1. The first thing I did was wash the bumper so that I could see what damage was actually done. The next thing I did was claybarred the bumper in order to remove any impurities in the paint. Remember, the prep is the key to the success that you will see when the work is done. This Vette is a daily driver and is not garaged so my final goal was not perfection, it was to make the bumper appear to have never been hit at all.

http://www.pc-surgeon.net/images/cforum/vondavette3.jpg

Here's video of me hitting the bumper with Adam's Detail Clay Bar (http://www.adamspolishes.com/p-36-adams-detailing-clay-bar.aspx).

Claying the Finish (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0_pFgsjlJk&feature=channel_page)


A funny side note: After I dried the car off from the clay bar work, my friend gasped and then stated with concern in her voice that the scratch was still there. Since I hadn't done anything to remove the scratch up to that point, it was still supposed to be there. I said to her, "Ye of little faith need to remain in the boat." She being of strong religious conviction, immediately got my joke and laughed. Those of you who don't get it didn't pay attention in Sunday school! http://www.pc-surgeon.net/images/cforum/smileys/lol.gif

Step 2. The next thing I did was hit the bumper with some Adam's Swirl and Haze Car Polish (SHR) (http://www.adamspolishes.com/p-97-adams-swirl-haze-remover-car-polish.aspx), a Adam's Orange Dual-Action Swirl Killer Pad (http://www.adamspolishes.com/p-334-adams-dual-action-swirl-killer-pad.aspx), and some Adam's Detail Spray (http://www.adamspolishes.com/p-45-adams-detail-spray.aspx).

In an earlier thread that I posted (http://www.adamsforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1829&highlight=junkman), I talked about using detail spray on different pads along with SHR. The premise was that you could adjust the cutting action of a pad/polish combo by adding detail spray to the pads (thus thinning out the SHR). In this case I used a wet orange pad (pad sprayed down with detail spray), because I didn't feel that this situation warranted the need for the full cutting action of a dry orange pad.

I basically made two passes over the bumper with this combination. After wiping the bumper down, I took some pictures of the bumper up to that point:

http://www.pc-surgeon.net/images/cforum/vondavette4.jpg


Step 3. I finished the job up with a coat of Adam's Fine Machine Car Polish (http://www.adamspolishes.com/p-140-adams-fine-machine-car-polish.aspx). Took a few more pictures too! Again, this is a daily driver which is not garage kept. Although that is the case, you can see that the job turned out pretty nice. The little imperfections that you see in the pictures below are actually things being reflected off my garage wall.

http://www.pc-surgeon.net/images/cforum/vondavette5.jpg

http://www.pc-surgeon.net/images/cforum/vondavette6.jpg

That's how I do it. Hope that helps.

The Junkman :thumbsup:

[-Ray-]

I don't see how it helps. The OP had no paint to buff out.

[PerfectD3]

I don't see how it helps. The OP had no paint to buff out.

Yes, but Junkman's post was still informative. Granted the OP looked to have some deep scratching/gouging going on, this *may* help (with some wet sanding as well). If it were me, I wouldn't care, cuz ain't no one going to know and it's going to happen again.