So not two weeks after buying a 2020 Toyota Corolla, I stopped in to the dealership to have them check the headlight alignment since one of them seemed a tad bit off. After a few minutes I was on my way, and after I got to where I was going, I happened to glance down at my front bumper and was horrified to see a deep knick in the bumper cover about the size of a pea! The knick was through the paint and well into the plastic, revealing a very obvious black spot. Anyone who has had something like this happen knows the gut wrenching feeling that completely deflates that new car excitement. The gouge was so deep that touch up paint did little other than cover the black plastic, but is still very noticeable.
Assuming this happened in the shop, I called the service manager first thing Monday morning, and much to my surprise he was extremely amicable and offered to have have the front bumper cover repainted for me at no charge by a guy who comes into the dealership one day a week and does these types of repairs (read, not by a body shop). I was elated at his offer to have this blemish erased and my car restored to mint condition, but he explained to me that the downside of this was that I would have a brand new car with a repainted bumper, and a repainted bumper is never the same as OEM.
Years ago I had an '87 Camaro whose front bumper I had repainted numerous times, and it always chipped so easily after each repainting. What I am wanting to know is, are the modern aftermarket paints as durable as the OEM paint job, or will I end up with a bumper that looks much worse over time if I get it repainted now? Am I better off just living with this single blemish and keeping with the OEM paint on the rest of the bumper? I will be putting upwards of 30,000 highway miles a year on this car, so the likelihood of future high speed encounters with cinders and stones is very high.
I'd really like to hear from anyone who has experience with how well bumper covers hold up that were painted within the last couple years.
Assuming this happened in the shop, I called the service manager first thing Monday morning, and much to my surprise he was extremely amicable and offered to have have the front bumper cover repainted for me at no charge by a guy who comes into the dealership one day a week and does these types of repairs (read, not by a body shop). I was elated at his offer to have this blemish erased and my car restored to mint condition, but he explained to me that the downside of this was that I would have a brand new car with a repainted bumper, and a repainted bumper is never the same as OEM.
Years ago I had an '87 Camaro whose front bumper I had repainted numerous times, and it always chipped so easily after each repainting. What I am wanting to know is, are the modern aftermarket paints as durable as the OEM paint job, or will I end up with a bumper that looks much worse over time if I get it repainted now? Am I better off just living with this single blemish and keeping with the OEM paint on the rest of the bumper? I will be putting upwards of 30,000 highway miles a year on this car, so the likelihood of future high speed encounters with cinders and stones is very high.
I'd really like to hear from anyone who has experience with how well bumper covers hold up that were painted within the last couple years.
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