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The other day I was hit while parked. It looks like the person didn't judge their car right when backing out and side-swiped my tire/fender behind my rear tire. It was a hit and run, so I have to pay this out of pocket or if I use insurance, pay my deductible. It didn't look that bad at first, however, I could see that the clear coat was gone and some paint too. Here's a photo. The white is either wax or paint transfer.
Anyways. I went to two body shops that were recommended and got good reviews. I got two quotes. They're about $100 apart (the difference is 2 hours of labor). I guess they will sand down the bumper, fix it, then repaint it. They also priced out to replace my clear bra (mylar) which also is a big difference, but at this point, really doesn't matter.
My brother suggested I buy a bumper and have someone put it on. He got me a price for it, said I would pick it up at a Mazda dealership, so it's OEM (finding out if it's painted already, but I think it is), and I'd need to have someone install it. The bumper alone is half the cost, but unsure what labor would be to remove/replace it, so it could turn out to be the same price.
What are the pros/cons between the two choices?
Not sure if it matters, but I have a 2011 Mazda 3 sGT HB. If you need more info, please ask. Thanks!
From the picture it seems like there is a dent in the bumper. I usually start with a good wash and rubbing compound to take all the other car's paint off and see what is left and how bad it looks. If you want a decent repair job, they have to take the bumper off, fix it, paint it and then put it back on. If they are not doing the R&R, then the lines between the bumper and the quarter panel are going to show.
Also you need a warranty on the work so if the colors start to mismatch in a year or two, you can go back.
I had a similar incident with my then new Honda CRV, my deductible is high. So I fixed the maligned parts and then buffed all the scratches. I was missing paint in some areas, so masked the good areas with tape and put touch up paint where the paint was gone. I used a very fine painting brush. Then I had to wet sand these areas with fine sanding paper. I kept the good areas masked. I was given a quote of ~ $1200 by a good body shop, but did it myself with $16 of supplies. I sold the car a few months later and the buyer could not notice the area even after I pointed it out to him. He was very blah about it. I guess it had come out good.
I don't believe there is a dent in the bumper, but from the photo, it looks like there is. That "bump" area is where the paint is gone. Also, what you see is after I washed and waxed it (w/rubbing compound). The white is the wax that is stuck because of the lack of paint and I hadn't cleaned it up. Bad photo, I know.
Both places will remove the bumper, fix it, paint it (feather in the color to the rest of the bumper and put the clear coat back on), and put it back on. Also, warranty on both for the lifetime of the car (as long as I own it).
If there is no damage to the bumper itself, try taking it to a good detailer.
Lot of it looks like paint transfer and with some touch up paint and some wet sanding, it might be fixable for a lot less money.
If there is no damage to the bumper itself, try taking it to a good detailer.
Lot of it looks like paint transfer and with some touch up paint and some wet sanding, it might be fixable for a lot less money.
I don't think the photo shows the depth of how much paint is gone. The clear coat is completely one. Whatever is left is matte, which leads me to believe the paint is completely gone too. Even if they used touch-up paint, I'd be missing a lot of clear coat on it. I'm assuming that wouldn't be a good thing.
Maybe this is a better photo to show how bad the damage is. In this photo, the white is paint transfer, but you can see that there's a lot of paint layers missing from my car.
That's why I was asking.....is it better to fix/repaint or replace with an OEM bumper?
Psichick, you need a better pic. One you have almost looks like you have a hole through. Ahh, just saw the other one. Yeah, no hole.
But here's the thing.
This is not bumper. This is bumper cover. Bumper covers are very easy to replace. On most newer cars, they are clipped on and have maybe few pieces of hardware securing them in place.
They are not expensive to buy also. Certifit or ebay can get you one for 50-60 bucks.
Problem is, they come black plastic and must be painted. To paint a bumper cover is anywhere between 300-400.
What I see from the 2nd pic can be mostly sanded off. Go to a parts store and buy a sand paper kit. You need from 800 grit and up wet or dry. Start with 800, VERY gently, not to go through the paint, plenty of water soak, and go all the way to 2000 grit. You will be surprised, how little of damage is left. Sand by hand. Like I said, it has to be very gentle touch.
From that on, you have 2 choices - leave it as is, as it's a bumper cover, and the very moment you pay for paint job, someone else will hit it again or, paint it, DIY or pay someone for a bit of filler and color match paint. Your best bet is to place bid request on craigslist. It's airbrush job, folks can come to you for that.
Here's my DIY on my Ridgeline:
center scrape was alll the way through the paint and primer and into plastic
I don't think the photo shows the depth of how much paint is gone. The clear coat is completely one. Whatever is left is matte, which leads me to believe the paint is completely gone too. Even if they used touch-up paint, I'd be missing a lot of clear coat on it. I'm assuming that wouldn't be a good thing.
Here is a test you can do to see if the clear is gone.
Since you already have a rubbing compound, gently rub the affected area with the product and preferrably a white microfiber towel. If you see black paint transfer on to the towel, it means that clear is gone and only left with base coat.
What I basically see from your pictures are bunch of paint transfers and scratches.
That's all in the plastic then right? Not sure I would do too much. Replace the cover now and spend on good matching paint job and you're just likely to have more chips and scuffs as you go along within fairly short order.
I would be looking to clean up the paint transfer/scratches and fix it up as is best can be, without replacing the cover yet. I don't know. At very least I would go through that and then see how it looks. If after that it still looked too "wrecked" on that new of a car, maybe then I would spring for the bumper cover and paint/labor. But I wouldn't just jump to automatically doing the big expensive fix.
Now, if you had the other car's insurance info, that would be another story. On their dime, then you get it all fixed 100% properly.
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