Ok, as many of you are, I'm a perfectionist. My SRT has not one ding or scratch; however, on the sharp edge of the rear bumper cover, some jacka$$ must have dropped something on it while parked at work (the one day I did drive it there) in the garage. There is a 1/2 inch long X 1/8 inch wide gash in the plastic all the way to the black plastic. Basically, it peeled a chunk of paint off and took a little plastic with it. I sanded, covered with like 6 coats of touch-up paint, and polished, but it is still visible due to obvious reasons of using the little brush-type of paint. It is difficult to see, but it drives me crazy knowing that it's there. I was quoted about 500 - 800 bucks to have it repaired with no guarantee that the paint color will match perfectly. I even ordered a pint of factory paint and clear coat to use with my detail paint gun, but I've been hesitant to try to blend something that small and make things worse.

Please see the poll!

Thanks guys!

 

Why don't you hire one of those mobile guys that fix these type of problems for dealers?

They do pretty good work, and you won't have to replace the bumper. As to not matching the paint. Any good shop can match the paint perfectly.

 

Nooooooo, the last thing you want is one of those hacks to do a spot job on your car. I've seen tons of cars come in my shop that have had "bumper medic" parking lot paint jobs and every one looked like crap............and will peel after a year or so.

If the bumper bothers you that much then the only thing to do is take it to a reputable bodyshop and have it done the correct way. Not only will the color match and repair be undetectable but any good shop has lifetime warrenty on the paintjob(in case it peels, fades, etc).

 

I thought about having one of the mobile guys do it. I had that done to my G35 a couple of years ago for 75 bucks. They did an outstanding job actually, but that was in NH. I have no idea where to look here. The dealers told me they don't know of anyone (whatever).

 

A nice tail of the dragon or Carlisle bumper sticker perhaps?? Issue solved depending on the centering, Woody

 

Where are you in VA?

 

Drive it as is, cars get marks, its the nature of the beast. If you drive your car, it gets wear. I would not event attempt to have the bumper repainted. You know it will just show odd in the Sun.

Then your 1/2 scratch turns into an $800 bumper that looks like crap.

 

I was hit lightly in the rear of my roadster and it left two scrapes. The kid that did it was trying to slide through a stop sign behind me and I had to stop. His insurance card was outdated so I was (luckily) able to extract $500 cash from him. My Chrysler dealer removed the rear bumper, repainted, and it looks like new. That was the only blemish on the car.

On the other hand, I put $1500 into my SRT6 to repair a broken door handle and dent, plus having the front license plate holes filled. There was a similar gash/scratch on the top of the rear bumper and I decided to live with it. As I drive the car, I find little things like this but the cost of repair becomes unbearable. E,.g, one of the rims has a fresh gouge that either came from one of my kids dragging something in the garage (they all deny it, of course) or a pot-hole or piece of road debris. And recently I noticed three dings on one rear fender -- visible only when the light hits it right but looking like hail dents.

Live with it. When you get a few more, then get them all fixed.

 

My thoughts

 

There will always be 'one more thing'...even supermodels have flaws. Think of it as the equivalent of Cindy Crawford's beauty mark.

 

the way i see it is that if you try the repaint yourself and it doesn't work then you can send it to be repainted. if it does work then drinks are on you and a good job done!

 

i just shelled out $4200.00 to have some work done on mine. fixed a bunch of rock chips, new front and rear bumper, new rocker cover, busted fog light. they are pretty much painting the whole car cause im a perfectionist just like you. id say pay the money and sleep better at night.

 

[quote=ichon]Where are you in VA?[/qute]

I live in Alexandria.

All good points and they are all going through my brain!