Any bodyshop PAINT experts here?
 

hi, im going to purchase a rear bumper and i wanted it painted black, now can i just give the rear bumper to a body shop and they can match it or do they need my whole car to be in the garage? im doing the install myself, its just the OEM rear bumper from a nissan dealership.

someone told me they need the whole car sitting at the body shop in order to match it with the rest of the car, i dont understand that, its magnetic black (color code G41), isnt that all theyll need and use? why would my car have to be in the body shop for?

They would need to blend it to make any differences less noticeable. It would be faster and cheaper to just drop off the bumper, but then you have a higher chance of the paint being different shades.

Zeetah, I would advise you to just drop the car off if you can so they can blend in the trunk and rear quarters...black is a color that shows every imperfection(as you already know) and you can sometimes tell with a black car that the bumper has been resprayed.

On the other hand, if its a top notch body shop they should be able to match it pretty close if you wind up only dropping the bumper off for a spray...but you run the risk of it not matching 100%

This is one of those instances where you really don't want to cheap out on picking the body shop that's doing the paint work.

They can repaint just the whole bumper you drop off or spray the bumper with a blend to surrounding panels.

Painting just the entire bumper may show differences in the adjoining panels.

Your painter may need to play with a few mixes to get it right, not just pull a code and spray.

So to sum it up, find a painter with skill

even from the factory bumpers are painted separately from the assembly plant where they paint the metal panels.

all the pre-painted plastics like your a-pillars, mirrors, side pieces, splash guards, all painted at different locations.

for me, i would just drop off the rear bumper if it is an oem piece, or you have already test fitted it to ensure proper fitment. especially a black. id be more worried about the fitment in your case.

now for my silver, these colors are hard to match. i would have to let the bodyshop mix and match.

Yeah but at the factory a robot is painting all the parts and the variation between each part is minimal as compared to different people painting it, where human "error" occurs.

if fitment is an issue, than that will be another dilemma. im buying my rear bumper from a Nissan dealership OEM, like the stock. so shouldnt that be fine?

i kind of see what you guys mean.

i called 4 body shops today and told them im buying an OEM rear bumper from nissan dealership and want it painted, none of them asked me to bring the entire car in, is that weird?

if, that IS the case where they need my whole car there, than why dont i just take off my dented oem bumper that i have to take off anyway, which im replacing with the new one, and have them match the new OEM bumper with the EXISTING dented one, that should be perfect right?

but, idk why none of them asked for my whole car there to match everything, they all just said ok and matching wont be an issue.

you will still want to test fit it before paint.

With a good body shop, you should be ok, but I added a widebody to my C6 corvette, which was jet black and the mismatched the paint, even though they had the car there. Wound up having to get an entire repaint to make it right.

People buy prepainted body kits from nissan, and have aftermarket ones painted without blending, so you can do it, but blending is the best option. Depends on how picky you are.

yes, im going to buy the oem stock base model rear bumper from nissan test fit it myself, and then take both bumpers to the bodyshop to get them painted.

shouldnt the fit be perfect if its the exact same bumper as my current, especially since it will come from nissan? OEM

if, the fitment is off somehow, then what? man... this is such a headache, i was hoping to get the new OEM bumper painted and give them my current one for them to match it, and then just install it myself

It should be the same, but sometimes there are manufacturing variations that need a little tweak.

The last time I did something like you are doing, it was on a 97 Integra GSR that we had for a week and someone backed into it and left. We just brought the bumper cover in, the body shop painted it and I installed it with no issues. I'm 99% certain that will be your experience.

oh man, thanks for the feedback, took a load off me, i feel better. i hope so too about fitment. i hate fkn low life scum vandals

what small tweaks are we talking about? something i can fix myself?

Probably, something might need to be trimmed a little, or a mounting hole bored out a little, but oen is inlikely

when you say blend in the trunk and rear quarters, do you mean they have to spray something on them as well?

cool, thanks for the heads up

you said not just a code and spray, and when i asked all 4 about what if the color doesnt match, 2 of them said its just black, i get the color code and spray........................ :ugh2: :shakes head::wtf2:

i definitely wont take it to those guys

I'm a professional painter. The reason they would want the vehicle there is to match the paint on your car. For most every pair manufacturer there can be anywhere from 1 to sometimes on the high side 10 variations to your specific code. Could be darker, lighter, coarser flake, just to give a few examples. With the car there they will be able to spray a test panel to get the best match for your color. As far as blending the quarters and the trunk. Don't do it. I'm very good at what I do. But no matter what, you can never top a factory finish. Don't go over factory paint unless you have to.

RAE370Z is correct....
Darin
Production manager at a large collision facility and spend a lot of time at paint.

I dont know if nissan does it but there are oems that if say the bumper is painted separate from the body, they actually use a camera to measure the shades and grade them, then they match up a bumper to a car with the same grade to avoid any mismatch issues. I believe that is usually only done in the factory though, and again nissan may not do it. Either way a quality paint guy is ALWAYS worth the extra money, especially if he's cheaper, some of the really good guys actually charge decent rates, and if you do find one it is usefull to keep him as a drinking buddy for future work. lol

If your don't mind me asking what were you quoted? I've been thinking of getting my front bumper and hood resprayed because when I bought it had some chips but being black it only got worse. My first thought was to respray it but looking in the For Sale section I sometimes see hoods and bumpers going for about $200 which seems pretty fair to me.

For a bumper, IMO dropping it off by itself is okay. anything like fenders or other body panels though, definitely leave your car there.

As some said dont go for blending you can blend a part of it without doing a clear-coat over whole area, clearcoat patch is more visible.

What we do is we keep the fuel cap and starting with the OEM paint code match the paint on the cap (can be removed if done quickly) so if there are any shades off its adjusted, then just paint the part without needing the car or blending.

My Nismo front bumper conversion was obviously painted separately from my car with no blending, and you can't tell the difference. My car is Gun Metallic which has a ton of metal flake in it.

It should really be no problem if the painter is any good.

There is a ton of variables… Does the painter have the right code, can he match it to the right variant, does he have a sun gun or proper lighting to match it, was he hung over, do they have good paint (sikkens, not that dupont crap). How old is the car… I recently had a door painted on my metallic black truck and they had to blend the door next to it. To the average person, you would not notice but someone in the business could tell if they looked hard.
Basically, find a good shop, pick the painters brain, and for the love of god STAY AWAY FROM MAACO.

where ever i decide to get it painted, when stupid winters done..... im paranoid about leaving my car anywhere, so im just going to leave them the bumper and they can try to match it to that.

thanks for the info

i will definitely not do blending, i didnt want to anyway, just wanted to know what blending was.

do you know what that cameras called?

as for quotes, remember this is in the GTA ontario canada.

i bought my car new, its 2012, only 13,000 kms on it. and its in mint condition, it even still smells new.

im so picky about everything and crazy about keeping the Z in mint condition that i might sell the car and buy a new one, its driving me insane.

this is for the rear bumper only, G41 metallic black, NO installation, ONLY paint

vaughanfinetouch - $400 cash
pfaff auto works - $719
427 auto collision $625 + tax (13%)
velocity - $350
assured eastern - $400 + tax
avenue collision (affiliated with 427 auto collision) - $350 + tax

OEM bumpers from Nissan dealership - Rear $419 + tax, front $438 + tax

i havent seen the full extent of the damages because i cant wash my car, to look for scratches, i dont see any other dents, well i seen a minor dent below the right fang, the horizontal part. and scratches on the front bumper as well as the hood, but im praying those can be fixed easily, im not too sure how deep.

thanks to all above for the really helpful info, i wish canada had as many resources as the states....

Just out of curiosity.... Why are you paranoid leaving your car?

pm sent

Without the car what are they matching it to? They are going to pull a code and spray it. You might get lucky though :stirthepot:

there going to match it to the bumper i leave with them, they will have my rear bumper off my Z and the new one, so 2 bumpers.

As long as your bumper matched the rest of the car from the factory, great. My s2000 was spa yellow and had about 4 colors on it. Bumpers, Mirrors, Front lip and gas cap were all different shades. Annoyed the hell out of me