m a x i m u s

i took my car into the dealership several years ago, and it came back with a deep scratch on the front bumper. deep as in down-to-the-plastic deep. i pointed it out and they fixed it, no problem. it took them a couple of hours. i asked my rep how that was possible, and he said that he's "not sure" what gets done, but "his guy" does something to fix it, without spraying the whole bumper. i was too happy at the time to try to get more info, but i should have.

fast forward to 2011, and to a different city, and i have another deep scratch on my front bumper. i called around to a few bumper scratch repair places, and they all claim that they cannot spot repair something like this, but that the entire bumper needs to be resprayed and it will take 3 days. one guy did say that he could do it, but that the repair area will be noticeable.

am i nuts here? has anyone ever heard of or had experience with the kind of repair i had at the dealership? and if so, how about a referral in the los angeles area?

thanks guys.

ohlord

dealer or detailer's . A few good guys out there who can airbrush a bumper scuff/scratch and looks new without a complete repaint.

John-in-Dallas

The guys that provide those touch-up services make their rounds to the dealerships to fix up the used car inventory. If you snoop around out back of a large dealership you might find them. I haven't seen them in a retail capacity anywhere.

Tony_AMG

No way dude, no dealer has any rights to repair/paint a bumper, spot a bumper since they are only able to do dealership services/ vehicle service. Only Body shop should be able to do this. What i can see is that the dealer that "fixed" the problem has only quality touch up paint, to the color code, and might have light sanded and touched it up, throw a bit of clear and let it dry. If the scratch was bad enough to see the color of the bumper plastic which is yellow/brown like for early AMG Body parts, the bumper would have to be sanded down, primed, sanded down again, paint, clear. Like I said no way they could have done it in "couple" of hours. Takes about 8-10 working hours to do.
i do know guys that repair wheels/ interior and paintless dent repair, but not any bumper repair peeps.

if you would just get and estimate from a body shop in L.A., if should look something like this:

O/H Bumper cover 3.5 B Hours
R/I LT Fender liner front
R/I RT Fender liner front
R/I Splash Shield
R/I Temp Sensor
R/I Fan shroud
R/I LT Fog lamp w/Sport
R/I RT Fog lamp w/Sport
AIM Fog lights .5 B Hours
REPAIR Bumper cover 3.5 P Hours,
PAINT Bumper cover P 1.5
Add Clear Coat .5 Hours
Color Match .5 Hours
Color Sand & Buff .5 Hours
Clean Up .5 D hours
$110 Paint mat.

Paint labor rates $45
body rates $45
detail rates $45