Took my car in to see about one of the cornering headlamps which malfuntioned. They changed the lamp but scratched the bumper. I'm going back today to discuss repair possibilities. Obviusly I'm not going to repaint the whole bumber for a one inch scratch but I would like it to be less noticeable. Anyone have any experience with spot repairs on the bumper?

 

 

depends on how large it is. If it is just a minor scratch it can be covered with the official MB paint marker. Only noticable when really close to scratch.

 

Just curious. What does, or is this supposed to mean and how does it apply to the original post? It says "werd" and it also is listed as "word" in the smiles section.

Thanks

 

I'm sorry about your experience, corgi. Sometimes dealers are bound to tick some off.

 

My $0.02 (based on having a scratch on my bumper) - any reputable body shop will likely tell you that an acceptable repair involves repainting the entire bumper, likely at a cost of $300 or more. That's particularly due to having to add 'flex' to the paint for plastic parts.


TJC

 

Well I decided to leave well enough alone - i don't want to repaint the whole bumper. A little touch up paint is all it's getting. Although the thought did occur to me that that AMG custom shop in Germany could paint one up and send it over........at dealer expense of course. The dealer was MB Greenway in Houston by the way.

 

So, after living with the scratch a few days and the dealer's lack of enthusiasm I've decided to pursue having AMG paint up a bumper and send it over. I already talked to AMG in Germany who says no problem. The dealer is trying to say they hope the color matches. If that's a problem they can send the bumper over for color matching. Maybe they ought to be more careful with a $95K car......

 

just a little imput, having a bumper painted and sent over from germany and then replaced on your car could pose more problems then having a mb authorized benz shop paint it, i have seen some spectacular work come out of our body shop, think twice before making a hasty decision because you are mad, removing a bumper could mean squeeks and rattles.

 

The bumber cover will have to come off for pianting anyway. At least most reputable body shops that I know off would not paint that piece on the car. I had a lot of chips in mine, and they had to take it off the car to piant it properly and it went back on without any problems.

 

They already took the bumper off once to replace the headlamp... I bet that's how it got scratched in the first place.

But why get a bumper from AMG in Germany?

Anyhow, spot touch ups when done by a skilled person can be undetectable.

Body parts shot at the factory should match your relatively new car as well as it matched when new. The body parts like bumpers are generally painted in a different place than the rest of the body, so it's already different paint and different equipment doing the painting.

Finally, with either shooting the whole bumper or doing a spot touch up, consider that the original paint is the ceramic-based "nano-paint". Will the repainted bumper be done with the same paint? Will the touch up be done with the same paint? That Glasurit is pretty expensive...

-s-

 

Well that's part of the problem. If it's done by AMG yes it will be nano technology. If done here the body shop that the dealer uses said "Oh yeah we use clear coat" I mentioned that there was a new ceramic coat but they had no idea what I was talking about. So the best solution to me is to get a factory bumper cover from Germany and just swap. Or they can exchange the whole car...or...take the bumper off a new E55..

The problem is the guy didn't remove the bumper when he changed the light -which is the recommended procedure. And they charged MB for bumper removal on the invoice BTW... He just pulled it out from the front and scratched the paint. If he had put masking tape over the paint this wouldn't have happened.

And I really don't car about the $$$ - this is my second E55 this year and I didn't get a penny off of either one.

 

Corgiman - are you sure AMG does the nanotech clearcoat? On my SL55 the front bumper is minimally cracked, and I want to replace it.

I've been holding back thinking the dealer 1.) won't do a perfect job and 2.) will have more problems with rock chips using the old clear coat.

Do you have the AMG number so I can get a price quote from them?

Thanks.

 

How can they do nanotech clearcoat on the bumper cover? Requires baking in a 400 degree oven which will melt thermoplastic. I'm betting the nanocoat is on the painted metal only.


TJC

 

He's got a good point. I'm hoping to do something about my rear fender, as well.

 

So what happens in the event of an accident, your car will not get the nano paint treatment here in the US? I have, or hope to believe MB has thought of this prior to using the nano coating, right???

 

Makes sense but doesn't the surface of a black car sitting in the summer sun for hours and hours get extremely hot close to that temp?

 

I'll have to check into this a little more. What they AMG guy said was they would provide factory quality paint. I assumed that the nano paint was on the bumpers as well. The dealer says the nano is on the body only.

None of the shops I talked to in town are even aware of the nano paint technology so I suspect that you just get regular clear coat in the event of a repair. (And two of the shops claim they are MB certified). Whatever the surface is on the bumper it is extremely hard - polishing compound won't touch it. It used to be that you couldn't polish flexible bumpers at all because it would dull the gloss.

Also, the bumpers are a slightly different shade from the rest of the body. I don't know if this means they were painted separately or if it's just a function of the fact they are a differnet material.

 

Well I asked PPG about the nano paint - a.k.a. cerami-clear and apparently the bumpers do not have this product fromthe factory. They say it's not because of the baking temp. but did not elaborate.

There is apparently another type of clear coat for field refinishing that's almost as durable.....

Still checking on that one.

 

So one of my (very expensive) AMG illuminated door sills stops working and I wait two weeks for the part. My service advisor quits in the meantime so the only way I found out the part was in was by calling myself.

They install the sill but now the homelink system is dead. More parts on order and they claim it's just a coincidence........smells like BS to me.

And they're still working on the bumper from Germany. Basically they did nothing until I wrote a complaint to MB in Germany and all of a sudden they at least claim to be talking with AMG.

This reminds me of the Pontiac Dealer in the 70's. I'd have to say this is the most unpleasant ownership experience I've had with a new car. My advice is don't go to Mercedes Benz Greenway in Houston.

 

I am sorry to hear about your experience with this dealership, but I have a question that is a little off the topic. You mentioned that you have the AMG illuminated door sills, did you get those directly from Germany or an aftermarket supplier. I ordered a set from the person who sold me my last set for my W208, but they are not compatible with my AMG car. I have tried to order them from my parts dept., but they say that it cannot be done. If I may ask, how did you go about getting those sills? Thanks in advance!!

 

I got the sills from my MB dealer - anyone can order them. I got the part number off the AMG website. Hope that helps.

 

Well, after extensive discussions with AMG they are not willing to ship a bumper over here. Seems that they used to do it but 9 of 10 were damaged on arrival.....