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I've got an 06 C2S in Seal grey metallic and have a question about having the bumpers resprayed. The front has holes from the front license plate that I no longer need (not required where i live) as well as 17 years of road rash, and the back has a really deep scratch (into the plastic itself) from when my son was pushing his ATV past the car and accidentally made contact. I was thinking of just pulling both bumper covers and having them repaired and then resprayed but I've also heard that the metallic can be really hard to match. So my question is should I get the whole bumper cover painted or just the area that is repaired so the paint can be feathered to match?
I have spent the last thirty years in Atlanta doing just such repairs. It is possible for a skilled tech to blend in and have a near perfect repair. My oldest account is the Lambo, Rolls, Mclaren dealer. I would go to the local exotic dealer in town and ask the service department who they use for onsite repairs.
Best to go to a Porsche-approved Body Shop. The local agent and body shop resprayed my Metallic Seal Grey rear bumper perfectly. They wouldn't do a patch and feather job.
I have installed a new bumper, ducktail and resprayed my hood and am about to get a new rear bumper - all with midnight blue metallic which is a really tricky color. I work with Pino at RSR - he specializes in porsche restoration and has done a fantastic job and can hardly notice, in fact the factory bumper and panels always seemed a bit off to me in certain light before hand but that will always be the case with metallic imo.
There's nothing uglier or more revealing than a bumper with poor quality color match. Seen many 997's with bad respray jobs.
In my experience top-end shops can match paint perfectly and there's usually one great top-end shop in every city - We have 1 shop here in Seattle that does excellent color matching.
Most top shops will not repair the front and rear bumpers to fill holes/deep scratches and they will want to paint the entire bumper.
Last edited by groovzilla; 01-04-2024 at 02:10 PM.
There's nothing uglier or more revealing than a bumper with poor quality color match. Seen many 997's with bad respray jobs.
In my experience top-end shops can match paint perfectly and there's usually one great top-end shop in every city - We have 1 shop here in Seattle that does excellent color matching.
Most top shops will not repair the front and rear bumpers to fill holes/deep scratches and they will want to paint the entire bumper.
I've never seen a perfect match on a car painted a metallic color. Even if they get the shade perfect, the metallic aspect never makes the color or reflectivity look exactly the same, and with bumpers, the urethane substrate vs the metal substrate of the car also makes for a difference l, as urethane bumpers have to be painted with a flex additive in the paint so it doesn't crack, as the bumper expands and contracts, which urethane does.
If it's a non-metallic, like guards red or regular black, it's much easier.
I would hit it with a buffer using Maguires Ultimate Compound. Use a rag if you don't have an orbital. Then reassess. You may get it down to where it is tolerable. I drive and keep my cars a long time so a perfect shell will bankrupt me... I just have to tolerate a bit of imperfection and chips.
Thanks for the advice. I’m in the Toronto area so will check in with a couple of the local Porsche dealerships and see what they recommend. As for polishing is out Bruce, the scratch at least on the back is deep and has deep ridges that need to be sanded down before I could try polishing. Besides, the car was New to me last summer and I’d like to get it looking right before I start messing it up 😝
Given the mixed feedback, will be interesting to see what the local places suggest. The car is in storage for the winter anyway so figure I’ve got some time. Will probably uncover it and try to pull the bumper covers in March to have it back on the road by April when the roads are clear of salt.
I've never seen a perfect match on a car painted a metallic color. Even if they get the shade perfect, the metallic aspect never makes the color or reflectivity look exactly the same, and with bumpers, the urethane substrate vs the metal substrate of the car also makes for a difference l, as urethane bumpers have to be painted with a flex additive in the paint so it doesn't crack, as the bumper expands and contracts, which urethane does.
If it's a non-metallic, like guards red or regular black, it's much easier.
7 years ago had my 1977 911S Hood and fender (garage shelf failure) spot painted/blended in Silver at top end shop here in Seattle - Did superb job. and matched the size of the metalflake. They use Glasurit paint w/proper metalflake and also clear coat that matches close to perfect.
Many high quality shops specialize in doing an almost perfect match in Metallics - The best I've ever seen was Dink Farmer (Farmer Bros.) in Ukiah California. He painted my 1959 356 Super Sunroof. He did all the Pebble Beach Ferrari's & Porsche 356 cars as well as long list of othe top shelf specimens. He's retired now. He had showed me a Ferrari 308 he retoruched and he created the same "Laquer Check" that most late 1970's Ferrari's experienced. Real Master.
He was famous for filling & spot painting small nicks/larger dents etc on hoods/fenders/bumpers on metallic paint cars that were spot painted or painted to Gap and you couldn't tell and macth was spot-on.
*Doesn't look like your rear bumper was feather sprayed over onto the adjacent panels and why there is a very subtle mis-match. Very hard to tell but I see it
Last edited by groovzilla; 01-04-2024 at 11:00 PM.
I personally have made a career of it for thirty two years, two of my vintage 911’s were shown at Amelia, with no discernible variation detected. Just politely disagreeing that it can be done.no flame.
It can be done, but the whole car will be needed to assemble and visualize the match. In most body shops it won’t even be considered, as it is difficult to match a metallic color, too many variables from flake size to air pressure to temperature and coat thickness.,
I would bet that not one body shop will guarantee color match, and if they possibly do, they will need the car to confirm.. not saying it can’t be done, but it takes time, skill, and the willingness to do so. That’s going to be your difficult part. That usually gets very expensive as well, just the sound of Amelia island is tune consuming and costly.
01-03-2024, 10:44 PM
Bumper respray questions
