Help: Re-Painted bumper now a chipped out mess!

[Nickfit]

Hey Gang,
I got into a fender bender around 3 years ago and had my front bumper completely re-painted (even though it was just a 2 inch scratch) at a local autobody shop. At first the paint job looked fantastic, great color matching, looked good as new. Unfortunately after a couple years, the paint started to chip off (highway bugs/ rocks etc...) and right now it looks pretty nasty!

Is this normal? or do i have a case to bring this back to the autobody that did the painting?

thanks in Advance!

[Kloubek]

Oh wow - that's bad.

There's nothing saying you shouldn't bring the car back and complain. However, there's nothing saying they will be willing to do anything for you...

[Adrenaline101]

I had an experience like that with the front bumper on my old 95 eclipse. It was repainted and after awhile it started to crack then come off in chunks around any point that flexed. eventually my front fascia looked like a blue sharks mouth.

But the point is that I took it back to the shop and asked them why this was happening and they said that obviously whoever had done it had failed to prep the surface properly and had done a poor job with the paint. needless to say they didnt redo it for free but I got it redone at half price. So it can never hurt to try, and perhaps just get an explanation to avoid it in the future.

[B20EF]

When you go back to the shop ask why it's chipping so bad, then after the explanation tell them they painted it.

[Kloubek]

^^^ Great idea. Tell them you had it repainted, and wanted to know if this was normal and a quality job.

As B20EF said - when they say no, tell them they painted it and ask to speak to the manager (if you aren't already speaking to him)

[bubbley]

so you got this painted 3 years ago?? lol are you kidding me man
theres something called 3m you should try it....but im goin to go out on a limb and say your going to have to re-paint that bumper....and its probably more due to your driving rather than the paint job you received 3 years ago


:rolleyes:

[Tarrantula]

Originally posted by bubbley
probably more due to your driving
:rolleyes:

On roads? I better keep an eye on my bumper than.. I do a lot of road driving.. :rolleyes:

[berbatov]

Those look like points of impact
3m once you get it repainted

[bubbley]

Originally posted by Tarrantula


On roads? I better keep an eye on my bumper than.. I do a lot of road driving.. :rolleyes:

ughh...looks like alot of highway driving..travelling alot in the vehicle possible trips...as i can only assume with that much damage...definitely not normal...and a to try to connect it to a paint job 3 years ago doesnt make sense to me

[Nickfit]

Originally posted by bubbley


ughh...looks like alot of highway driving..travelling alot in the vehicle possible trips...as i can only assume with that much damage...definitely not normal...and a to try to connect it to a paint job 3 years ago doesnt make sense to me


I guess i woundn't make such a fuss if there were similar damage to my front skirt (not repainted) but the truth is, the bottom front skirt doesn't have nearly as much damage as the repainted bumper itself. (i'll include pics when i have a chance)

I can understand that there is a difference between aftermarket clear coat vs the stuff that comes out of the factory, but to have this much damage? I don't think that makes sense.

The intent of this post was to determine whether this can be considered normal wear and tear or if this was due to a faulty paint job.

I got my car brand new in 2005 and have around 80k on it. I'd say around 40-50k has been spent on the highway (90 kph or higher), i've made two trips to Vancouver and many many trips back and forth from Edmonton and the mountains.... that said, i don't tend to tailgate gravel trucks and i baby my car.

I did have 3m on my hood and wish i could have had it added onto the bumper after the paint job... but it was the other guy paying so, at the time, i'd have to pay it out of pocket... if i had known that this was normal wear for aftermarket paint jobs, i definately would have paid the extra $$$ for it.... and likely will after this is fixed.