Rear bumper paint repairs

[Oldie]

Our Storm Silver metallic Jazz ES has suffered some minor damage to the rear O/S bumper plastic, ie. a vertical scuff about 15 inches long and about 1 inch wide at the most. The damage is right on the rear corner and was was caused by the car just rolling very gently back to the corner of the house brick wall and lightly touching it.

It looks horrendous! It consists of scuffed up plastic edges and horizontal strips with the paint missing, gloom and doom!

Has anybody any experience of using the mobile "Chips Away" type repairers please? I might have a go myself but since Honda don't apparently do colour matched spray paint and my only experience of getting a spray can made up by a specialist was disappointing - just about ok for reversing sensors, I am having doubts. Any ideas please. But don't mention reversing sensors!

Tony

[UncleZen]

Ive not used chips away or similar.
But only last week had the rear bumper on our Jazz sorted by a local paint-shop.
It suffered some chips and scratches, but no dents as someone drove into it in a car park, and as usual drove off.
Total cost for a respray and lacquer was £150. Which I didnt think was too bad, he had the car for 2 days.

[Oldie]

Hmmm. thanks for that, I was hoping that I might get away with it for less. I think a trip to Halfords for some body-filler and "wet and dry" rubbing down paper might be a good move. Unfortunately, finding a GOOD reliable spray paint match might be the most difficult bit judging by the last effort. I wonder why Honda only make touch-up paint applicators?

Tony

[stiggysawdust]

Any good auto paint supplier will make up the correct colour if you give them the paint code for storm silver. I think this is it    NH642M but please check on the label on your car, it's either on the door frame or under the bonnet
But I cannot recommend Halfords. Last time I used them the actual aerosol that they supply was dire.
I have also used a mobile repair specialist and they were excellent.

[Oldie]

Well I am sorry to hear about the Halfords problem. You are spot on with my paint code, it is NH642M but unfortunately getting paint mixed to the correct colour using that code has not been successful so far, I had some made up by one of these professional firms and although they marked the can with the right code, the contents were much too dark and all the shaking in the world did not change things. Sadly, it was many months after I bought the paint before I got round to using it so I did not return it under complaint! It did my parking sensors ok but is no use for body work.

Can anybody recommend a reliable paint mix supplier that IS what it says on the tin please?

Thanks.

Tony

[JazzyB]

Ive used 'chips away' repairer and the repair was excellent. I would highly recommend them has the repair is completely invisible.

There is a limit on how big a repair they can deal with, so give them a ring with size of damage and see what they say.

My damage was about the size of your palm on the rear bumper and cost £150 three years ago.

[olduser1]

You could try your local industrial estate and or paint refinishers, ask at local garages who they use for car park dings

[bill ericay]

I have just had to do this after my handbrake failed and I scuffed the front bumper.
I thought I should be able to fix it as my car is Milano Red- a solid colour.
I found-- Honda touch in paint too thick, and not an exact match, Halfords touch in paint much easier to paint on but terrible colour match, Car Paint Wizard supplied a good match but it was a 2 part paint and I couldn't get the lacquer on without brush marks.
So I gave up!- the car is booked into my local Bumps Away who will do it for £120, I hope its OK!! 

[Oldie]

Thanks all for the comments - not always quite what I wanted to hear! In earlier days, I completely resprayed an MGA, an MGB and a large part of a Jaguar MKVII, reading your comments, I only wish I still had my spraying gear, compressor and guns now. Certainly, the prices charged these days bear no relation to what a paint-sprayer was paid in my day and cellulose was unpleasant stuff to work with all day.

I have found a firm in Scotland who will guarantee to mix paint oolour satisfactorily or money back. I might give them a try as the preparation work is fairly straightforward although I have never sprayed plastic bumpers, only metal panels.

If these mobile repairers really only charge a fraction of body-shop costs as they claim because of their lower overheads, however much do the established businesses charge? Yes I well know it is labour intensive and very skilled work but I have been surprised at what I have heard!

Tony

[olduser1]

The cost of all paint has increased in recent years, when I was buying Glasurit for VW's & Mercs it was under £5.00 a tin back in 1960's today its all water based . I would still search the local trade places for a reliable & friendly spray shop.

[guest4007]

You could try looking on eBay or a breakers yard for a new bumper, if your lucky you might bag yourself a bargain cheaper than having work done. I damaged my front bumper and tried to re spray it myself using halfords paint, turned out to be a nightmare as there are 4 different shades of nh642m on their system plus the cans just didn't spray well. I found a whole new bumper in the end with exact colour match, wish I did that in the first place, could of saved a lot of hassle.

[Oldie]

"The cost of all paint has increased in recent years, when I was buying Glasurit for VW's & Mercs it was under £5.00 a tin back in 1960's " - Ah those were the days but I guess it is the labour cost that is crippling today, after all I would only need about half a cup of finish coat + lacquer of course although I would probably have to buy a litre and keep the rest for next time.

Nice Idea Wozza and good for you, the trouble is I would have to do all the re-drilling and wiring for my reversing sensors so it is easier to just fill, rub-down and paint!

I have ordered some colour matched to Honda NH642M so eventually all should be sorted.

[chrisc]

I had my front bumper replaced after a "gentleman" reversed into it, cracking it.  It was an astonishing price (equiv £900) but came in the correct colour from the Honda parts supplier.  The new one has a nifty fitting for the number plate where you fit the plate into a grooved slot and apply 4 white pop-rivets at the corners (people steal these things)

[uovouvou]

I bought some touch up paint colour matched to my paint code from Halfords.  The guy was really helpful and lent me a card with the 12 different shades that were covered by the one paint code so that he could get the exact shade right.  Interestingly, the actual shade was very slightly darker than it should have been for that model year car, so if he had of gone with the actual paint code shade it would have been wrong.  He said that this was quite common.  If you get any paint mixed, I'd get them to show you the colour cards then you can check the exact shade.

A friend had a section of paintwork done by a mobile repairer; the finish and colour match were excellent, quite an achievement on an eight year old red car!  It all depends how good the sprayer is; you can't beat word of mouth recommendations.