Respray bumper?

I have a 2004 C4S cabrio and got some bad rock chips on the front bumper. Also some scratches on the side mirrors. Tried to correct with some of these painting kits but it didn't work. Maybe because of the color, as it is a Meridian Metallic. I've been toying with the idea of respraying front bumper and the mirrors. What do you guys think? Good idea? bad idea? why? how much should I expect to pay to do that? Any recommendations in the CT/NY/NJ area?

I recently had a Midnight Blue Aerokit I (Taco) spoiler and rear deck lid repainted, which is a lot of painted area with a lot of work due to the angles. Since it was a color change, they had to paint the underside of the deck lid too. I used a quality place near me and they charged me $500 to paint it Seal Gray. I would expect to pay that or less for a bumper.

I asked for a quote in Los Angeles to repaint my lapis lazuli front bumper with a few stone-ships. The body shop came back with a $900 estimate and lifetime warranty. When I told him that this quote was ridiculous, he answered me that it is a Porsche bumper ... I found another bodyshop willing to do it for $350 if I bring him the bumper.

That's pretty funny that a Porsche bumper respray is more expensive than any other car. That's not a reason to justify a higher price. Now a claim that your shop only does it right, uses only the highest quality paints, spends more time prepping yada yada yada could "justify" a higher price but that would apply to all vehicles not just Porsche's.

Body shops are all about "you get what you pay for". I just picked up a hard top for my cab. The top was brand new but it was red and my car is seal grey. I talked to alot of shops. Got quotes from 150 to 1000. I settled with a shop for 400. The did a great job. Not amazing but great. The average person wouldnt notice the flaws. Im a picky person so i notice them. Either way. Dont go cheap, but dont break the bank.

IMO, approximately $400.00 for the front or rear bumper is generally the rounded number...

Yep. I paid $400 if I brought the bumper cover to the shop. Easy to remove and an opportunity to clean the debris out of the radiators.

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A couple bits of advice to take or leave: Always a good idea to take a �before� picture with a time stamp to show any sqeamish future buyers that the repaint was just for aesthetics and not due to an accident. Also make sure that the shop will sand/fill the bumper vs just a re-spray over the rock chip dimples. Finally, it�s a great opportunity to put on a clear bra afterwards, but the paint needs a few weeks to cure before doing so. Ideally just park it during this time to prevent new damage.

I needed to have the right "wing" (front quarter) replaced on my car a couple years ago. I asked the shop to give me a "cash" price to respray the front bumper cover "while it was there" (separate from the insurance quote). They quoted me $900 ... Remember they already had the car there and the paint/materials were already paid for (even though it probably takes less than a pint to paint the bumper - I'm sure they price a gallon of paint/primer/clear for the wing job)... Needless to say, I didn't have them spray the bumper I was expecting something in the $250 - $400 range as it would have been pure profit - greedy bastards got nuffin!

If you have to get the front bumper resprayed for rock chips, can the hood be far behind? Anyone get their hood done at the same time for the sake of consistency? It may all be in my head but since I have a dark car, a newly painted bumper would just highlight hood imperfections.

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Mine is black and I feel like any painted part of the car would stand out. That might be in my head but I just couldn't stand having any part of the car not match. I'd rather have rock chips than unmatched paint.

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Maybe black is different, but I've had various parts of my Forest Green Metallic car done and you can't tell what which parts were repainted. I guess it depends on who does the work.

I have had bumpers refinished, a quality job by a GOOD body shop has been around $400...I have NOT taken a bumper off to have it painted, they did that... I have also seen bumpers pained on the car if they did not need much repair, they covered the whole car in plastic.. Just about every ne matched....eespecially after a few months...(for sure it will be "shinier" at first.).

I think prices can vary a lot by region. Here in Southern California there is no shortage of customers so it's tough to get any deals from the people that do good work. I had a e39 bumper sprayed a couple of years ago for $400 and I thought it was overpriced for the quality of the work. I dropped off a brand new primered bumper that needed minimal prep. They did a great job on the color match but not so much on the paint job. Last year I paid $900.00 to paint a 996 engine lid and two piece wing. $900.00 seems like a lot but it was a color change from black and the shop I used is one of the 'go to' Porsche guys and has a big following with the **** 356 crowd. I could have found a cheaper place but the car is so pristine that I knew I would never be happy unless the paint job was perfect. These were all taken at the shop:

I have been thinking of a respray on my front bumper, but It has been damaged by previous owners driving over parking lot curbs. So won't waste the money. In regards to painting quality, I look down the passenger side of my 996 and can discern orange peel. Porsche finish on other side is smooth as glass. So I think you get what you pay for.

Something important to remember, not ony color match but also the amount of "orange peel" sometimes you can "over do" a job ..make it "Better tha New", that is not good either... A really good body shop will "match the finish" also.

No matter were you live,good work just costs more,when it comes to paint thats really true, the labor and prep takes time and the longer that takes the more money it will be,thats just how it is.there are some shops that turn cars over very fast,those places are generally interested in volumes of work and not so much in doing it the right way,witch involves generally more labor and prep that amounts to time etc.here in the new york and long island areas ive gone to places with my car,and they wont get involved with exotics and or porsche cars,they no us owners are generally into are cars in a special way and its not worth it to them if they do some mediocre job( witch is there specialty) and youre not satisfied ,it becomes a pain in the butt as they dont want to get married to any job.go to a shop look around see the type of cars they are working on,keep in mind alot of people dont care about their cars even if they are expensive vehicles,(leased etc) but at least the body shop is attracting that kind of customer,when it comes to certain materials that require painting its even more important that the prep is correct,i.e polyurethane and some plastics witch OEM aerokit parts are made from,those parts require heating prior to painting for proper adhesion etc.etc i could go on and on ,bottom line you generally get what you pay for in the body shop/paint world,so ask around talk to other porsche maniacs! somebody should no the guy who charges more but does it right the first time,as far as cost and what people on rennlist think is either cheap or expensive is relative to where they live more or less,for instance i live in new york city witch as you know is generally more expensive than for instance oklahoma,doesnt mean you cant get the same quality work done, just less choices,so take your time,and im sure you will find some....good luck!

Bumpers are sometimes difficult, if you want to do it correct it needs to be stripped down to the plastic or black original, take it to a bumper strip/refinisher, they do not normally repaint. They take all old paint and primer off and then take all the stress marks out of it and do repairs from the back. Then take to a body shop and make sure they finish to you paint code with some really good primer, top coat and clear coat. On my car I had two clear coats then flated and had two more. This needs to be a good clear coat as it takes the brunt of everything and you do not want it to chip easily. Do it correctly and you only do it once. John