kalyan

So, my wife pulls into a parking space that has a concrete pillar and as she enters the space, the passenger side front bumper kisses the pillar. It seems it was a long smooch... and now the corner is really scratched up (all the way down to bare plastic in some places).

Questions to fellows who have either replaced the bumper or just painted it over. What is a better solution? replace or paint? What would the costs be for both? If the difference is not much, I might just replace the front bumper. Still not sure if I should go through insurance... but I might end up using them.

Advise/suggestions? No, I am not getting rid of my wife... although I did think about it briefly.

ArneeA

When you replace, you still have to repaint it. Either way, color will not be a 100% match. Unless the bumper was severely deformed, my suggestion is to repair/repaint.

Andy E.

Pics would definitely help but then again, I'm sure you won't want to go through that pain again. Replacing the entire bumper skin for deep scratches seems like overkill. There are products on the market that your body shop has in his possession that will easily repair this damage. As far as painting goes, silver is a real bugger to match however a good painter can probably blend & clear coat the color into that particular spot. This will avoid having to re-spray the entire bumper skin. Again, I stress on the "good painter" aspect since most of them today are lazy and unwilling to spend the time to go through the trouble of blending when they can simply repaint the entire part.

mudman2

It depends on the year, I think 08s are colored and not painted plastic

deilenberger

One thought on it - if you can avoid your insurance - do so. If you claim it on your insurance it's going to end up in Carfax/Autocheck records and decrease the resale value of your P!G by way more then what you'll get from the insurance company (especially if you have a high deductable..)

And I'd get it repaired from the description. Photos might be useful..

kalyan

Here are some pics of the damage. The paint also appears to be cracking near the headlight washer opening. I will take it to the collision center and get an estimate done. I think the body shop will paint the entire bumper... since the guy mentioned a while ago that silver is the most tricky color to paint and match.

I have $500 deductible insurance and I am guessing this will cost about $2k. Still on the fence if I should use insurance or not. We are not planning selling the vehicle soon (we just purchased it few months ago).

ArneeA

$2k estimate for a bumper respray? Seems excessive.

daddyscar

I had a similar thing happen to my rear bumper but not a severely. Assuming no damage to to the sensors and lights I'd guess you just need to get the bumper removed and resprayed. I got estimates from $975-1200 from three places here in CA. It should cost about the same for the front.

kalyan

This is just my guess. I will take the p!g to the body shop this week...

RajDatta

Replace the wife!
From what I was told, it is a royal PITA to remove the front bumper. I had it resprayed for just under $1k but receieved a $2k estimate from local Porsche dealer.

mcbit

Remind me never to kiss your wife!

I had a Mitsubishi Canter 3 tonne PU reverse over me while filling at a petrol pump which did some minor scratch damage the GTS front bumper. Damage was repaired at main dealer's body shop on other party's insurance. Porsche insisted that any damage to the bumper requires replacement. Saw the invoice for replacement bumper and paint when I picked up the car, it was Dhs 6500 (US$ 1780).

Van1

Does this car have Park Distance Control?

kalyan

No... now I wish it had the Park Assist. Question. Can this be added now?

francars

There are mobile auto painters (not sure if you have in your area), but I do where I live. They come to you and for minor (no body work) this can be resprayed professionally for $400-500. So $1k sounds reasonable maybe if done by body shop?

ArneeA

I've had those mobile guys re-spray my old car. I wouldn't go that route again. 1) the bumper isn't baked, it's essentially air-dried or sun-dried, 2) most don't mix in the flex additive, therefore 3) rocks chip away the paint faster than the "real" bodyshop paint job and 4) they only tape off the fenders, hood, and trim -- they do not remove the bumper.

I won't use those mobile painters again. For a relatively newer car, I'd stick with a real bodyshop.