[bmdoubleu]

Recently purchased E90 06, SG.

Has a ton of scratches all over the front bumper, they drive me nuts!

Anyone have any idea what it would cost to have it repainted or do you have any experiences with this?

[Andy M]

Do you have a better photo of the "scratches"? Could be just the clear coat which means it can be buffed out easily by yourself if you invest in a good random orbit or angle polisher.

If it's just white and doesn't look like there are any grey areas, it's probably just clear coat. If it's grey, that's the primer or plastic and you'll need a repaint. It can range in price depending where you go. Quotes are free at most good body shops.

If you feel daring, you can try repaintinf it yourself...(I'm working on a diy in the detailing section about that).

[ZuerstBMW]

Would be about 300 for a repaint.

[CollinsE90]

m-tech bumper!

[stimpy]

Originally Posted by CollinsE90

m-tech bumper!

Good plan .. guy wants to paint his bumper but instead you tell him he should get a m-tech bumper which will need paint also...

"WTB Honda Civic"

"FERRARI!"

[e92mph]

Depending on the scratches wouldn't a bit of OEM touch up paint go a long way? I mean if it's only bothering you to the point where you can see them?

[iheartsole]

just change that baby and get an mtech front

[Kilgore Trout]

Originally Posted by Andy M

Do you have a better photo of the "scratches"? Could be just the clear coat which means it can be buffed out easily by yourself if you invest in a good random orbit or angle polisher.

If it's just white and doesn't look like there are any grey areas, it's probably just clear coat. If it's grey, that's the primer or plastic and you'll need a repaint. It can range in price depending where you go. Quotes are free at most good body shops.

If you feel daring, you can try repaintinf it yourself...(I'm working on a diy in the detailing section about that).

You can buff a bumper? I've got a PC and buff out scratches in my paint all the time, but never tried that on the plastic parts of the car.

[Andy M]

Originally Posted by e92mph

Depending on the scratches wouldn't a bit of OEM touch up paint go a long way? I mean if it's only bothering you to the point where you can see them?

Unfortunately I find that OEM touch up paint will show the scratches even more if not done correctly. Besides, if it's just the clear that's scratched, it can be polished out easily and that should be the first priority. No point in putting metallic paint in between clear coat scratches because it'll just accent the scratch even more.

Originally Posted by Kilgore Trout

You can buff a bumper? I've got a PC and buff out scratches in my paint all the time, but never tried that on the plastic parts of the car.

Of course you can! I've had my car hit in a parking lot before (not the BMW) and the person left a note. But I decided to be nice and instead of going through the hassle of sending it to a paint shop then going after the expense, I just did it myself in the garage to save everyone some time and money. Btw this scuff was about 30 cm long and about the width of a credit card so it was pretty major.

I use a right angle polisher, not random orbit but it should do the same thing. I wetsanded using 1500 grit paper then 2000 grit, then went on with polisher and intensive polish. Finished with some final polish, washed the area and then wax it. Took about an hour for the whole thing. (Sanding is optional since polishing does the same thing...just a lot slower. I like to use the sand though because I'm pretty good at getting a nice smooth surface with it and I'm confident enough that I can remove the sanding marks later on with the polish).

The key to working on the plastic is to keep moving and to go on the slowest setting. It's the same as the rest of the car except you just have to be more careful.

OP, unless the scratch is a GOUGE, I have a feeling it didn't go through to the color coat yet - meaning it's just clear coat. You might want to get some of the OEM touchup for the clear only if it's pretty deep or, if it's showing white streaks, have your bumper polished out. A lot of people here buy their own random orbit and just polish their own cars. With a random orbit (as opposed to a right angle polish) you won't have to worry about burning into the paint as much because the randomness will keep one spot from getting too hot.

[bmdoubleu]

Thanks for all the responses!

I should have been more detailed, I apologize, the "scratches" are more like gouges. They are very deep and have grooves in them. This car was a daily driver for its last owner, the windshield and bumper have a ton of what looks like rock dents, they are very small but there are so many they are visible.

Will a body shop be able to match the Sparkling graphite paint?

Also, does the car look purple to you?! Certain days, the purple like color drives me nuts. I bought this car for my wife so I guess its ok.

[Andy M]

Sparkling Graphite looks purple because of the blend of paints. I don't have the Sparkling Graphite blend but for my Montego Blue, it's mostly blue and violet with trace amounts of yellow.

If you look inside the hood of the car, you should see a sticker that says what your paint code is. (e.g. Montego Blue Metallic is A51) If you don't know what the code is, call your dealership and talk to the parts guys. They can look up your color code based on the VIN. When you bring the color code to your body shop, they should be able to mix it properly (it's really just a recipe with different percentages of different colors). I usually just take the color code (e.g. "BMW A51") and all of the paint shops I've been at were able to match it correctly.

And yeah, if it's got deep grooves, what's most likely is that they'll sand it down, fill some of them with Bondo putty, prime it with some filler primer, sand it down again, then spray the whole thing. Most likely if they're deep grooves from rock chips, it shouldn't be too hard to sand down and fill.

[bmdoubleu]

Thanks Andy, great info.

The deep scratches look like the previous driver scraped the curb a bunch of times.

[blue2fire]

You should paint it and buy yourself one of those Bra's.