Uh-oh. I sratched the front bumper on a curb. Now what?

It is plastic so rust is not a problem. I'd just get a tube of touch-up paint from the dealer - it will not be perfect, but it is an area that will not get a whole lot of close attention since it is so close to the ground. If you really can not stand the touched up bumper you can still bring it in for a professional repair and you are out only $10 or $15 for the touch-up paint.

 

The scratches look fairly deep so you may need a bit of spot putty (Bondo Glazing and Spot Putty) available at most automotive stores. Clean the damaged area first. Then apply the putty sparingly on the scratches with a plastic blade and wipe off excess with lacquer thinner. The next step is to lightly sand the filled scratches with a 320 extra-fine grit sand paper. Keep in mind that the clearcoat on the undamaged areas will become guffed with this process, so if you are not able or comfortable doing it, have it professionally repaired.

I would say you need touch up in a spray can, if you should decide to tackle it yourself. Some automotive stores (or automotive paint stores) carry Duplicolor which is the factory matching paint in a small spray can. Not every color is available unfortunately. If you can't find yours (it looks like the dark gray), you can order a spray can from www.paintscratch.com , and for about $35 shipped, you can have a spray can on hand for your car. After spraying the area (several light but wet coats - be sure to mask too), wait overnight and then apply clearcoat. You will still see the damaged area, but you might be able to live with it being on the lower front bumper.

As mentioned, if you are not able to do this yourself, contact a reputable body shop.

 

If this happens to me, I would go the touch-up paint route, since professionals will paint the entire area, and not just the scratch. That would be a few hundred dollars. There is a good chance you will scratch this area again, so you won't feel bad for shelling money and getting it bruised again.

 

Based on your photos, the damage looks a bit beyond the tiny brush bottle available at dealerships (roughly $13). But it's good to have that on hand too for minor dings, chips or small scratches.

I'd say your looking at respraying that lower right bumper area to get it acceptable looking again. Do you have a heated garage to work in? The spray cans recommend at least 70 degrees for best results. It's probably getting cold in MA by now.

Good luck.

 

CF wrap the lower edge of the skin. Or use the spray undercoat/bed liner along the bottom edge. Usual Alaskan fixes.

 

Probably need to get it professionally repaired which will cost a few hundred. With scratches that long/deep even if you use a large amount of touch up paint if you are remotely OCD you will keep looking at the area everytime you pass by it.

 

Did you damage the wheel well liner? Also, you may want to look up under to see if anything else is broken up in there. You may end up having to go to a body shop and having them do it.

As my father used to tell me - BMC - be more careful.

 

We've got some "rash" on one lower corner of the bumper, from a concrete wheel stop. I thought about it for a while, decided to do: nothing. It's not that noticeable, gives the car character, and I'm sure it's going to happen again, so...

 

" What is the cheapest way to remedy this? " Do nothing.
Next cheapest, touch up yourself. It will still show.
Most expensive, have it professionally repaired. No one will know but yourself.

This is your brand new car. What ever you can live with will be just fine.

 

I had some very similar scratches on my 2010 dark gray Prius. The shop wanted $1100 and three days to fix it properly (repaint and re-clear coat the entire front bumper). They would do a minor fix for about $600-$700 (repaint and re-clear coat only the left side of the bumper area that was scratched). Still needed three days in the shop.

I carefully and gently cleaned it and touched up the lines with a $10 paint pen from the Toyota dealer. It is hardly noticeable. But, I didn't do quite the number that you did. Personally, I could not live with spending that amount of money to fix a scratch. But, that's just me.

Tom G.

 

Wear it with honor. You are a road warrior! Or, a... curb warrior!

 

I see another post with a high $ number but I just had a bumper rub on the rear bumper fixed (parking lot scrape) at about the best body shop around, removed, rubbed out, painted, clear coated (Barcelona Red) and it was $332.

 

I did the exact same thing! Pulled in too close to a high curb. I'm just leaving it alone as a reminder not to do it again.

 

I actually see a very high percentage of Gen III with that damage. It's also a good idea, if upgrading to 17" rims, to get tires with raised rim protectors.

 

Sharpies work well, if you can match the color.

 

Don't you guys have mobile repairers like "Chips Away". Over here in the UK they would come to your house and repair that for around £120 (UK GBP). I had one done on a previous car and the scuff was a similar size but less paint left on, it was a metallic gold colour and you couldn't tell that it was repaired unless you went really really close up.

 

You know what I would do? I would contact one of those vinyl wrap places (that typically wrap the entire car) and see if they can just install a vinyl wrap to cover that lower portion of the bumper. Even just with black, would look not bad.

Another option is to look for a local bumper repair person. They often come to you and specialize in sanding, filling, and then repainting bumpers on the spot.