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Advice needed... anyone touched up a Star White ST?

PandaST

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#1
A few weeks ago my ST got hit in a parking lot, no note or anything because people are awful. Luckily damage is isolated to bumper. Called cops later after I found it, nothing obvious on the camera thanks to bad angle.

Trying to avoid insurance since it would have to be mine and we don't have protection in GA for not at fault claims (I'll put aside my rant about insurance for now).

Friend of a friend does body work, has reasonable prices, so I'm going to suck it up and fix out of pocket. My two options are:

1) Keep bumper on body, only paint and clearcoat affected area, blending into rest of bumper

2) Remove bumper and paint whole thing

Option 2 is twice is much, but the money doesn't bother me as much as complication of 360 camera, sensors, etc. that come into play when bumper is removed. I'd almost prefer to just keep it simple and go with option 1, but then again Star White is a pearl color and harder to match.

So long way to get to my question... has anyone had any experience with either touching up the pearl color or having the bumper removed, and can speak to either option? I'd like to fix it right, but don't want to cause any additional problems in the process. For what its worth he felt pretty confident about being able to blend the paint, his only concern was while he didn't expect any issues, he couldn't guarantee the longevity of the clearcoat transition.

Thanks for any help!

 

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Buffalo, NY, USA
#2
From what I hear from our body shop... any tri-coat paint should be completely repainted.. blending it never comes out right.. SUPPOSEDLY.

Secondly, bumper removal is actually fairly simple to be honest.. I had mine off to tint my headlights and it was relatively simple. The two bolts connecting fender to bumper in the wheel well were the biggest headaches but definitely manageable.
 

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#3
I would go with the 2nd option. Have you thought about removing the front bumper yourself and taking it to him? That way you could install the whipple IC while it’s getting painted.
 

Autoworker

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#4
Shame on whoever hit you and left. Get the whole bumper painted.
 

F=MA

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#5
Third option is trade it in on a new ST. Problem solved.
 

OP
P

PandaST

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Thread Starter #6
Thanks all, sounds like whole bumper is a no-brainer!

From what I hear from our body shop... any tri-coat paint should be completely repainted.. blending it never comes out right.. SUPPOSEDLY.

Secondly, bumper removal is actually fairly simple to be honest.. I had mine off to tint my headlights and it was relatively simple. The two bolts connecting fender to bumper in the wheel well were the biggest headaches but definitely manageable.
Glad to hear it's easier than I thought, thanks!

I would go with the 2nd option. Have you thought about removing the front bumper yourself and taking it to him? That way you could install the whipple IC while it’s getting painted.
I didn't think about that, but now I'm watching installation videos and wondering if it might be worth the effort... looks like bumper gets me about halfway there... Though I usually try to keep things stock for warranty so that would probably be all I do performance wise. I have a slight acceleration hesitation around 40MPH, might the Whipple fix that?

Despite being handy around the house, I also have an incredible knack for either drawing blood or breaking something (trim clips, etc.) when I'm working on cars, so I should probably take that into consideration too!

Shame on whoever hit you and left. Get the whole bumper painted.
No kidding! What's worse about having someone do that is not having anyone to hold accountable. I was pretty angry that day.

Third option is trade it in on a new ST. Problem solved.
I wish!
 

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Location
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#7
Not sure if it will fix your 40mph lag but wouldn’t think it would hurt at all lol

there are several on this forum that have it installed. May want to check some of those threads and ping some of the people there.
 



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