I am convinced the colour of my "plastic" front bumper is different to the bonnet. However, the dealer insists that paint on plastic will never match the body for all angles and light. They will respray but insist certain colours have this issue all the time.

Does anyone else see a difference?

Worse still, they claim Jaguar will not do anything at all about it even if it was raised as a problem. The ideal solution would be a new, OEM bumper pre-sprayed to factory specs.

 

Bluebird,

On the one hand you say, the "dealer has offered to respray" the front bumper, and immediately after you say "Jaguar won't do anything about it." If the former is true, then the latter can't be. Jaguar would no doubt be picking up the tab for the dealer respray.

There's nothing complicated about a respray if done properly, and a good body shop is equally capable of duplicating factory paint and often doing a better job. I don't know a manufacturer that is equipped to bring cars back to the manufacturing plant for various repairs, so they must rely on the dealer network.

It's a matter of physics that different amounts of light with be reflected off surfaces oriented toward the light source at different angles. It's more noticeable on certain colors.

 

This explains some factors that may contribute...
Automotive Paint Colors: Why are auto paint colors difficult to match?

 

Replacement parts are un-painted so a dealer has no way of obtaining a pre-painted bumper from Jaguar.

 

Not entirely true for this part. It is sent from the Tier 1 supplier ready painted for the factory.

 

The part is a pre-painted unit from the supplier. One of the few body panels bits that arrives ready for install. These should be more likely to match and be to OEM spec.

My prior experience of manufacturer approved body shops is very patchy and had a few resprays of poor quality on my old XF.

Anyhow, my question was more to know if owners have seem a panel variance than to argue about resprays If all Firesand owners can see a difference then there is no point me either pursuing a respray or asking Jag for a factory bumper pre-sprayed.

 

Bluebird,

That makes sense. Even if they are pre-painted from the supplier, there are likely to be color variations in the different paint lots they use over time.

 

Hi Bluebird, my front bumper is exactlly the same colour but my drivers side wing mirror case wasnt.
I had a few problems with my car when i received it and the complaint went quite high, in the end i was invited to the factory where it was all sorted out.
They changed my mirror cover, after they checked it with a swatch and it was def the wrong shade.
With modern paint and technology that sounds crap what your dealer is saying.

 

My color matches up nicely. In some instances depending on the light there is a slight variation in color. A good wax job helps a lot. Must be a reflection issue. Good luck with it. Andrew

 

Shows here :

 

I see the difference between the top of the hood and top of the nose in that light, but I don't see a difference on the sloping sides of the nose and hood. The top part of the nose is also sloping more than the hood and that points to differences in light angle, hence reflectivity.

Sometimes it's nice to have a white car.

 

Being a full on geek, I will actually be measuring the colour today with my colorimeter.

However, the junction between nose and hood is the same angle, it only slopes after. Ho hum.

I agree, it is a strange one - the reason I was asking if other Firesand owners ever see such a difference. If they do, I'll just stop worrying and not chase further.

If other owners don't have this effect (be if reflectivity or paint thickness, or batch issues or ... ) then I'll chase Jag. Not too much to ask on a £70k car for the paint to match.

The other reason I questioned if there is an issue is the rear has no such problems from any angle. The old XK had no problems with plastic not matching.

 

Definitely look different to me in that picture.

 

I agree it isn't a plastic vs. metal issue per se, which your dealer tried to blame it on. Virtually every auto made these days has a plastic front and rear assembly adjoining the metal body parts and the vast majority are nearly perfect matches.

If it's not a reflectivity issue, then it has to be due to batch differences and/or the fact that the hood and nose were painted in different places on different dates. The only real way to get complete color continuity is to shoot all parts in the same place, at the same time, with the same paint mix.

BTW, I really do love that color. Good luck.

 

From the angle of your photograph, no question there's a difference (from what I see) and I agree with you that a car that expensive shouldn't have that issue.

Still...might be something just to accept, live with and, of course, enjoy. Immensely!

Beautiful color in spite of the difference.

 

I would re spray the bumper. In Los Angeles there are lots of high end body shops that do great jobs. Just go to a place that specializes in exotics. Really not much more expensive than a regular shop on a easy job like that. I had a shop like that respray the door jam which somehow got a deep scratch and a scratch on the rear by the auto spoiler and you can't tell.

 

This seems to be a problem across brands, really bad on US cars. Color does seem to matter though. Maserati has a beautiful white pearl that had a $2100 price tag that is being dropped for this exact reason.

 

The article I linked to above (written by industry paint experts) simply states that the components of METALLIC paints will lay up differently (even if sprayed at the same time, using the same paint from the same gun) due to temperature/humidity differences, static charge of the substrate (plastic vs metal) and so on. Given that the F Type components are painted separately (and probably in different facilities, under different conditions), it seems all but inevitable that there will be some difference detectable unless you're really lucky. If you had a dozen new front bumpers to choose from, you might find a better match (randomly), but indications are that respraying will just produce another bumper that doesn't (quite) match.

Not a problem with non-metallic paint.

 

Also, there is the phenomenon know as 'tolerance stacking' - if we assume there is a 'spec' for paint color, which there must be, and it is (say) +/- 2% of a standard, then it is possible that you could get a car body that is -2% (but in spec) matched to a +2% (also in spec) bumper. On average, the difference might not be noticeable, but bad luck might get you one with parts at the opposite ends of the specification.

 

Thanks again for the very useful info. As much as I love quality metallic paint work, over the last decade or so, I've purchased cars and trucks in non-metallic colors, in part, for that reason. They are much easier to touch up as well.