I have had my car a year now and I am very careful not to pull over parking blocks. Went to the dry cleaners the other day and they had repaved the parking lot. I do not know if they changed the parking blocks or not but I managed to pull over one.
I saw that I had pulled over it but it looked like I had cleared it so I thought nothing of it. A few days later I was washing the car and much to my surprised the bottom of the front bumper cover was scraped in several places on just one side of the cover.
As the scrapes are on the very bottom of the cover and sit back, the only way you can see them is if you are bending down and looking under the car. They are not visible standing or kneeling.
I took the car to the body shop and they said they can repair the front bumper cover and the paint match would be good to where I would not notice it. I have never seen a paint job repair where I did not notice a difference in the color from the original color.
It is something about breaking the factory paint job that just cannot be reduplicated. I can live with this damage but it just gets to me knowing that it is there.
As I was pulling out of the body shop drive way much to my surprise the bottom of the car scraped. I took this as an Omen that just maybe getting the cover repaired for something that I can not see just might not be worth it as it could happen again.
I just wish I was not so OCD. I did put some touch up paint on all the scrapes. My gut tells me that I might be more displeased with the bumper cover with a possible noticeable color difference than those scrapes that are not visible unless I am looking up under the car.

 

I have a light blue metallic XJ, about five years old. That lower edge of the front bumper really is a bit too low so I've had it scraped a couple of time. Although the scrape wasn't really visible, like you it bugged me too and I had it repainted. I have to say they did a good job. Although they don't sell that blue any more they seem to have stock of the paint and I can't tell the difference. I now have another small scrape but I'm waiting on delivery of a new XJ so I've decided not to do anything about it, but just discount the resale price when I sell it.

 

I'm exactly the same with a blemish on an otherwise pristine vehicle but I'd prefer a slight colour mismatch to a leaving a scrape or a giving it a touch-in.

After owning a number of Jaguar Coupes for the last few years I've had to get used to having the front bumpers repainted every couple of years as they are more of a magnet for stone chips than the saloons.

When a whole panel is done, any mismatch is far less noticeable but it comes down to what upsets you the least.

Graham

 

MHT, I would say to go to your local auto parts store and they should have a touch up bottle of paint for your car. Absolute worst case, you can stop by an auto motive paint place and they can match the paint perfectly to what you have (they just need the exterior color code written in the driver's door jam). Then you can use a small brush and fill in the scratches to hide the damage that has been done. An hour of your time and say $30 for a pint of paint and all is good. Then, if you happen to scratch it again, you already have the paint to touch that up too.

 

I had touch up paint and touched it up the best I could but some of the scrapes are pretty deep. Like I stated not noticeable unless you are looking under the car but it is just the fact that they are there is disturbing to me.
I just went out and got some sand paper and sanded off some of the roughness of the scrapes and went back over with touch up paint, better but the verdict is still out on having the body shop to repair and repaint.
Thank you....

 

So, as I understand it, the damage is not visible unless you are deliberately looking under the car? It bothers you, not because you can see it, but because you know it's there... right? I'm a bit of a fanatic too so I do understand and sympathize. I think your best solution may be one that falls between "touching it up" and "repainting the bumper cover and hoping for a perfect match". There are professional touch up people who do absolutely amazing work. They usually travel about in vans and perform on-site repairs to vehicles on used car lots. I can assure you they'll far exceed the quality of any self-touch up done with a brush and you won't have to worry about the possibility of a mismatch. Many years ago, a neighbor's small child laid a deep scratch into the hood of my wife's black car with a sheet metal screw he found. My local body shop estimated $450 to repaint the hood but suggested I look into a professional touch up. I checked with the Cadillac dealer to see if they had such a service and learned that they were there one day each week. Took the car there and had it fixed for $75. The scratch was not visible under any lighting, natural or man made, nor from any angle. That was in 1999 or 2000 and I have to believe the repair technology has probably improved since then. I'd suggest you at least look into it. Good luck! By the way, similar vendors do paintless dent removal and interior repairs as well.

Dwayne

 

I used some wide plastic tape to cover up the scrapes. I got lucky and it matches the white color of my car perfectly. You can't see it unless you're really close up and look very carefully for the line at each end of the tape. Far better than before, when the scrapes stood out like a sore thumb. Cost under $10 plus 10 minutes of my time. Best of all, when I scrape it again it's an easy fix.

 

I really got lucky as you would really have to bend your head down and look under the car to see mine. Even if you were on your knees facing the car you would have to tilt your head to see the scrapes.
This was one of those deals where the automatic parking sensors may have been better than having to reach up and turn the parking sensor on when in drive and pulling forward and wanting to check for clearance.

Thank you.....

 

The same thing happened to me. You can only see them by bending down and looking under the car. They are like a Jaguar took its nails and ripped down 4 inches................ Its been there for years now. The only time anyone see it is when its on the lift.

 

I still have not made a decison but out of curiosity and for peace of mind I did go by the cleaners just to see how I did this as I had never done this before.
Well, I parked on the side where I very seldom park and one side of the parking block sits higher than the other. There was also a bolt protruding from the block that explained one of the slightly deeper scratches. You could not see the bolt from the car and it was really hard to see just standing over it as it was painted over with the same yellow paint as the block.
Like you this damage will only be seen when the car is on a lift or if you are looking under the car but every time I wash the car and feel that rough area the OCD in me shows up.
I am still thinking that I am just not going to be happy with the results of breaking the factory paint job.

 

When I park head in I always turn on the parking sensors as I have had numerous instances when not doing so would have resulted in scraping on the bottom of the front bumper cover.

 

Tire bumpers can be more than a nuisance. I refer you to the attached photo. This happened when I failed to notice that the small post was sticking up slightly. When I backed out of the spot I heard a noise and before I could stop this happened to my Jaguar XF. $3000 later car was fixed. Now I am lot more careful with my new XJ.

 

Yes, that would be how the post was sticking up from the block looked that got me but compared to you I was extremely lucky.

 

Oh man, that sucks big time...my heart goes out to you! I would have been crying like hell if that had to happen to me!

 

Boy that looks bad!

But I thought the XF has the front park sensors on all the time?
Did they not go off when you approached the parking barrier?
.
.
.

 

clubairth1, I don't think the parking sensors are aimed down enough to pick up the parking curb, let alone the 1/4" steel rod sticking up which is what really did the damage (ie, grabbed the back of the bumper cover and would not let go). I know when I back into spots that have a high curb, the parking sensors don't pick it up till I am practically on top of it and then they are more than likely picking up the ground/hill that is beyond the curb.

 

Well that's another Jaguar XJ oddity then?

While they won't pick up the steel rod holding the parking barrier in place they will pick up that massive concrete barrier. At least again ALL the other cars on the road will. Including my old 2005 STR.

If fact my 2005 STR would pickup concrete lips if about 3" high or so. Sometimes there are no parking barriers and they just use the edge of the sidewalk as a stop. This can also damage the bumper cover.

Just so odd the XJ is different from other Jags as well as the majority of the other cars on the road.

Is there ANY other car the requires you to turn on the front park sensors before they work? I can't find one?
.
.
.

 

My other car, Cadillac SRX 2012 requires the push too. I think it was the time when the designer thought we only need to hear proximity warning when we mean it because proximity warning is startling if we are not prepared.

Following on the thread, my XJ also has some deep scratches on the bottom side, color paint is clearly gone, and there are deep groves. For me, that is much less a problem than the stone chipping on the front of the bumper. I am actually thinking some time in the future, replace the bumper.

 

XJsss,
Without me breaking out my printed copy of my owners manual (just lazy), where do I turn on my parking sensors?

 

Should be right over your head, a button with a printing "P)))A" on it. Look at this picture, there is a similar one.





I think we are off the topic.