Colour matching

[kylegordon]

So, my beloved S60 is just out the garage after someone ever so gently rear ended it and scuffed/scratched the *center* of the rear bumper.

The garage is adamant that they repaired the scuff, and sprayed the area and blended it into the surroundings. It is *not* a replacement bumper, and they say the side portions are untouched.

However, when I picked it up, the rear side sections look grey. For all I know they've always been this way, but now that I look, it seems clearly obvious.

What are other peoples views on the attached pictures, and what are your white Volvos like? The garage also pointed out that plastic bumpers sometimes don't match the colour of painted metal bodywork, but I've seen perfectly matched sets before.

Am I being overly picky? It was an approved Volvo repair center under the name of my main dealer, so not some fly by night side shop.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/kylegordon/17253005822/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/kylegordon/17047343017/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/kylegordon/17254217071/

Cheers all

[Bibsy]

Tiny bit grey in the pics, but only because you pointed it out.

Much more excitingly, those are some seriously pretty Crays. And I love the Lego airport.

[DieselElectric]

Originally Posted by Bibsy

Much more excitingly, those are some seriously pretty Crays.

I wonder if it uses a dream-time-share OS?

[rkennedy]

Originally Posted by kylegordon

So, my beloved S60 is just out the garage after someone ever so gently rear ended it and scuffed/scratched the *center* of the rear bumper.

The garage is adamant that they repaired the scuff, and sprayed the area and blended it into the surroundings. It is *not* a replacement bumper, and they say the side portions are untouched.

However, when I picked it up, the rear side sections look grey. For all I know they've always been this way, but now that I look, it seems clearly obvious.

What are other peoples views on the attached pictures, and what are your white Volvos like? The garage also pointed out that plastic bumpers sometimes don't match the colour of painted metal bodywork, but I've seen perfectly matched sets before.

Am I being overly picky? It was an approved Volvo repair center under the name of my main dealer, so not some fly by night side shop.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/kylegordon/17253005822/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/kylegordon/17047343017/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/kylegordon/17254217071/

Cheers all

I have had the same issue with Ice White. I had to have a new fuel filler door fitted under warranty and, as they come unpainted, it was painted at the Volvo paint shop. I rejected the job as soon as I saw it - the difference was ridiculous. They did the job again and it was better next time but still not perfect. They said that it was as good as they could get.
I also believe that the bumpers and door mirrors are not painted in the paint shop when the car is being built - they come from suppliers who paint them to Volvo specs and these parts are fitted on the assembly line. Some difference therefore can be expected and mine has some difference if you look closely. Looking at your pictures I would say yours looks somewhat like mine.

[Chief inspector]

Does the front one look like that - that would be the acid test.

A year or two ago my car went in to westerns alfa, lamborghini and mercedes paint shop.

The made me take a long hard look at the bumpers under their light before they started, to show that they weren't the same tint before they even started, as people often bring it up later.

I understand its because the underlying texture and the primer is different, so it never really matches.

[Ninja59]

Bumpers are notorious some are worse than others i do not know volvo's tolerance for accepting pre painted bumpers but jlr work to a 2% +/- one. This could mean easily you have a car with about 4% difference.

This is not just for volvo but many manufacturers and some colours show it worse than others

[Hicksy92]

This is common with many manufactures, they cant get the perfect match all the time between the plastic bumpers and the metal panels , I looked a a brand new xc60 in the show room it was the metallic white and the bumpers looked cream in colour, the dealer said we've never noticed it before but it's not new, it's worst now the paints are water based, I've been lucky our new xc60 in ice white appears to be perfect even in different light. Our friends have the metallic white on a xc60 and saw there car last week and just as it started to turn to dusk you could see the two different colours again in it , that's one of the reasons I didn't have that colour .

[kylegordon]

Heh, yes, the Crays were lovely, as was the SGI and StorageTek gear. Very privilege to have a friend that runs that gear :-)

I've been having a look recently, and the front bumper is a perfect match to the rest of the car. A few friends have even commented on the rear bumper now, asking if the pearlescent/ice finish has been removed :-(

Now raking through my photos to see if there's any of the back of the car before the work.

I understand that finishes can't always be identical, but I don't expect my first response to be "jesus, it's a two tone car now" when they handed me the keys under the light of an overcast morning dawn.

Will visit the dealer this week and see what they say.