Rear bumper hit - repaint?

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blinkme323

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Hey everyone,

First time poster here. We have owned our Clarity for about a month now and love it (came from a Volt, which we also loved). That said, the other day someone was trying to edge out of parking space and "rubbed" the right said of our rear bumper.

Needless to say we are extremely upset, as there is some paint loss and scratches, so it will definitely need to be repaired. Has anyone had to repaint or partially respray their bumper yet? If so, how was your experience?

The damage on ours is localized enough that I think we could get away with a spot paint instead of a complete re-spray, but I'm just curious what other's experiences have been with repairs.
IMG_4459.webp
 
Clarity bumper is no different than any other bumper. For proper and truly invisible repair of that damage, a body shop will remove bumper from car, disassemble/remove all trim from it (they will replace that black textured trim piece with the reflector, because I can see it is also scratched and non-repairable), and they will repair/fill the scratch as needed, prime and spot paint the scratched area, then clear-coat the entire bumper cover, and reinstall it on the car. I don't know where you live, but most body shops will probably charge somewhere in the $500 to $900 range to do this to your car.

Alternative #2 is you buy a $10 bottle of touch-up paint, which will make it less visible but it will look like it was touched up and never be perfect.

Alternative #3 is ignore and drive on...cars don't stay new forever.

Only you can decide what is best for you in this situation. Sorry it happened it is certainly a bummer!
 
blinkme323 said:
Hey everyone,

First time poster here. We have owned our Clarity for about a month now and love it (came from a Volt, which we also loved). That said, the other day someone was trying to edge out of parking space and "rubbed" the right said of our rear bumper.

Needless to say we are extremely upset, as there is some paint loss and scratches, so it will definitely need to be repaired. Has anyone had to repaint or partially respray their bumper yet? If so, how was your experience?

The damage on ours is localized enough that I think we could get away with a spot paint instead of a complete re-spray, but I'm just curious what other's experiences have been with repairs.
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Was just reading the Tesla forum about the number of incidents like this caught on Sentry Mode. Too bad there is no such option for our Clarity yet. Maybe someday. I believe it may be time to invest in a dash cam, though.

@craze1cars gave really good alternatives. With your car being so new #3 would be hard to live with, though.
 
fotomoto said:
Looks like it also got the trunk too. That might be light enough to rub out tho'.
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That could just be a reflection. Like I thought the bumper was pushed in just above the brake light but I think that's just a reflection also.
 
Yeah, a lot of what you see in the pic are the result of reflections, so my apologies there. There's actual no structural damage thankfully, just the paint loss in three areas: to the left of the rear "vent", below the rear vent, and then a tiny nick on the seam of the bumper.

I definitely want to get it fixed, but I'm just wondering if it is minor enough to maybe have a mobile touch-up person come out and fix it, or if I should take it to an actual shop and have them repair and re-clear (like craze1 mentioned above).
 
2002 said:
That could just be a reflection
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Ahh OK. Yes it is, I now see it's a reflection of the OP taking the pic. I now also see some of that same reflection in the bumper which greatly lowers the amount of damage I originally "saw". Unless the OP can find the perp and have them foot the bill for "option A", I'd just buff out the minor stuff (I know how) and use touch up paint on the deep stuff (option B).
 
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