I looked at a 2006 Rio at a Honda dealership that had the rear bumper repainted. The color difference between the bumper and the quarter panel was obvious to me with the naked eye. However, I know you can paint the same color on metal and plastic and it'll look a little different. I couldn't compare w/ the front bumper b/c it was in the shade.

So I guess my question is: is a slight color difference normal and "factory spec" or did they just do a crappy job of repainting the bumper? Thanks.

 

There's always going to be a slight difference. I don't think they blended well enough or at all and that is why the difference is noticable.

 

i dont noticed any difference on my rio from the bumpers to the metal

 

It is entirely normal.

Plenty of cars come NEW with mismatched bumpers. Even painting a car will result in a slight difference.

Simple reasons of it are:

Paint dries at a different rate over plastic and metal (metal drops temperature drastically compared to plastic resulting in drying slower which WILL change the color) This is where painting your car (even if done complete) MAY result in a different color.

Additionally, Cars painted at the factory are painted seperate from the bumper. In many cases the manufacturer actually contracts OUT to a seperate company to not only make but also PAINT the seperate bumpers.

On top of all of that, differences in the paint agitation, mixture, and conditions of spraying could make the same paint a different color as well as different manufacturers of paint will have slightly different color standards. Honda could up and switch who supplies their paint and suddenly one 05 Rio S2000 could be different than another 05 Rio; but they're both Rio!

 

My bumpers are great, buy,My OEM front lip, is a horrible color match, looks orange. The RIO is really hard o blend.

 

yep.... just repaint the whole car

 

A lot of insurance companies are not paying for blending of plastic bumper covers because of the known fact that the paint will naturally look different when it has dried on metal versus plastic. This could be the cause of the obvious difference on the car you looked at. Its not at all uncommon as mentioned

 

^jay is your sig any indication to the color your car will be?

 

 

I've had the privilege of having my back bumper replaced twice and painted three times.

When I got my car brand new, the colors were close enough I never really noticed any difference.

The first time the bumper got redone, it was replaced after being hit at a stoplight, and the replacement was painted with PPG paint. It resulted in a perfect better-than-stock color match. No blending of surrounding panels was attempted or necessary.

From what I've heard, PPG is the paint that Honda uses. I can't prove it though.

The second time, it was simply repainted to fix a crack were something impacted the bumper while I was parked. This time was at a different shop that used Martin Senour paints, and it took the bodyshop most of a week and a visit from the Martin Senour rep to get it colormatched. No blending of surrounding panels was attempted.

The third time, it was replaced after getting abused yet again by another driver in a parking lot. The number of players of paint on it necessitated replacement. This time it got the PPG paint from the first body shop and again resulted in a perfect better-than-stock color match. No blending of surrounding panels was attempted or necessary.

For any color other than yellow, you're probably going to be okay. For yellow, I'd suggest hunting down a shop that uses PPG. Especially for Rio.