Painting Model S Rear Bumper

[controlfreak]

There's a small crease and some paint scrapes on my Model S (2017) rear bumper. Looks like a car park hit and run. My normal paint guy says he needs to paint the whole bumper off the car, which makes sense.

Question is - should I be concerned about sensors etc, and their removal, alignment or replacement ? Not sure if there is anything unusual about the Model S, and the autopilot etc.

Any other watch outs vs other cars for a repaint of the rear bumper ?

 

[controlfreak]

Any thoughts ? OK to use a non-Tesla approved shop for this sort of minor work ?

 

[LN1_Casey]

I'd be most concerned that your paint guy is unfamiliar with disassembling a rear bumper of a Tesla. However, over all, it's not that difficult, as the sensors and cameras are all plug and play. I don't think it's possible to relocate/misalign the senors.

I personally wouldn't have any issue, nor concern with a 3rd party paint fix if they have experience with Teslas, even to the point of my warranty. Same way I'd not be concerned with a wrap shop who disassembles the car in part (such as mirror removal) to wrap the car. It doesn't damage the vehicle, doesn't cause undue stress to components, and realistically can't cause a failure that would void my warranty (such as that one guy who swapped his rear wheels for tank tracks and jacked up his motor).

 

[David.85D]

The rear bumper is pretty much the same as other cars. Ultrasound parking distance sensors are common in many cars now. Rear camera is mounted above the license plate- shouldn’t be touched.

if you have a newer car, you would have the rear radar. I don’t know how that mounts. It would not be happy if it changed alignment.