White Paint Bumper mismatch

[pipplo]

Saw some posts on reddit about this and I'm curious to know what others are seeing here.

r/teslamotors - Had the same issue on my 3, looks like time hasn't fixed this particular problem

That OP is a really bad example of the mismatch, and after seeing the post I looked at my car and I can see a slight mismatch now, but I noticed it's highly dependent on the angle you like at it from. I'm not sure if it's really a color mismatch or some quirk of that vertical part and the Pearl.

White

Anyone else seeing similar?

 

[ergela]

I noticed the same thing on mine during delivery. At first i thought it was just my eyes.... but after this post i guess i'm not alone... What's your vin?

 

[pipplo]

I noticed the same thing on mine during delivery. At first i thought it was just my eyes.... but after this post i guess i'm not alone... What's your vin?

1488x

 

[ergela]

Looks like it's our batch.....

 

[ergela]

Mine is only visible from certain angles, but it is noticeable if you look for it. I saw the OP on reddit has a 12/17 build, so maybe it is all White M3's that have this.

 

[skitown]

I’ve seen pearl white do this on other cars too. Seems to be tricky. My S seemed to do this where the body went from metal body to the plastic bumper. And my 2013 WRX which was pearl white did the same. Almost like the paint on the plastic just appears a slightly different shade and more apparent at different angles. Or maybe they are all sprayed independently and that’s why. Not sure. (Ie bumper is painted separate from the car, etc. so they really are different batches of paint. )

 

[Fusion]

Wondering if they paint the bumper with a different batch of paint. The bad part is it looks like you got in a accident and the paint shop didn't match the paint right when you got it repainted. No good.

 

[ergela]

Yea it's unfortunate.... looks like quite a few people with the problem.... another reddit thread....

r/teslamotors - Bad Rear Bumper/Body Paintmatching on White Model 3

 

[jelloslug]

From my experiences with spraying paint with lots of pearl in it, in it has to do with angle at which the parts are oriented when they are sprayed.

 

[Indy3]

Great. My Model 3 was the first car on the top of the car carrier when it was shipped across the country to Indiana. Back end was facing forward and it got a rock ding on the back of trunk by the license plate. They did paintless dent repair and that ended up turning the small dent into a paint chip. Now it is at the body shop getting fixed/painted. Anything pearl/metallic is hard to match. Now I am worried about a mismatch paint job. If it comes back with mismatched paint, what the hell is my recourse other than to make them repaint and repaint until it matches again? Crossing my fingers this doesn’t happen, but want to go into this informed.

I would refuse a Model 3 with a mismatched bumper like shown in these photos. Whoever made the calculation that having to do body repairs on a small percentage of Model 3s would be cheaper than wrapping the cars for shipping should be swiftly fired.

 

[Kcharwood]

I picked up my model 3 from the body shop this week, and I saw three white model 3’s that all had their rear bumpers off.

I bet this is related.

 

[GigiM3]

Saw this pic posted by a friend of a friend on Facebook - his 3 was delivered last week @ Marina Del Rey. The mismatch is so glaringly obvious I’m surprised he took delivery.

 

[Indy3]

What is more surprising is that these are getting past quality control.

 

[juanmedina]

What is more surprising is that these are getting past quality control.

Is common pearl white to be difficult to match between different surbtrates such as metal and plastic. The apparent difference between only appear depending on the lighting. Any body shop will tell you that plastic painted piece will never 100% match metal pieces.

From Subarus, Honda, infinity, Dodge, mazda, acura, infinity they all have the same issue....is kind of funny how different car forums react compared to Tesla owners. So much grown up and car knowledgeable.

The worse part is that over time white paint tends to turn yellow specially on your bumper...it is going to look great in a few years lol.

Question for the WOP owners.
VWVortex.com - New Subaru WRX - Bumper Paint Mismatch?
My 2015 Challenger SRT 392 / Ivory White Tri-Coat - Dodge Challenger Forum: Challenger & SRT8 Forums
Snowflake white pearl paint match woes - Mazda 6 Forums : Mazda 6 Forum / Mazda Atenza Forum
White TLX colour mismatch...! - AcuraZine - Acura Enthusiast Community
IPL Rear Bumper Paint Doesnt Match - MyG37

 

[Cnasty]

I guess I got lucky.

PearlWhite is beautiful in person and it wasn't my top pick but the wife won.

 

[dgaultiere]

@juanmedina Thanks for posting those other threads. It’s reassuring to know this is not just Tesla being lazy, but rather a common issue with white paint on metal vs plastic.

I also took delivery of a Pearl White Model 3 last week. My rear bumper looks slightly different but I don’t find it very noticeable and it’s really subjective in different lighting.

Also for what it’s worth, body shops will usually do some paint “blending” between panels so that the parts they repaint blend seamlessly with the rest of the car. This would be done by hand and I imagine wouldn’t be very cost effective for Tesla to do this after installing the painted bumper.

 

[Indy3]

Ps Tesla offered to repaint my bumper without me even asking them to do it. I just send my service advisor an email with a few photos and said I noticed this, let me know your thoughts. And the first response was them offering to repaint my bumper. (A) I continue to be blown away by their customer service; and (B) this has to be a known and accepted issue. If a customer brings it up, they will do it. They didn’t even see my car in person, just the few photos I sent.

I am having it repainted because they can color match it to the rest of the car and then it won’t bug the living crap out of me every day for rest of the life of the car

 

[Fusion]

Here is my rear bumper. Picked up the car today.

 

[rodrego]

Here is my rear bumper. Picked up the car today.View attachment 299079

That actually doesn’t look that bad. The only area of the bumper that is noticeably different is the area that jets up against the taillight. Everything else looks good. Looks like at different viewing angles the paint prob looks fine. Are you happy with the color in person? I pick up in a couple weeks and this has been bothering me.

 

[Fusion]

I'm actually okay with my bumper. Just wanted to show a recent car. Most white pearls are gonna be a hard match between the car and the bumper. Usually some variation. This is not just on Tesla cars. I've seen it in every brand and previous owned vehicles I've owned.