So, I have owned the car for 3 years now and when I bought the car it only had 6000 miles on it and a clean carfax. I am pretty fanatical when it comes to detailing the car, and this is literally the first time I have noticed this. Now beings that the car had 6000 miles on it before I bought it, there is no way of knowing for sure if the bumper has been repainted or replaced, but all I can say is if it had been repainted or replaced, it is an extremely good paint job. Has anyone else noticed this on their car? It's by the fake vents on the front bumper of an "AP2".

 

Just be happy they didn't paint over the fake vents as experienced by myself and others here. I think I'd prefer your scenario vs mine trying get to paint over the fake vents back to makeep it look stock again.

 

Do be honest I am not even totally convinced that it was repainted. It is a very tight spot and set back relatively far in the bumper, even the machines in the factory would have trouble getting to it. The only spot that looks like that is the top right corner on the driver side and the top left corner on the passenger side. I don't think it will be very easy to see on light colors, but on the darker colors it might be noticeable. I was hoping that someone who has had there car the entire life of the car, would be able to take a look at the same spot and see if they see something similar.

 

Maybe just the car showing it's age....10 years.
Levi

 

Looks painted, I just painted my front lip and ran out of paint and had two spot that looks similar where it needed more paint to cover up the primer. I'm happy with it over all that I did the paint/clear and wetsand/buff myself that came out a whole lot better than expected. I wouldn't worry too much and yeah, having those vents painted look horrible and at least you didn't have that happened.

 

Clean carfax doesn't mean the car is accident or bodywork free.... and there is a way to figure out if the bumper has been replaced or repaired.

 

I am aware that it doesn't mean the car was not in an accident.... And what would this way be to figure out if the bumper has been painted? aside from a paint meter which I don't have access to.

 

Is the VIN present on the tab? If so, pull the black metal bracket and hood weatherstrip to look for overspray or masking lines.

 

Vin is present. No masking lines and no over spray, just looks like the paint is thin in the corner underneath where the weather stripping would be if I had not removed it. Maybe it was repainted. I don't know. If it was repainted, someone did a really good job. The paint texture is the same, not excessive orange peel. Maybe I need to find someone with a paint depth gauge.

 

You can ask a bunch of local detailers/body shops to see if any of them is willing to measure it for you.