I'm 100% buying this car. Its an '05 with 10,800 miles, I'd be stupid to give it back. Here is my question though: Ever since I took delivery of the car, the rear bumper where it meets the rear passenger fender is not a flush fit. There is also some paint missing right where they meet. You do kind of have to look close to see it, but its definitely there. You can see about 1mm of the black where there isn't any paint. I know 04's and 05's had problems with this bumper fitting correctly. Well, I took it back to them a week after having it and they tried to make the bumper flush again. Basically it didn't work and I've been driving it like this for 3 years. Do you think they would cover this under warranty and repaint my rear bumper? Its not a big problem, but I would like it fixed before my lease ends. Has anyone else had this problem and did you get it fixed? Or am I SOL?

 

I noticed that gap on my 06 shortly after I got it and thought something was messed up. But then at a local meet I looked at every one else's and they have the exact same gap. It doesn't look like it should be there, but they were all like that.

 

ya there was that bumper problem from 05-07

 

I believe there is a bumper problem throughout all the years if I recall correctly. I know my 02 has that gap and I remember seeing earlier models had the same issue, too. I actually thought they fixed this for the later models until I started reading more and more issues like this. I wonder if the MY08s have the same problem still.

Oh, as far as them repainting it under warranty, it doesn't hurt to ask. Got nothing to lose really.

 

It is possible to fix it if the body shop knows what it's doing. I would tell them you want to buy the car out of the lease but you want this issue taken care of. With auto sales where they are I bet they would be willing to bend over backwards a little to make a sale.

 

mine had poor fit and finish on the rear bumper too. it touched right behind the rear tires and had lost a barely noticeable bit of paint due to the poor OE install.

last winter i had a bumper-rub accident (rear bumper's side brushing a jacked up pick-up's tire, the jack@ss... well, thats another story, cosmetic damage from near zero impact.) i took it to a very good body shop to have it redone. the body shop replaced/repainted/etc the bumper cover and blended it all in, and they fit the new one perfectly--IMO 100x better fitment than when i bought the car new.

good luck getting honda to do it though, warranty or no.

 

They are all like this to some extent (some cars worse/better than others, even in 08). I don't think there is a good way to fix it without making it worse. And the absolute worst thing you could do is have the whole bumper repainted for such a teeny problem -- it will never be as good as the factory paint. On my old 05, I just hit that area with some touchup paint and that took care of the black plastic. I honestly don't think there is anything you can do about the poor fit. It's a fundamental mismatch between the body parts.

As far as the lease buyout goes, it would be in your interest to buy the car since you didn't come close to using up the alloted mileage (which also means that the value of the car will be slightly higher than the residual).

 

I think part of the problem is that the bumper expands and contracts with temperature.

 

I had the body shop fix my '05 bumper cover a couple years ago, and it's looked good ever since.

I showed the dealer some of the posts from this website, and they agreed to fix it - but I've also bought a lot of vehicles from them over the years, so your mileage may vary.

 

if decent body shops fix it, i've got to think honda has the ability. but convincing them to do it under warranty may be a different issue...