[Wuiquen]

Well it's been a while since posting..

In the mean time i have been dealing with paint correction and ZL1 1LE bumper conversion. Today i got everything put apart but ran out of time to remove the bumper. In the process, i realized how terrible my paint condition is for the front bumper. It had a lot of rock hits and small chips here and there.. however, the only way to really see that would be at like a couple of inches from the bumper at full sun or with a flashlight.

Question is, should i have the bumper repainted now that i am removing it? I don't want to lose the OEM paint finish and i don't know if i trust a shop to do it right. What would you guys do? I figured i could live with it and touch up whatever is not paint color. Again, i can't see it unless I get super close. Maybe get some PPF so it doesn't get any worse? But is it worth it?

No major damage just a handful of rock chips.

[Seventh Camaro]

Originally Posted by Wuiquen

Well it's been a while since posting..

In the mean time i have been dealing with paint correction and ZL1 1LE bumper conversion. Today i got everything put apart but ran out of time to remove the bumper. In the process, i realized how terrible my paint condition is for the front bumper. It had a lot of rock hits and small chips here and there.. however, the only way to really see that would be at like a couple of inches from the bumper at full sun or with a flashlight.

Question is, should i have the bumper repainted now that i am removing it? I don't want to lose the OEM paint finish and i don't know if i trust a shop to do it right. What would you guys do? I figured i could live with it and touch up whatever is not paint color. Again, i can't see it unless I get super close. Maybe get some PPF so it doesn't get any worse? But is it worth it?

No major damage just a handful of rock chips.

It's really what you think will make you happy. I have had many cars that I have used for car shows/drag racing, etc. I always had the motto you gotta pay to play. Meaning, if I scratched or got a rock chip on my show car while at the drag strip, I'd have a door or whatever part re-painted/fixed.

With that said.... My painter who is absolutely incredible, the only color I ever had trouble with a color match was red. Very hard to hit red spot on for some reason. Black, white, silver, grey, red, all colors that I have had spots repainted and no one would have know the difference right down to the orange peel. It took a couple of tries on the red to get it right, and then he ended up doing a blend into another panel to keep things consistent.

The one thing in your favor here, which is unfortunate, most of the new Camaro front bumper colors are mismatched to the car pretty significantly. Some I notice a little, some are drastic. You might get lucky and the repaint match better than the existing color, or, it might be worse.....

Wow I turned this into a long answer.. Good luck with your choice.

[Mac7504]

Originally Posted by Wuiquen

Well it's been a while since posting..

In the mean time i have been dealing with paint correction and ZL1 1LE bumper conversion. Today i got everything put apart but ran out of time to remove the bumper. In the process, i realized how terrible my paint condition is for the front bumper. It had a lot of rock hits and small chips here and there.. however, the only way to really see that would be at like a couple of inches from the bumper at full sun or with a flashlight.

Question is, should i have the bumper repainted now that i am removing it? I don't want to lose the OEM paint finish and i don't know if i trust a shop to do it right. What would you guys do? I figured i could live with it and touch up whatever is not paint color. Again, i can't see it unless I get super close. Maybe get some PPF so it doesn't get any worse? But is it worth it?

No major damage just a handful of rock chips.

If you either decide to paint or ppf I have a few places I could recommend in our area.

I've already noticed a small nick on my front by the hood area. So small but I notice everything. These things seem to be rock magnets so I'm going to ppf asap. Even one of the managers at the dealership I purchased from stated he had one and recommended that's the first thing I do.

[Wuiquen]

Originally Posted by Seventh Camaro

It's really what you think will make you happy. I have had many cars that I have used for car shows/drag racing, etc. I always had the motto you gotta pay to play. Meaning, if I scratched or got a rock chip on my show car while at the drag strip, I'd have a door or whatever part re-painted/fixed.

With that said.... My painter who is absolutely incredible, the only color I ever had trouble with a color match was red. Very hard to hit red spot on for some reason. Black, white, silver, grey, red, all colors that I have had spots repainted and no one would have know the difference right down to the orange peel. It took a couple of tries on the red to get it right, and then he ended up doing a blend into another panel to keep things consistent.

The one thing in your favor here, which is unfortunate, most of the new Camaro front bumper colors are mismatched to the car pretty significantly. Some I notice a little, some are drastic. You might get lucky and the repaint match better than the existing color, or, it might be worse.....

Wow I turned this into a long answer.. Good luck with your choice.

I actually think my bumper is well match to the rest of my paint.. but yeah red turns out to be a hard color to keep nice looking. I guess I didn't know that before.

[Wuiquen]

Originally Posted by Mac7504

If you either decide to paint or ppf I have a few places I could recommend in our area.

I've already noticed a small nick on my front by the hood area. So small but I notice everything. These things seem to be rock magnets so I'm going to ppf asap. Even one of the managers at the dealership I purchased from stated he had one and recommended that's the first thing I do.

Send me the recommendation please.. yeah if you have a brand new car, i suggest you get PPF in all the places. I agree this thing gets rocks everywhere.. there were so many inside the bumper i just removed..

[Wuiquen]

[Mac7504]

Originally Posted by Wuiquen

Send me the recommendation please.. yeah if you have a brand new car, i suggest you get PPF in all the places. I agree this thing gets rocks everywhere.. there were so many inside the bumper i just removed..

I will shoot you a dm in the morning.

[Realist]

Touch up the chips and get the car some PPF in the important areas.

[TXCSSU]

I personally wouldn't put PPF on anything but perfect paint. It will only magnify the bad spots and then you'll have plastic film that's come off of the bumper dragging around. If the paint isn't smooth and pristine, the film is going to have a hard time sticking.

[Idaho2018GTPremium]

If I was in your shoes, I would have the bumper painted then do PPF on the entire bumper, splitter, air inlets (e.g. all painted surfaces on the front of the car not including the grille that can't be PPFd), hood/extractor, front fenders, mirrors, and in front of and behind the rear wheels. I have Xpel PPF on my '21 ZL1 in all those areas; ~5,500 miles and there's only a couple of marks in the PPF (the paint is fine beneath the marks). Those would have been big marks without PPF, and smaller stuff self heals so you don't usually see the small marks at all.

I also recommend doing the bottom of the side skirt behind the front tires and on the underside of the trim behind the rear tires. I didn't do those areas and both areas are beat up. It's not visible from any angle except from the ground, but I don't like that those areas are getting badly beat up.

It's especially bad here because my county chip seals the roads. If you haven't heard of chip sealing, it's awful. Little rocks glued to the road that don't stick very well. In some areas it's almost like driving on a gravel road, of which I avoid those areas as best as possible. When they are actually chip sealing, the roads are gravel roads for 2 weeks before they apply the upper adhesive. It's terrible. I'm constantly finding small rocks embedded in my tires, in my wife's tire tread, and I'm constantly sweeping my driveway, garage, and street in front of my house.

I do have a small rock chip on my roof about 6" from the windshield (I heard it hit and I cringed). I don't know that I would normally PPF the roof, I think that was a fluke as my Mustang didn't have PPF and had 12k miles and didn't have any chips on the A-pillars or roof.

[CW3SF]

Originally Posted by Idaho2018GTPremium

If I was in your shoes, I would have the bumper painted then do PPF on the entire bumper, splitter, air inlets (e.g. all painted surfaces on the front of the car not including the grille that can't be PPFd), hood/extractor, front fenders, mirrors, and in front of and behind the rear wheels. I have Xpel PPF on my '21 ZL1 in all those areas; ~5,500 miles and there's only a couple of marks in the PPF (the paint is fine beneath the marks). Those would have been big marks without PPF, and smaller stuff self heals so you don't usually see the small marks at all.

I also recommend doing the bottom of the side skirt behind the front tires and on the underside of the trim behind the rear tires. I didn't do those areas and both areas are beat up. It's not visible from any angle except from the ground, but I don't like that those areas are getting badly beat up.

It's especially bad here because my county chip seals the roads. If you haven't heard of chip sealing, it's awful. Little rocks glued to the road that don't stick very well. In some areas it's almost like driving on a gravel road, of which I avoid those areas as best as possible. When they are actually chip sealing, the roads are gravel roads for 2 weeks before they apply the upper adhesive. It's terrible. I'm constantly finding small rocks embedded in my tires, in my wife's tire tread, and I'm constantly sweeping my driveway, garage, and street in front of my house.

I do have a small rock chip on my roof about 6" from the windshield (I heard it hit and I cringed). I don't know that I would normally PPF the roof, I think that was a fluke as my Mustang didn't have PPF and had 12k miles and didn't have any chips on the A-pillars or roof.

GM paint (Camaro in particular) is very thin and chips very easily.
Ask me how I know. I’d PPF as much as possible

[Gunkk]

Fix it right then protect it with some self-healing PPF. Whole car if you can swing it.

I did mine 2 weeks into ownership and it still looks fantastic and wins awards after nearly five years.