It is inevitable. Over time, your car could be affected by scratches or scrapes that can ruin the paint off of your front bumper. Luckily, this sort of paint damage is repairable and more than likely can be done by yourself, and no, you don’t need an entire bumper replacement.  

Bumper Touch Up Paint

Finding the right color for your vehicle is important. You don’t want to just guess which paint is the right one for your car. Generally speaking, the factory paint code is located either under the hood or inside the driver’s door. The bumper touch up paint code could also be located in your owner’s manual.  

Once you find the paint code, which is usually 3 or 4 digits, just plug it into a quick google search and you will be able to find out the actual name of the paint used. Once you figure that out, you can purchase the paint! Always make sure you are using the correct paint matches for the vehicle.  

It is also worth noting that auto repair shops typically don’t do car bumper touch up jobs, usually, you would need to go to an auto body repairs shop.  

Bumper Touch Up Cost

The total cost for all the materials will probably be around the $30-$80 range depending on what you already have in your garage. The items you will need for your bumper touch up kit include: 

• Touch up Paint
• A fine and small tipped brush: so you don’t smudge anywhere
• Paper Towels: to clean up any mess
• Sandpaper: to fix the damaged area
• Automotive Paint Thinner: prep for painting
• Clearcoat paint: to lock-in the touch-up paint
• Car Polish: to get that nice glossy look
• Glass Cleaner: to clean the surface area

The Steps To Touch Up Your Car Bumper

Automotive touch-up paint is very easy to use once you learn how to use the touch-up paint correctly. Following these simple steps will make your weekend car touch up paint project simple and hopefully a little fun!  

1. Clean and Sand

Before any paint touch up to your car bumper start with cleaning the damaged area with a spray glass cleaner and wiping it down with either paper towels or a cloth. A microfiber cloth would work best compared to a paper towel.  

The next step is to use sandpaper to sand the damaged area. Go over the chipped paint spot with the sandpaper using light strokes. You want to make sure the paint begins to look consistent and feels smooth where the paint chip was original.    

This should make a nice clean paint surface for you to work around. Using masking tape can help you visualize the work area so you don’t accidentally sandpaper an area you aren’t supposed to.  

2. Use Paint Thinner

Use the automotive paint thinner by dipping a small amount of paper towel or a cotton swab into it. Use it over the chipped paint and sanded damage. This will help the touch-up paint to work better. This is essentially a coat of primer to help the touch-up paintwork well.  

3. Apply Touch Up Paint

Add a little bit of bumper touch up paint to your fine-tip paintbrush. Make sure you go over the damaged area lightly using just a tiny amount of bumper touch up paint at a time. The amount of paint on the brush should be very small. Applying the base coat of paint should always be done slowly and methodically.  

Wait until the paint has dried to determine if you need to do another layer of paint. This is especially important if your car bumper has a deep chip because the paint will need to be filled in to make sure the surface is smooth again.  

4. Clear-Coat Time

Once the bumper touch up paint has completely dried you need to seal the paint with the clear coat paint. Make sure you use a clean paintbrush and go over the painted area lightly. 

Let it dry and add an additional clear coat of paint if needed. Once this is finished, wait 48 hours for the paint to completely harden and dry.  

5. Polish and Finish

Use a car polish on the painted area once it has hardened to give the area a glossy shine. Make sure you wait for the car polish to dry completely. Once you do that, your car bumper will be brand new! Everybody loves a nice glossy finish.  

What about Car Paint Touch Up Pens?

Touch up paint pens for vehicles work as intended for vehicles that have a commonly used color, but many car paint repair pens leave an unsatisfactory finish that will more than likely leave you disappointed at the repair. It is cheap and affordable to quickly fix your car but it is generally hard to get the car paint pen color to match perfectly with the original paint. These pens will also not fix deep scratches.  

Extreme Bumper Scratch Repair

If your vehicle has extremely deep cracks or dense scratches, the bumper repair cost can be up to $1,000 to $3,000 to replace the entire bumper. If your car’s bumper is dented, that can also take into effect the amount that it would cost to repair the vehicle. 

Another option to try, if you are feeling handy is to purchase a bumper repair kit to try to take any dents out of the bumper yourself, and save you some money. If the damage is extreme, it’s always best to bring it to a mechanic. Bumper replacement costs can always vary based on the extent of the damage.  

You Can Do It!

Car bumper touch up’s are an easy DIY project to keep your car looking brand new. Just remember that this is not a great method for extensive paint damage. If your vehicle has severe paint damage we recommend bringing your car to a professional repainting service shop. Not all paint repair jobs need an auto body shop, as there are things worth doing on your own. It is also worth noting that paint damage can lead to rust and corrosion eventually.  Repair and restoration of a damaged bumper is never an easy task to deal with, but an extended auto warranty could always help with severe bumper damage on your vehicle.  

Author: Stephen Lubas