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I've only had my civic for less than 2 months and already I have 2 major rock (?) chips on my front bumper. What kind of luck is that??

Anyhow, I'm not sure if it was rocks or random road garbage that caused the damage, but it took the paint right off and has exposed the black plastic underneath in two areas - one the size of a nickel and one the size of a dime.

My question is, what is the best way to fix this? My car's color is the Satin Silver (NH623M), and I bought a small bottle of touch up paint from my dealer, but when I tested a small amount on one of the chipped areas, the color seemed a lot darker than the original finish. Could this be because I'm applying it directly onto the black plastic? Should I primer it with a lighter color first? Do I even have the right color? On some websites where you can order touch up paint, they require a letter code for Hondas as well as the part number to determine the correct color, but the dealership didn't ask me for this when I picked up my touch-up paint. Help!!!

On a side note, I bought the Clear-Coat protectant from Honda. Shouldn't this have made the paint finish "stronger" or more resistant to this type of damage?

 
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touch up paint will never match perfectly (especially with ssm nh623m, it has little flakes) even though it's the same color because the paint is more condensed in the bottle as opposed to when they spray it on, it spreads on more evenly. i feel your pain... i remember when i got my first stone chip, i was bummed. but, no matter what... it's going to happen, your gonna get scratches and some chips here and there no matter how careful you are. just make sure to touch them up if they are down to the metal so it doesn't rust, and apply thin coats at a time.

 
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Silver is the hardest colour to match. The only way to get it perfect (if your chips are as big as a "nickel" and a "dime") would be by repainting the whole bumper. It won't rust becaise the bumper is just plastic. And lastly the "clearcoat protectant" is a class A rip off! It isn't going to prevent chips or scratches. If you want to protect the front of your car, you can purchase an "Invisi-bra" or some other clear plastic protector that is professionally bonded to the front areas of your car. Hard to even see, unless you are a couple of feet away.

 
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Here is a picture of the front hood of my car. If you look down in the left corner you can see the edge of the "Invisibra". I believe it is made by 3M.

 
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it's impossible to keep your car from getting scratches & stone chips, it's gonna happen. and i refuse to put any kind of bra on the front end, it just doesn't look right.

 
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InvisiBra is cool, but i dont like the way it leaves your car looking. Its inevitable, and if you drive fast and catch rocks ont he freeway, i feel for you, my car fell victim to that for a couple of my small scratches on my hood/bumper

 
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ive spent so much time and money painting and repainting my car. i just stopped caring about all the scratches and chips, because no matter what happens they're out there.

 
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Thanks to everyone for the input. I think I might have to just grin and bear it.... however, just out of curiosity, does anyone know about how much it costs to get a front bumper repainted?

Thanks

 
Rep Power: 286

you only got 2 stone chips? haha. I got like 10 stone chips on my car. I've got like 10 little scratches here and there as well. I would say your luck is pretty good. I even got a stone chip on my passenger side mirror. My car is approximately 2 months old as well.

Oh well. I bought the touch up pen from honda. Its got the paint on one side and the clear coat on the opposite side. I haven't tried it out yet, but I will tommorrow.