Gone are the days of metal/chrome bumpers for the majority of most vehicles. Plastic is now the primary material in use. A major challenge that dealers and body shop have to face with plastic parts is educating the general public why there is a difference in color between the bumper and the adjacent metal panels of the vehicle. In the assembly line, plastic bumpers are usually painted separately from the body of the vehicle – in most cases at a different location as well! This is due to the fact that the plastic bumpers will not withstand the higher bake temperature that the metal part of the vehicle can. This different application process is one of the reasons a color mismatch often occurs.

In most cases, a vehicle owner does not notice this difference until they are in need of a bumper repair or repaint. A darker or lighter appearance is usually noticeable between the bumper and the body of the vehicle on both factory and refinished bumpers. In some cases, the color might look very good at one angle and totally different from another angle, as seen in the picture below. This vehicle is a lighter colored vehicle which usually highlights the color mismatch the most. As you can  see there is a variation in color on the bumper vs the quarter panel of the vehicle.