Painting the lower part of factory bumper

**panz** · 27-04-2017, 09:20 PM

Hi

I'm thinking to get a Tiguan (not the R-Line due to budget) but one thing that turns me off is the dark lower bumper and sides that don't match the body colour. Has anyone painted it to match the body colour? thoughts?

**AEROBERGERKLOPS** · 28-04-2017, 12:10 PM

Originally Posted by panz

Hi

I'm thinking to get a Tiguan (not the R-Line due to budget) but one thing that turns me off is the dark lower bumper and sides that don't match the body colour. Has anyone painted it to match the body colour? thoughts?

It should look something like this...

**panz** · 28-04-2017, 10:07 PM

@AEROBERGERKLOPS: yep something like that without the lowered body

. Nice car by the way, yours?

**tigger73** · 28-04-2017, 10:47 PM

I looked into it with the first gen Tig and the problem you have is that generally the unpainted plastics have a textured finish. If you paint over the texture, you end up with a texture in the paint.

Most of the painted plastics have a smooth finish so when they are painted you get a smooth finish on the paint.

To achieve this when you have a textured finish on the plastic, you first need to use filler on the texture, sand it back to get a smooth finish and then paint it. Either that or purchase the plastic parts with the high finish and then paint them. Either way it's an expensive job.

The other option is to wrap the lower plastics with something that (hopefully) closely matches the body colour.

**Gladbach** · 28-04-2017, 10:52 PM

To be honest, I think its a poor investment. It will cost quite a bit to paint to plastic panels but won't add much value to the car for resale. You'd be better off either accepting it how it is or shelling out for the R-Line kit. I can tell you as well, that the progressive steering and the DCC are well worth the investment beyond the cosmetic improvements.

**AEROBERGERKLOPS** · 28-04-2017, 11:28 PM

Originally Posted by panz

@AEROBERGERKLOPS: yep something like that without the lowered body

. Nice car by the way, yours?

No, not mine. I've got the R-line kit on mine

But it definitely looks better colour coded than not, if ur not looking at getting the R-Line pack. It would also help if u knew people in the business that could give you a quote on how much it would take to do so you could weigh up ur options. Good luck!

**tigger73** · 28-04-2017, 11:40 PM

A few people looked into doing it "properly" with the Gen 1 Tig and you'd be looking at the vicinity of $5-8k to buy in the parts and get them painted and fitted.

If you're looking at the Comfortline you're much better off getting it done at the factory and it's called R-line. Unfortunately this time it's only an option on the Highline. Previously you could option it onto the Comfortline also.

**panz** · 30-04-2017, 08:53 PM

Originally Posted by tigger73

I looked into it with the first gen Tig and the problem you have is that generally the unpainted plastics have a textured finish. If you paint over the texture, you end up with a texture in the paint.

Most of the painted plastics have a smooth finish so when they are painted you get a smooth finish on the paint.

To achieve this when you have a textured finish on the plastic, you first need to use filler on the texture, sand it back to get a smooth finish and then paint it. Either that or purchase the plastic parts with the high finish and then paint them. Either way it's an expensive job.

The other option is to wrap the lower plastics with something that (hopefully) closely matches the body colour.

that's what I thought, you confirmed it. I guess I won't get a white colour one now, it just looks odd with the unpainted plastics. thanks for the input @tigger73.

**tigger73** · 30-04-2017, 11:38 PM

What I ended up doing was using plasti-dip on the lower plastics and it worked surprisingly well. Mine was a black car but the plastics were grey. The plasti-dip blackened them up enough to look almost body coloured. It wasn't perfect but it was certainly an improvement and for $50 it was certainly a reasonable comprimise.

**panz** · 02-05-2017, 09:04 PM

Originally Posted by tigger73

What I ended up doing was using plasti-dip on the lower plastics and it worked surprisingly well. Mine was a black car but the plastics were grey. The plasti-dip blackened them up enough to look almost body coloured. It wasn't perfect but it was certainly an improvement and for $50 it was certainly a reasonable comprimise.

I wonder how plasti-dip looks like on those plastics, do you have some pics that you can share?