Well I've 100% confirmed my car has had the rear facia replaced... question.

[Cobra4B]

After being punished by the roads around here this weekend I decided to raise the car up about 1/2" all around to "lowered w/ stock bolts" heights (Put the stock rear bolts back in to 3 threads showing and cranked the C6 front adjusters a couple turns per side).

While up under the car I noticed these two stickers one each side of the inside of the facia. The first one here was on the passenger side. Is this telling me the bumper was painted black @ 8:11 am on 8/27/2004? My car was originally purchased in March 2003.



The second sticker was in the same location but on the driver's side. This one seems to say it was manufactured by Nascote on 8/26/2004, Shift 1, RIM press 4, Tool 2541.



I suspected the rear facia had been replaced/repainted when purchasing the car because when you pop the trunk the paint has failed around the screw heads and is peeling. This is indicative or poor prep and you hardly ever see it on factory paint. Also if you look closely you can see that both the rear facia and right quarter panel are slightly darker than the rest of the car... if you can't see it focus on the lower front part of the quarter vs. the rocker and door.




When looking at the texture of both the base and clear on the quarter it looks like factory sprayed paint... most of the time you can tell factory robot vs. human hand... in this case I can't... but only on the 1/4 panel. The rear facia was 50/50... since the rear bumper and 1/4 are so close and darker than the rest of the car I must now assume they were both painted. Whoever painted them did a good job as far as attention to detail i.e. there are no tape lines in the door jamb and no sags in the paint etc., but they didn't prep the rear facia upper part under the trunk lip properly and didn't nail the color match. Also I had the tail lights and rear license panel out this weekend and saw no red flags of body shop work... I convinced myself it was just a crappy OEM job that somehow passed QC, that is until this evening seeing these stickers.

What's still bugging me is that the one sticker says "black" on it.... parts come unpainted and the part is indeed black plastic prior to paint, but the sticker specifically says a paint line and black on it. If that's the case that would mean the facia was a used piece that was painted to match the car vs. a new OEM part. This also means I ahve no way of knowing when it was fixed. I spoke to the 2nd owner who only had is for 9 months and traded it on a 2008 C6 vert. He's owned multiple vettes and swears up and down it had no paint work in the time he had it and he only put about 500 miles on it.

The original owner wouldn't return my call... he too traded the car on a '08 C6.... suspect that he wouldn't call me back. He traded the car to a PA chevy dealer in late 2008. The 2nd owner purchased it in January 2009 then traded it in November 2009... I purchased this past January.

Both the Carfax and Autocheck are clean so whoever had it fixed paid out of pocket.

Any thoughts as to the exact detail of the stickers?

Oh... can anyone tell me if the 4 lower center tabs that hold the rear facia to the rear bumper beam are painted body color from the factory? My Z06 has been custom painted so I can't use that and I don't remember. On my red car they're black, but flat black... not gloss black like black paint.

Thanks,

Brian

[DropTheTop]

I'm not really sure what kind of answers you're looking for, but I wouldn't sweat it. This is the problem with buying used cars. Even with your experienced background, you were fooled - so just imagine how many other imperfect cars are out there. People suck.

BTW - Not to be a dick, but it sounds like the guy at Shine Car Shine wasn't crazy after all . . .

[J.Belknap]

Originally Posted by DropTheTop

I wouldn't sweat it.

Yes.

Nothing stays perfect except for cars in those dehumidified inflatable bubble things. And how much fun is that.

[Cobra4B]

Originally Posted by DropTheTop

I'm not really sure what kind of answers you're looking for, but I wouldn't sweat it. This is the problem with buying used cars. Even with your experienced background, you were fooled - so just imagine how many other imperfect cars are out there. People suck.

BTW - Not to be a dick, but it sounds like the guy at Shine Car Shine wasn't crazy after all . . .

Check the detailing section... that shine is all me and about 15 hours of work

EDIT: You're referring to him saying the car had been wrecked... he was saying that becaue he was seeing how the rear facias bow a bit when connecting to the quarter panel... not because he saw anything of substance

Originally Posted by J.Belknap

Yes.

Nothing stays perfect except for cars in those dehumidified inflatable bubble things. And how much fun is that.

I know this... I don't care about chips and scratches etc. but color match pisses me off. The rear bumper and rt quarter panel don't match the rest of the car. Eventually I'll probably ditch the power antenna, shave the hole, and get them painted at a Corvette speciality shop who will spray test cards until the paint is right. Generally torch red is a very easy color to match.... generally.

[Cobra4B]

Can someone w/ factory paint look at their lower bumper tabs and tell me if they're painted or just flat black? Trying to figure out if this was a new replacement part of if it was a black used part. Doesn't make a difference in the end, but playing detective is fun.

[allthrottleandsomebottle]

Body color on all 4 of mine.
I noticed the color match Sunday.........move forward and don't worry.
Black............may have been a used piece repainted