My 2013 Base WRX 5-door just got totaled after a t-bone accident a couple weeks ago. (Subaru's percentage of cars on the road just went down. ) I'm looking at a used one that was claimed to be only bumper damage. I've heard plenty of people talk about the crappy Subaru paint jobs - but hoping for some insight from the forum. The gentleman I hired to inspect the car, picks up "extra paint" thickness on his paint meter over the hood, quarter panel and door. Which for the claimed bumper only work seems a bit much. If it were fender and bumper, maybe they spray the hood and the door to blend and match the new paint. But is this a factory paint job on the underside of the hood and tow hooks on the front (see pictures) or is there more to the accident repair than this seller is letting on and that is a new hood with all new paint. Carfax says front end damage and was NOT reported as an airbag crash. Appreciate your thoughts.
Is it both fenders and both doors or only one side? I'd say it's quite possible they painted the whole front clip if it was done "properly", blending the paint into the fenders and hood definitely makes sense. The doors is a little iffy, tho. Although I'm assuming most body shops wouldn't mess with a blend if they didn't have to, for time reasons. If they get the paint to match on the bumper good enough they could easily just paint that and put it on. However, butt matching that blue could be pretty difficult, especially going from plastic to sheet metal. Either way, maybe it's a good thing there's aftermarket paint on the whole front end rather than factory Subaru paint? I'm assuming what you're getting at here, tho, is you're worried they're could be some hidden structural damage. That's gonna be tough to determine. Another weird thing is the tow hook paint. I'm assuming that's factory? If you're painting a bumper you're probably painting it on a stand by itself. So how did the paint get there (the hook, on the bottom of the car)? Unless they painted the bumper on the car (weird), and did a terrible masking job (possible).
