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-   -   Body & Bumper colour difference - Is this normal? (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/technical-stuff/238031-body-bumper-colour-difference-normal-2.html)

Even i noticed the difference long back in a 1 yr old seltos. But thought it to be a normal occurence in white coloured cars.
After this thread i went around and looked at white cars of various brands and did not see such wide difference in the white between metal and bumper.
There seems to be some mistake in KIA's painting process

Points raised by Paddleshifter are valid and so is of paragsachania.

My Brezza (cerulean blue) always had a slight difference in bumper and body colour and that would be visible only on very close inspection or under some lighting hues. This was when it came in 2016. Fast forward to 2021, car had a bad shunt in December 2020, was sandwiched between a truck and Scorpio, both bumpers were replaced. Color matching was perfect but then, in some lights and at some angles, I feel there is some difference.

The bumpers of my Wagon R (white) never showed any fading in 8 and half years till both bumpers were changed due to damage. It was always parked in open, exposed to sunlight and rain. It's been over 6 months now after bumper replacement, the paint still holds good, no fading or mismatch at all.

In your case, the paint appears to be faded. Do raise this issue. This is quality issue at either the factory level or dealer level.

True, our pearl white EcoSport too has slight difference of shade between the bumpers and rest of the body, even though it is always parked in a garage and not in the open exposed to sunlight. It is noticeable only by enthusiasts and most people can't even tell the difference from close too.

However, these pictures of the Seltos' appear to have slightly more prominent colour difference between the bumpers and other body panels, it could be the images that are giving that impression or another quality issue in Hyundai/Kia group cars.

I feel this is something abnormal. There are two probable reasons behind this (may be many more).

1. They would have outsourced the bumper painting to an ancillary and the variation is due to the change in the process.
2. Kia does this inhouse, they will be processing the bumpers separately due to paint baking temperature differences. There may be change in process parameters in both the processes and it shows up in the field.

Hello,

Had the same issue in my silver Brezza, the difference in color was glaring. The explanation given was the same, regarding the metal and plastic part. Posting the pics from the Team-bhp review for reference.

This is a common issue with paint on different surfaces. Ofcourse the paint output and life will always be better on metal surfaces but also is depends on paint quality used and thickness. All my car's have this problem, even my motorcycles have the same thing going. So I feel this is something which is quite normal and nothing to worry about as such. One has to always make sure the car is not exposed to harsh sun for prolonged duration, also a good quality UV protective coating always helps.

My vote is for #2, as most of the time this is what happens when the part is painted and post paint no other care would have been taken and the car would have parked in the open shade immediately.

The following issues come to my mind and should be raised with Kia to get a more technical, speedier and correct response:

1. ABS/plastic bumpers need primer before a base coat. The primer may be causing the base coat to yellow. I doubt the plastic is yellowing as the paint fully covers the base plastic (or I hope it's supposed to!). Check the inside of the plastic for yellowing - if that is the case then you know the culprit.

2. The base coat may have been diluted with a poor quality resin which is degrading in presence of sunlight/UV

3. The top clear coat(s) is/are degrading in presence of sunlight/UV and thus yellowing

4. The antioxidants and uv stabilizers used in the paint coats or resins may be of poor quality. Yellowing can also be due to wrong selection of UV stabilizer or antioxidant for a white paint coat.

5. Cleaning white paint or plastic with an aggressive solvent can cause yellowing

I am facing a similar issue with my Kia Seltos (Glacier White) August 2020 manufactured. Front and rear bumpers seems to be showing a yellowish tint. This issue seems to be more prominently visible in lighter shades.

The part shown as bumper in the picture is metal sheet above the tire. The bumper, usually only in front and rear is black plastic.
The white paint on the shown part should have stayed.

This is a normal discoloration due to the exposed heat and wind etc.

But I haven't seen this bumper discoloration happening much in India, at the same time, this is a common thing in the Middle East due to the hot climate and frequent sandstorms.

Hello BHP'ians, so I have an update. This discoloration has been bothering me a lot, typical OCD of BHP'ians.

I wrote a mail to KIA, attaching the pic with all the relevant details. KIA responded immediately and asked me about my current location, I said it's Cochin and the dealer is Incheon KIA, so they have looped in Incheon into the communication and I immediately got a call from the customer relationship manager. At this moment there was an LD in Kerala, hence he assured me that he will contact me as soon as the LD is lifted, and as promised he contacted me and scheduled an inspection.

I visited Incheon KIA this Monday and the initial impressions were really good, the SA and the paint shop manager seemed to be genuinely concerned about the issue. As per the SA, this issue is happening in pearl white color and ideally, in the factory, there should be a slight difference in the paint mix for the bumper and metal, but looks like KIA uses the same mix for both, hence this issue (I am really not sure if this issue happened only with the initial batches of Seltos's or it is still happening for the newer lot). Anyways, they have acknowledged the issue and agreed that there is discoloration and this would be fixed as part of the warranty. But since still there are LD restrictions in Kerala, they have told me that they will find a suitable time in the next 2 weeks and inform me so that they can do the painting and they promised me the car in 3 days. I did share my concern on the fit and finish from the showroom after the paint job and also if the issue will reoccur even after the painting, the SA promised me that they have done many white bumper paintings, and even after one year there is no difference, so l would have to go by their word and try to get this fixed.

I will keep this group posted on the updates and meanwhile, other BHPians who have this issue, I would advise you to please write to KIA care on the same with pics, or get the car inspected with your respective service centers. Cheers!

While at the KIA service center today, I saw few new cars getting readied for delivery. Among them, there were Sonets and Seltos in red and white colors. Call it bad or usual practice, all cars have the same treatment.

I noticed similar paint difference between the metal panels and the bumper.

Here's a brand new red car which came for wash before delivery





And here's my 1.5 year old silver car

I too noticed this in the first month itself and also mentioned it in my initial ownership report, when I asked ASC they blamed hard water when I told him it's just a month old, he didn't reply to that.

I noticed recently that most of the cars have a body and bumper colour mismatch. This is very hard to notice, but if you observe carefully, you will be able to make out the difference. I first noticed it in my car and then I started observing other cars. I even verified with cars that are in the display in showroom. Is there any particular reason for the same? Or since the material used on body and bumper are different, one is metal and the other is plastic, is it how the same paint behaves on two different materials? Waiting for experts to comment on this. I have also attached a picture for the reference.