Our Impreza RS 2.5 my 2001 is in the shop for a new front bumper and paint. It is kinda red in color (I forget the color but it has something to do with the U.S. SouthWest) and the paint shop has had major trouble. They are taping off part of the bumper to paint some black on it (I don't know what part as I added some intake grille stuff and only remember seeing red!) and the red paint peels off when the tape comes off. They have repainted it 3 or 4 times now and it just won't work. Someone told them to put some softener to make the paint bond but that didn't work. Any ideas? Please let me know: bueltoby@cs.com.

thanks

<mailto:bueltoby@cs.com>

Take it to a different paint shop. If they can't make paint stick to the bumper, then they must not be really versed in the art of painting cars.

Just my .02 cents.

Mike

yeah, I've never heard of that problem, ever!

well 1) it's sedona red ;)
2) the back half of the "mouth" of the bumper is black on all colors except blue ridge perl, i was under the impression that that area was simply unpainted as the bumper itself is black plastic.
3) take it to another shop, i just had mine painted (same color) and they had no problem getting it right.

(yes, a flex agent is needed to keep the paint from coming off the plastic, if it comes off from pulling masking tape off it imagine what will happen at 80MPH when the bumper starts vibrating a little... paint chipping off all over the place.