Tell me my dealer is wrong :(

Got a scratch on the bumper part circled in red that houses the grill. My dealer is telling me that you can’t buy the OEM without the grill itself. Parallel parked my truck right behind a wrangler and of course he bumped into it backing up. Tell me he is wrong...

If anyone has recommendations for getting the scratch out that would be alternately fine.

 

A little scratch? Why not attempt a touch-up first.

Does... does your truck go in the dirt?

 

Yes. Maybe I’m being lazy but my initial impression is that a touch up isn’t going to work with this scratch.

 

You’re going to replace the bezel for that scratch? It’s plastic for starters so it isn’t going to rust. Touch up paint would suffice.

People have bought that part separate. Probably find the part number with a grille surround search in this forum.

 

I'd just use a touch up paint pen. You can get them from the dealer or Amazon. Why wouldn't one work?

 

Plasti-dip it matte black. It won't look too out of place and adds a nice contrast up front, imo

 

Any decent body shop could fix that...

 

I hate to say "that'll buff right out'' but I'd try that first.
Use a good rubbing compound and if that don't work maybe try some color matched touch-up paint.
I guess it coulda been a lot worse.

 

The dealer is right in this case. In the parts picture, the only serviceable parts are the emblem, trim molding, and some clips. I'd get some touch paint and call it a day.

 

Have you painted before? If it's a deep cut, it'll definitely leave a strange bulge at angles.

One other option is a DIY blend, or repaint the whole thing. Sand down the clear and use the original white as the primer and get one of those paint-match DIY kits. But you'd have to make sure you sand down the scratch, maybe add some filler material.

 

Honestly I’m pretty ignorant when it comes to scratches. My impression is that it would be able to stick (or look as good on) the plastic as well.

Additionally since it was plastic, I imagined that it could be that expensive! Foolish...

 

I think that some dealers will only sell certain things as a complete set even though they can be purchased separately online. I tried to buy a Pro Grille garnish from my local dealer and they said they would only sell me the whole grille with garnish.
Anyway, I would just use some colour matched touch up paint on a scratch like that.....or take it off and get a body shop to paint it if you’re super OCD and it’s not too expensive....

 

Throw the whole truck away

 

+5 man point... your truck is becoming more truck like

 

Buy the SR part number and part it out. It’s cheaper than the 16-17 OR/Sport anyway.

 

This is the part you’d want.

• 1ea. Grille Surround (White) P/N 53101-04050-A0

I purchased the surround for my pro grille swap in order to leave my oem grille intact. The nice thing about it is that it’s already paint matched!

 

Pretty sure a band aid would cover it.

 

Those plastic clips and phillips head screws present a daunting task.

 

They do if you have to put your original grill back on the truck go have the Radar Sensor campaign done to your truck and don’t want any broken tabs!

 

That scratch is definitely not going to buff out, and any touch-up is going to be fairly noticeable.
Some Tacoma owners don't appear to be too concerned as to how their trucks look so a touch-up would be fine, others like to keep their trucks pristine
and would most likely not be satisfied with a touch-up.

Personally, I fall into the second group and would take the truck to a good body shop to repaint the surround. The cost would most likely be in the $250>$350 range as a 'good' body
shop typically won't tie up a tech and shop space for less than that, regardless of size of repair.
Good luck in getting this resolved.