jus got my smoothed mondeo back

Here is my smoothed Mondeo just back from the shop.

The looks different thats for sure. I quite like it, but could do with something else like a more complex wheel design?

The reason why some bumpers look like different shades is to do with the way the pigment settles and dries on the panel.

Plastic is 'less cold' than metal. When painted, this allows the pigment to lay less flat, as the paint dries off quicker than on a metal surface.

So, it can be the same paint, and wing and bumper can be painted at exactly the same time, yet the shade could look different.

From the factory, bumpers can be pre-painted at a different source, and could use a different lacquer which all affects the final shade. Silver is critical for this.

There are also shade variants, Stardust Silver has 3 on my colour system. I tend to use a lighter variant on bumpers as you get a better match panel to panel.

Hope this goes some way to explaining why bumpers look different shades to the rest of the car!