I just ordered a set of C5 Corvette style letters from Reflective Concepts http://www.reflectiveconcepts.com to replace the rather bland metal CORVETTE badge on the rear of the car. I ordered the letters in red, which will go good with my future black/red Z06 interior theme. These letters are wild. They reflect slightly when light hits them at night, making the letters look like they are part of the lighting system of the car. The only drawback is, I need to have the stock holes, where the old badge bolted through the rear panel, plugged, and have the entire rear-end repainted. I've been planning on repainting the rear and nose for a while, since they seem to keep fading on me after a few months, even after waxing and polishing. What are your ideas about this process? Should I purchase a new panel, have the holes plugged, then painted, or should I have the stock panel stripped, holes plugged, and repainted? I'm worried about both ideas. If I purchase a new one, will I be stuck sending it back a few times until I find one which fits perfectly? If I have the stock rear sanded and repainted, will I see a bunch of sanding marks, and rounded off edges from the sandpaper eating away at the soft polyurethane surface? For those of you who have had polyurethane panels sanded and repainted, I would be very interested in hearing how the finished product came out, and if you had to decide between these two ideas, which would you choose (with cost no factor).

 

If it's the original paint on the bumper, then it only needs to be wet sanded with 1000 grit, the base coat blended over the repaired areas, and the whole panel cleared. If the shop doing it is even moderately competent, they shouldn't even cut through the clear coat while sanding, let alone the bumper itself. You might want to look into having the holes plastic welded; that way, you won't have to worry about filler popping back out.