Superwhite Bumpers Repainted by Dealer - need advice

Read this only when you have a few minutes. It's a bit long but should hold your interest.

As reported, I finally took my superwhite back to dealer to have them match my bumpers to the body. Dropped the car off and they gave me a loaner. Told me they'd do the repair under warranty. The discussion with general service manager and collision shop manager was bumpers will be pulled and an attempt to get closer match to body will be goal. I clearly stated that no metal parts of the car would be painted and it was agreed upon by all parties. I got in my loaner car and was told it'd be ready in 3 days.

I go to pick it up and it is raining. I pull in to the entrance of the dealership and I can already spot my superwhite sitting there. I was hoping it was someone elses superwhite because the bumpers looked wrong from a block away (even in the rain). They were way too bright. The collision shop service writer agreed and said stay in loaner - we'll shoot the bumpers again. I left with a bad feeling. How could they be that far off and why would they even waste my time telling me to come get it ?

I few days later I get a call that my car is again ready. I picked it up on Saturday (overcast weather) and still didn't look right - better but still too white. The superwhite factory finish looked creamy compared to the paint they applied to the bumpers. Being that it was saturday, I took the car and figured I'd see how it looked on a sunny day.

I was away most of the weekend and the car sat in my driveway. Monday morning it's a nice sunny day and I start to look carefully at the car. Bumpers still don't match and are still too 'bright'. I look a little closer at the right rear quarter panel. Well guess what, they blended/painted into that quarter panel. The paint texture no longer looked factory. I look at the panel on the other side - yep... painted. Front 2 fenders same thing. I was livid. My '08 that was just under a year old now looked like it had been hit front and back and to top it off, the bumpers still don't match and the paint they blended onto my quarter panels will look wrong if I ever get some one to paint the bumpers to finally match.

Oh ... it gets better. I'm now late for work so I jump into my car and turn it on. What is that I see on the dashboard. Some kind of warning light I've never seen before. Look it up in the manual - 'low tire pressure'. I think to myself great - to top it all off I picked up a nail or screw. I look at the front passenger tire it's low. I roll the vehicle backwards and look for the screw or nail. I don't find a screw or nail but I do find a plug in my tire that wasn't there when I gave the dealer my car.

I call them and they say that none of there techs said they ran over anything or patched it. He checked tapes from the surveillance cameras and saw nothing. They said bring it back so they can look at the paint job and patch the tire. I did so. They re-plugged the tire and the paint manager looked at the job. It's your car he said but if it was mine... I'd leave it alone. I said don't you think it was a very bad decision to paint the metal parts of my car after we specifically agreed not to do that. He said yes, the painter 'knew' how particular I was and wanted the job to look right. I never even met the painter and if knew anything about me or painting... he would not have painted the metal parts on my car - he'd have used the color matching system they brag about to get the bumpers right without playing tricks. The collision manager said the painter talked to the production manager before doing it.

He also told me that he had talked to the painter and the painter said he could most likely remove 'all of the materials' they put on. I said you have to be kidding ? The manager said that the blend didn't put much paint on the car and that carefully sanding the newly applied clear coat would allow them to get a solvent on the lacquer white material and get it off. Would have to try a small section first. I said wouldn't that damage the factory finish underneath and he said - the factory finish is much harder and more durable - like a tank. I said, assuming the 'materials' could be removed, wouldn't your poorly matched bumper job look even worse since the purpose of the blend to the panels is to trick the eye. He said yes. The mismatch would look even more obvious. I said, just fix my flat and I'll think about what I want to do. I wrote to my sales person and told him what happened. He said he'd forward it to general manager and all concerned. I'll need to followup with him because a week and half have gone by and no word from him. Told him that I thought they should replace my car with a 2010 without screwing me on the trade in of my '08 and giving me an adjusted price on the 2010. What are the odds of that?

My tire was flat the next morning after I brought it home. Today they put a new Goodyear Integrity on passenger side of car. I don't know how smart that is to have a 15,000 miles tire on the front right and new one on the left. I think I already see some degradation in my mileage. Not sure what safety issues if any it presents.

Any suggestion on how to proceed would be appreciated. I suppose I should just escalate it up to toyota regional at this point.

Thanks in advance.

Steve