My fit has some bad scratches on the rear bumper. This is cosmetic and I'd rather save towards my downpayment for my next car than spend a lot on this however it is very noticeable and I'd like to make it less so.

Could I tackle this with touch up paint? I know it will look far from perfect but how bad would it look?

Would you just respray the rear bumper?

Should I try and buy a used/replacement oem bumper that is already painted?

 

It's likely cheaper to just buy a new bumper and have it painted.

Or buy a used bumper that's already painted red.

Anything you do "on the cheap" is going to look like shit.

 

That may be cosmetic damage only..but it looks like pretty severe cosmetic damage.

I tend to agree that there isn't too much "super cheap" that you can do that is going to look very good.

I also think you won't be happy with the results...but my feeling also is that touch up paint is relatively cheap. So is a quality art brush to apply it. You could try it, without much investment, and if you like it? Problem Solved. If you hate it? All the other options are still on the table and you are probably less than $20 into investment.

 

I'd go for it. My rear bumper is scratched where I backed into fallen tree. Quote from body shop to fix it was close to $1K - that included repainting entire bumper. Quote from other body shop to replace the bumper was well over $1K. My insurance deductible is $1K. I have touch-up paint but haven't gotten around to it. If I don't like the results, I'll stick a bumper sticker of some sort over it.

The scratch is low, but still noticeable. My philosophy is that it's a car - not a showpiece. I use it for transportation and the scratch has no effect on performance. I have much better uses for a thousand bucks than fixing a scratch on a plastic bumper.