I went to view a 2019 RF yesterday. Everything checked out and it was in really good condition.
I was going though my checks when one small thing caught my eye.
The front bumper VIN sticker inside the engine bay was missing. I currently have a 2016 ND and it has the VIN sticker in this location.
There looks to be a mark where the sticker once was. This leads me to believe the front bumper has been repainted. I couldn’t see any structural damage behind the front bumper or to the radiator though. Is this a deal breaker?
Interested to hear your thoughts. Please shout if you see anything else in the image that doesn’t look right!
ND2 RF, seems mine looks the same. Though I know the bumper hasn’t been changed, or resprayed since new. So perhaps the sticker isn’t being put on for newer ones?
There is a sticker profile under that paint! It would be smooth metal otherwise.
The fixing rivets were applied after painting. The nose-cone could have come from anywhere (except the original production line) at any time before being sold.
I would be tempted to shine a very strong light on it and see what is visible through the paint.
There is a sticker outline, or outline of the moulding to accomodate a sticker. I cannot determine if there is something under it though. It feels smooth and the outline feels equal in bumpness wether you go from within to outside or vice versa.
The driver side of the bumper at the same location is ever so slighly curving, so it is possible it is moulded like that to be flat, so it can accomodate a sticker.
On the other hand I cannot see why would Mazda put a VIN sticker and paint it over, seems too silly to do.
I will check it out again under different lightning, maybe it will reveal something more.
And having seen painted-over labels on other equipment (but not cars) in the distant past I was jumping to the wrong conclusion from the profile.
It would also be a bit less tall if a VIN sticker
Here is an enlarged detail from a pic I took of an ND1 press demonstrator in 11/7/2015, the shape is there on the nose-cone but no sticker. However on that very early car it is possible there were no VIN stickers etc.
I think you would need to specify year. It seems Mazda moulded a protuberance to aid a jig to attach a sticker after a bumper is fitted in the factory, with probably precise location needed because the VIN is read later on down the line… Later on, they decided this wasn’t needed, but there was no need to remake the bumper mould.
