Auto body repair & detailing: Paint Fade, matching colors, magic cream

Question
Hi Ken,

My question to you is the opposite of what some people may think reading my 'question subject' title.

I have a new 2006 Dodge Charger painted Magnesium Pearl Coat (darker green color).  I just had the front one piece plastic nose replaced because I put a minor un-repairable dent in it by tapping a parking lot bollard.  The autobody shop painted the new factory nose and installed it with no problems except it is darker than the adjacent metal body panels (hood and front quarters) because it's plastic.  They told me that factory plastic pieces are a shade darker than adjacent metal panels when they roll of the assemble line just because they are plastic, and I did notice it while we were going over the repair prior to fixing the car.  It was ever so slightly darker.

Now the new nose is noticeable very dark next to the adjacent panels.  I could not afford to have the hood and two front quarters blended during the repair, pretty hefty cost just for the nose and its related work.  Is there a way to fade/tone down the new front nose piece to better match the adjacent panels?  They achieved an excellent finish out of the new nose and they buffed the whole car prior to picking the car up, so I know buffing the adjacent panels is not a solution.  Is there a chemical or somehting that can be used to tone things down?

Thank-you for reading my question and any response would be greatly appreciated.

Tom O'Brien

Answer
Just time will fade the bumper. The only way is to blend the front clip. Or try to better match the color by tinting it before they spray it they should have tried to do that for you. The may have tried to tint the color but that was the best they could do some shops are better at matching colors than others. If I were to try to tint the color I would have been able to get it pretty close but some of the colors are very hard to match. That is why we blend them out. Hope this helps. Sorry its not what you hoped as far as some magic cream to fade your bumper.
                Thank you for the ?
                Ken