Can the parking sensors be painted?

[crazy4cars]

Have you done it? any problems?

[x5TT]

Why need to paint parking sensors?

[m5james]

I've seen parkng sensors on cars that are painted to match their plastic bumpers, but I have no idea if they do something special to the paint so it doesn't cause false readings. A bodyshop might know this answer better than anyone else.

[Vsmvince]

Parking distance sensors should not be painted as per bmw. The ones that are seen painted are done so at the factory. I have seen shops do it, but it is definitely not recommened.

[m5james]

Per BMW...they're the final word? If a shop does it, it's on them if they don't work properly. Maybe BMW doesn't paint them, but I've seen countless other carmakers doing it, so maybe they know something BMW doesn't or it's fine to do. I still say ask a body shop, and make sure they'll offer to replace them if the paint causes issues. I'm sure it's been done before w/o issues.

[powers1]

Originally Posted by crazy4cars

Have you done it? any problems?

Yes.Done it for years even with cheap chinese ebay sensors and never a problem.See example below..
You just need to ensure that you/your painter masks off the inner ring ,so as not to get any paint on it(very important)....You will be fine.
Hope it helps you!

[Vsmvince]

Well you learn something new every day. BMW told my shop not to do it for their cars. So we never did.

[mingso]

my panel shop painted the sensors when they did the plastic parts and it seems to be working fine

[powers1]

Originally Posted by Vsmvince

Well you learn something new every day. BMW told my shop not to do it for their cars. So we never did.

Weird ,Bmw saying that!Do you mean BMW USA or a BMW dealer?
I say this because its was quite common for Bmw dealers to fit "M" bumpers to non-M models and here they would obviously had to paint the sensors.Also how could Bmw dealers repair crashed bumpers with pdc,if they cant paint the sensors?For example ,on an E39 rear M-bumper all sensors come in black from the factory but the middle ones are always colour coded as per Bmw!
As you long as a paintshop uses the correct primers and masks off the pdc properly ,you will never have a problem.
Maybe its country policy,but in the UK Bmw have no say in this matter.

[nicolak]

I needed to repaint a few of mine because of paint peeling. The original paint had bubbled/chipped for lack of better word which caused a false reading. I used a small tool to removed the paint and sensors worked fine. I was left with a white metal surface that did not look great so I sprayed rubberized undercoating in a cap and applied with small painters brush. The colour and operation have been fine for more than a year.

My case may have been warranted but felt the hassle was not worth the effort.