Thanks. Originally the bumper did appear to be a little lighter than the rest of the car, but when I called a Mercedes dealer, they said that there was no bumper color code on file for my 300 so he said that meant that it was the color of the body. therefore, I thought the reason it was lighter was because the paint faded faster on plastic than the metal frame.

I would not have minded to go with a lighter shade, but not having a color code, I took the safe route and had it painted the color of the body.