Well backing out of a parking lot I hit a small pole that took off a section of paint on my bumper about the size of a penny. The pole scraped off the clearcoat and the paint. I went and bought some touch up paint and this is what I ended up with... anything better I can possibly try to make it look better?

 

Are we looking at mis-matched paint that was applied with a brush? If so try to get the exact match and use a rattle can to touch up the spot. Then you could use some polish or maybe 2000 grit paper to lightly buff the area you painted to help blend it into the surrounding paint. I believe bumper paint has a flexible additive but you might get by with standard.

If you've dug into the plastic then I see no alternative besides sanding and using some type of filler and then more sanding and then the rattle can.

I assume a Maaco would fix it for maybe $100?

 

Well I went to a car paint supply store and they mixed me the silver touch up paint by looking at some number on my car... it came in a small bottle with a brush. I guess I am just going to have to take it somewhere. Looks like ****. I heard silver is the hardest paint to match because of the metal flakes.

 

(RP--I promise I won't go overboard...)

I did some touch up on mine (silver 2003), and mine was with the factory paint pen. It looks about the same. I think you're best off either taking it to get the whole piece painted, or just accepting it. Although I have heard that there are paint match methods that can get closer (but I believe this is all custom, and probably is expen$ive)...
Sorry that happened to you, and I wish you the best of luck in fixing the problem.

 

It is also very hard to get good results with a brush in an area that size.
If you don't want to mess with it anymore take it to some cheaper body shops for estimates.

Once I backed a rental Durango into a post. Man there was no hope of touching it up right without a lot of time. I figured Thrifty car rental was going to ding my insurance for a new bumber cover/paint job for at least $600.

I turn the Durango in and show the guy the damage and he goes, how about $50? I said hell yeah! I try to rent from them now just because of their kindness on that Durango.

 

Buy a bullet hole sticker and stick to that area

 

It shouldn't cost you much to get that bumper painted -- just take it to a body shop and get an estimate.