Paint question on factory finish

[kick7ca]

My car is "brilliantrot", or bright red.
Was this a base clear or a urethane from the factory?

I Got a quote for a paint job and the guy told me that my factory paint wasn't a base/clear, but a solid urethane, which is how he wanted to re-spray it.

thanks

[Bill R.]

color not a clear coat finish.



My car is "brilliantrot", or bright red.
Was this a base clear or a urethane from the factory?

I Got a quote for a paint job and the guy told me that my factory paint wasn't a base/clear, but a solid urethane, which is how he wanted to re-spray it.

thanks

[califblue]

he is right I have the same color see here:http://www.bimmer.info/forum/showthread.php?p=152434#post152434

[ThoreauHD]

What a nice looking red car. And that Gayle girl is a trip. hehe.. She looks like somebody I know. Irish n all.

[brodee]

Flat colors are single stage, metallics are base/clear.

[scott540]

So if I have Alpine White, I don't have clear coat?

[brodee]

So if I have Alpine White, I don't have clear coat?

Correct. I did paint work on both my AlpineII e34's and no clear coat.

[Bill R.]

all colors are clear coated from bmw metallics and solids.



Correct. I did paint work on both my AlpineII e34's and no clear coat.

[scott540]

As always, thanks Bill. I was pretty sure the body shop charged me for clear coat last time I had some spots cleaned up.

[brodee]

all colors are clear coated from bmw metallics and solids.

Both mine were prior to that date.

[Gayle]

Correct. I did paint work on both my AlpineII e34's and no clear coat.

Brodee and Bill

Our former 90 525 that was white seemed to have clear coat peeling in a few small places if I remember correctly. How can that be?

And my 535 seems more yellowish that our 525 was. At bimmerfest I noticed how much whiter Josh's and Pat's Alpine III were than mine. Is the II more yellow white than III? I am trying to figure out if one of my car's prior owners put a product on it that caused it to yellow or if that is just the paint color.

(and Brodee--your link to your pic is broken)

[Gearhead]

Okay, so how/where can we find out definatively? I have a 6/95 Schwarz II 540i that needs a respray. This would be good to know for sure.

Thanks!

[ElSupremo]

If it's a respray you can choose whether to have single stage or base/clear. What was on there from the factory should be of no consequence.
Single stage is cheaper, but if it was mine I would opt for base/clear.
Hardly any decent shop uses single stage anymore unless they're going cheap or have been requested to go that way.

[Bill R.]

tis you'll find the service bulletin relating to it. Its bulletin 99 91 94 (3957)
I'm not going to upload it because i don't seem to be able to upload anything to bimmer.info currently.




Okay, so how/where can we find out definatively? I have a 6/95 Schwarz II 540i that needs a respray. This would be good to know for sure.

Thanks!

[Bill R.]

9/93 are clear coated but it doesn't mean that all solid colors before that aren't. You have to look at your color number in the tis and see what its composed of. That will tell you if its a clear coat finish or not.




Brodee and Bill

Our former 90 525 that was white seemed to have clear coat peeling in a few small places if I remember correctly. How can that be?

And my 535 seems more yellowish that our 525 was. At bimmerfest I noticed how much whiter Josh's and Pat's Alpine III were than mine. Is the II more yellow white than III? I am trying to figure out if one of my car's prior owners put a product on it that caused it to yellow or if that is just the paint color.

(and Brodee--your link to your pic is broken)

[Gearhead]

Bill,
Thanks for the bulletin number, I'll have to look at that when I get home. I can swing wrenches with the best of them, but I know nothing about paint, so any body/paint expertise here is priceless to me.


Supremo,
Do paint shops have to D/A sand the original paint down through the clear into the color coat in order to shoot the color again? I can only imagine that just spraying on top of what I have now would cause too much paint thickness. I've heard that's not a good thing.

Any advice guys? And, not looking for showroom quality, but to have it done right, what can i expect to pay?

[wmann]

I have a 1995 540i/6sp in grey that seems to have had the clearcoat fail. I will be getting mine repainted soon, a couple of very small door dings, but no real body work and I was quoted 3450.00. This is for color and clear all over the car.

[ElSupremo]

Supremo,
Do paint shops have to D/A sand the original paint down through the clear into the color coat in order to shoot the color again? I can only imagine that just spraying on top of what I have now would cause too much paint thickness. I've heard that's not a good thing.

Any advice guys? And, not looking for showroom quality, but to have it done right, what can i expect to pay?
They shouldn't have to sand through the clear, unless it is flaking or your paint is checking(tiny cracks).
If the clear is flaking then they have sand it down far enough to have a good base to work on top of. If it's checking they'd sand it down to metal and start from there.
If it's the first or 2nd respray thickness shouldn't be an issue, unless a previous job was laid on too thick. That's the great thing about base/clear: you only use enough color to cover, you don't need to build it up. Then enough clear to get the shine, and maybe a bit more if you want to colorsand and buff it out.
Cost to have a shop do it is gonna depend on the shop and region, I guess, but I generally use about $2000 as a rule of theumb for a decent quality paint job, which would include trunk and jambs.
And if you sand it down afterwards with 1500-2000 grit wet/dry then buff it out it will make a decent paintjob look like an excellent paintjob. If you're not comfortable doing that expect to pay $300ish or so to have them do it.

[kick7ca]

Well, as mine was not cleared from the factory, I don't see the point in spending more to have it cleared now with 250,000km

A very reputatable shop quoted me $3,800 to have 3 clean doors installed (of a different color which I have), to cut out and repair around gas filler, remove bumpers, lights etc.., then properly sand, repair, prime and finally spray the car 3 times with single stage paint.

He said base / clear would require 3-4 additional sprays / drying which is what costs more, and wouldn't be required for a solid color.

I'd rather spend the bucks on proper body work than on expensive paint techniques, then keep it waxed.

[ElSupremo]

Well, as mine was not cleared from the factory, I don't see the point in spending more to have it cleared now with 250,000km

A very reputatable shop quoted me $3,800 to have 3 clean doors installed (of a different color which I have), to cut out and repair around gas filler, remove bumpers, lights etc.., then properly sand, repair, prime and finally spray the car 3 times with single stage paint.

He said base / clear would require 3-4 additional sprays / drying which is what costs more, and wouldn't be required for a solid color.

I'd rather spend the bucks on proper body work than on expensive paint techniques, then keep it waxed.
That quote is probably pretty close, especially if you're having rust cut out and repaired. That usually eats up the money. You should be able to save a bit of money by doing some of the easy prep yourself, though, like removing trim, bumpers, etc.
I'm not sure what they mean by increased expense for 'drying'. You could spray base/clear today and be driving tommorow. It's not like they bake it or anything, just need to let the reducers weather off, same as a single stage.
Cost for single stage materials is probably around $350-400, and base/clear around $600.

[kick7ca]

That quote is probably pretty close, especially if you're having rust cut out and repaired. That usually eats up the money. You should be able to save a bit of money by doing some of the easy prep yourself, though, like removing trim, bumpers, etc.
I'm not sure what they mean by increased expense for 'drying'. You could spray base/clear today and be driving tommorow. It's not like they bake it or anything, just need to let the reducers weather off, same as a single stage.
Cost for single stage materials is probably around $350-400, and base/clear around $600.

Just the extra trips to the booth and the extra time it sits taking up space in the shop I guess. But the major reasons he suggested single stage is that's the same as the factory job, and because it's a solid color. This is a very reputable shop. He said the only time you really need clear is if you have metallic paint.

[Gearhead]

Thanks Supremo. No flaking or checking, just a lot of road debris/rash from 132k miles. 3 or 4 have gone through to the metal and have the slightest bit of rust. Obviously those would have to be sanded and treated w/something like OSPHO, right?

Also, I was at the local paint supply store trying to tack down some 3M "pink" filler glaze (which I found out was discontinued) and was told that BMWs use a special scratch resistant clear-coat. Any truth to this? Is it something I'll have to get from the local dealer?

Thanks!

[ElSupremo]

Thanks Supremo. No flaking or checking, just a lot of road debris/rash from 132k miles. 3 or 4 have gone through to the metal and have the slightest bit of rust. Obviously those would have to be sanded and treated w/something like OSPHO, right?

Also, I was at the local paint supply store trying to tack down some 3M "pink" filler glaze (which I found out was discontinued) and was told that BMWs use a special scratch resistant clear-coat. Any truth to this? Is it something I'll have to get from the local dealer?

Thanks!
If it's just surface rust it will be sanded away when they feather out the chips. After that a good sealer will prevent it from coming back.
For filler/glazes, there's a lot of good ones out there. Your auto paint store should be able to recommend a good one for you.
As far as scratch resistant clear coats: I've got 3 Bimmers, and all of them have scratches of some sort. You don't have to use 'BMW' paint. When I painted my sons car we used DuPont Chroma base/clear. Put on a little extra clear and you'll have some extra material to buff on if you get some scratches, as long as they're not really deep.

[Gearhead]

Thanks, you're the man!