Repainting the M.

[JeremyJames]

Approaching the 20 year mark, her paint isn’t that bad, but I think it’s time for a refresh. I’m going to have the car completely stripped, and re-finished in the original color. At this time, I’m going to take opportunity to slap a carbon roof on. I would like to start collecting what’s needed for parts for a re-paint.

When you had your car repainted, did you replace all of the weather stripping? What other things do you need to be aware of replacing during a repaint and roof replacement that may be a good idea, since the car will be stripped?

I am also curious to know what you have paid to get your car repainted? For reference my car is an 03 coupe slick top.

Appreciate the input.

[Hallerhan]

Just picking your brain here, but why go through the hassle of a carbon roof when you already have a slick top?

[JeremyJames]

Just picking your brain here, but why go through the hassle of a carbon roof when you already have a slick top?

Honestly, I love the contrasting look of the carbon roof on the silver. Not in it for the weight savings as there is not too much to gain since I have a slick top. I plan on adding subtle Carbon to the outside, the roof will tie everything in. A carbon front lip, and a carbon rear diffuser.

[BMWahba]

I get your desire for the carbon roof, it is sexy on our cars even with a slicktop. It's a good time for a repaint too because the front and rear glass will be removed to install the roof. I would make sure you get the rear quarter glass removed as well prior to paint.

A good paint job is not cheap. I know of a few locals who have had their cars resprayed with OEM quality paint, at reputable painters and have easily spent $6-8k on paint and labor alone, not including replacing trims and seals along the way. It adds up FAST. Also, not a great time to cut corners because I can assure you it will detract from the value of your car if it's not done well. This is kind of a scenario where you need to decide is it better to have crappy OEM paint than new shitty paint that you can tell was done with minimal effort lol. So, make sure you do a lot of vetting on who's going to do the work and see some of their work in person. Pay special attention to the edges, where seams and glass meet up, door jams especially.

Bad paint drives me and a lot of other enthusiasts insane. My car must have had a quarter resprayed at one point, and I can notice the difference in orange peel and it really does make me lose sleep at night lol.

As far as replacing trims, again depending on budget, you can do new quarter seals for sure, the gasket that goes below the driver and passenger glass, front and rear windshield gaskets. New roof rails for the CSL roof (go with OEM with the doors if you can't source OEM CSL ones and paint them black). If you want to spend some more, fresh shadowline trim (the ones that go the length of the car from windshield to rear quarter glass) would look good and would benefit if you removed them while painting to make sure you can paint behind them.

Looks like you're in FL based on the scenery? I may know of a few good shops in the Central FL area.

[S3diment]

Jealous. Would love to get my painted as the previous owner had one side painted only to result in a color mismatch. I knew this when buying it, but would be amazing to get things fixed.

[COVID-19]

Nice!! Let us know how it comes out! Definitely replace all the seals/weather stripping.
I’m getting a euro front bumper installed and decided to just refresh the whole front end along with rear bumper. Mine is jet black so easier to see all the small imperfections.

[duracellttu]

I just went through this same activity and spared no expense. All my work was done by 2M Autowerks in San Diego, who in my opinion is the most knowledgeable shop for the e46. They are big BMW enthusiasts and have worked on a ton of e46s over the years. I was very happy with the results. Just the respray cost me $10k, plus $2k for the top of the line ceramic coating over the entire car. I also did a CF roof, CSL trunk, new front bumper, and much more.

My advice is to replace any and all weather stripping or rubber seal. Expect brittle plastic pieces to break and need replacing . The CF roof will cost you about $5k alone, all said and done. You are looking at at least $20k to do it right. I spent much more than that.

Feel free to reach out with any other questions.

[timmo]

There are so many unknowns in getting a car painted if you don't ask the right questions. For example, did you know that you can't just use the colour code to paint match? The code is just the baseline, a good painter will test the paint by spraying on a spray card, comparing to your existing paint, and tinting as necessary.

Granted paint matching isn't an issue if the entire car is getting painted, but even simple things like how much removal and installation is done - for example are the doors left on the car, or taken off? The prior will show that the car has been painted in the door jambs whereas the latter will ensure the jambs are painted and look factory. Depends on how much $$$ you want to spend and how picky you are. More importantly are what paints are used - all paints can look more or less the same if done right but it can cost you in the long run. Some cheaper paints like Valspar or Transtar may not be as chip resistant as more expensive lines like Sikkens or Glasurit. And a bunch of the companies making these paints have different tiers of paint, for example AkzoNobel has Sikkens but also has Lesonal and a few others. So if the painter tells you he uses AkzoNobel paint it doesn't mean much

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[jet_dogg]

I just went through this same activity and spared no expense. All my work was done by 2M Autowerks in San Diego, who in my opinion is the most knowledgeable shop for the e46. They are big BMW enthusiasts and have worked on a ton of e46s over the years. I was very happy with the results. Just the respray cost me $10k, plus $2k for the top of the line ceramic coating over the entire car. I also did a CF roof, CSL trunk, new front bumper, and much more.

My advice is to replace any and all weather stripping or rubber seal. Expect brittle plastic pieces to break and need replacing . The CF roof will cost you about $5k alone, all said and done. You are looking at at least $20k to do it right. I spent much more than that.

Feel free to reach out with any other questions.

I was coming here to say this, a good respray is going to be 8-10k. Why would you pay 2k for ceramic though?

[ra2fanatic]

I don't think I'd have spent $2k on ceramic. All that effort of respraying, I would have just gone full PPF with ceramic on top of that.

[BMWahba]

I don't think I'd have spent $2k on ceramic. All that effort of respraying, I would have just gone full PPF with ceramic on top of that.

True but a full PPF on a car this size is probably around 4k if done right. Not that the expense matters at that point after spending 15k on a top level job.

To OP: That really is what it’s going to cost if you’re wanting it done really as close to perfect as possible. Paint work is a very much so you get what you pay for type of deal.

[oceansize]

^ You definitely get what you pay for with the exception of knowing somebody good within the industry. Also if you walk in talking about absolute 10 out of 10 perfection be aware a good estimator might take you at your word and adjust accordingly (it isn't that they don't want to produce perfect work, but people hammering on perfection from the get go makes everybody nervous). Have them show you some cars in the reassembly stage (a busy shop will have cars at every stage every day). Make your decision right then and there about the quality of their work and whether or not it is acceptable to you. If they balk at showing you cars at this stage, walk away. Quality shops love to show off their work and shouldn't have an issue with it. Ask how many years experience their painter(s) have. Look at their paint area, chaos, or neat and orderly?

Side note, depending on where you live it can be quite tough to find someone interested in restoration as the collision business is much more lucrative. Most collision centric shops do not want to eat up bay time with restos as they have timeline pressures from insurance companies.

Also if a shop quoted me less than 8k (particularly in a big city) I would get a little nervous. Under 7k and I'm really wondering about what it is they aren't going to do.

[bmw m3 s50]

I wanted to ask…. What exactly are you getting for $8k-$10k figure? We are taking what a week maybe 2 worth of work just for paint? I mean what exactly is being done for this type of money? It’s sanding, prepping, taping, primer, base coat, sanding, lacquer, clear coat, buff. Anything else that should be taken into consideration.

[oceansize]

I wanted to ask…. What exactly are you getting for $8k-$10k figure? We are taking what a week maybe 2 worth of work just for paint? I mean what exactly is being done for this type of money? It’s sanding, prepping, taping, primer, base coat, sanding, lacquer, clear coat, buff. Anything else that should be taken into consideration.

Depends. Lets start with the assumption your chosen shop is good and you aren't changing colors.

If you know the car's history, there isn't rust or sheet metal damage, and there will not be any surprises then it may not be necessary to strip to bare metal. Perhaps you can get by with a scuff and shoot. I'm a fan of stripping to bare metal because there is no guess work. The shop I worked at took a boat load of Ford 150s back down to bare metal when there was a massive recall decades ago. However stripping to bare metal will add 30 to 40 hours (if memory serves). After this you have to do all the stuff you already listed but make no mistake it is a massive amount of work.

The only consideration, for me, is the experience level of those doing the work and their dedication to their craft. Everything else is secondary. Paint work is not like general mechanic's work. Every step must be done correctly or the end result will be undesirable. You really do want a reputable shop with experienced professionals, or someone you know in the industry who is really good. A bad paint job is like water coming into your house, it isn't an easy fix and you know it.

Edit: Two weeks of work sounds about right but no busy shop will spend that time on your car linearly. Priorities will get moved around and I would plan on not having your car for a month. Repaints, particularly at collision based shops, tend to get put last on the priority list as well.

[jixer77]

I get your desire for the carbon roof, it is sexy on our cars even with a slicktop. It's a good time for a repaint too because the front and rear glass will be removed to install the roof. I would make sure you get the rear quarter glass removed as well prior to paint.

A good paint job is not cheap. I know of a few locals who have had their cars resprayed with OEM quality paint, at reputable painters and have easily spent $6-8k on paint and labor alone, not including replacing trims and seals along the way. It adds up FAST. Also, not a great time to cut corners because I can assure you it will detract from the value of your car if it's not done well. This is kind of a scenario where you need to decide is it better to have crappy OEM paint than new shitty paint that you can tell was done with minimal effort lol. So, make sure you do a lot of vetting on who's going to do the work and see some of their work in person. Pay special attention to the edges, where seams and glass meet up, door jams especially.

Bad paint drives me and a lot of other enthusiasts insane. My car must have had a quarter resprayed at one point, and I can notice the difference in orange peel and it really does make me lose sleep at night lol.

As far as replacing trims, again depending on budget, you can do new quarter seals for sure, the gasket that goes below the driver and passenger glass, front and rear windshield gaskets. New roof rails for the CSL roof (go with OEM with the doors if you can't source OEM CSL ones and paint them black). If you want to spend some more, fresh shadowline trim (the ones that go the length of the car from windshield to rear quarter glass) would look good and would benefit if you removed them while painting to make sure you can paint behind them.

Looks like you're in FL based on the scenery? I may know of a few good shops in the Central FL area.

I’m from Orlando. What shops do you recommend?


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