Advice needed: Doing a color change the right way - Topaz Blue to... ??

[Albino09]

Coming from a family-owned body shop, you're going to easily spend as much on a full respray as you would buying a second M3 in LSB and keeping your old M too. I know it's beating a dead horse at this point, but the only reason to respray your car would be to go with a non-OEM E46 color you couldn't just buy instead.

How many miles does your Topaz have? Maybe I'll just trade you 😅.

[frenzy757]

+1 100% agree if you are going to paint it, do it in a color not offered in the M3. Thats why I voted for the chalkish types. Or can you do a current modern color like Dravit or something dunno, if yuo are going to do it, do it with something unique!

[Casa de Mesa]

Coming from a family-owned body shop, you're going to easily spend as much on a full respray as you would buying a second M3 in LSB and keeping your old M too. I know it's beating a dead horse at this point, but the only reason to respray your car would be to go with a non-OEM E46 color you couldn't just buy instead.

How many miles does your Topaz have? Maybe I'll just trade you 😅.

LOL! 74,500 miles. Just had the (second) passenger side airbag recall done yesterday! The big 3 have been done (bearings, VANOS, subframe).

+1 100% agree if you are going to paint it, do it in a color not offered in the M3. Thats why I voted for the chalkish types. Or can you do a current modern color like Dravit or something dunno, if yuo are going to do it, do it with something unique!

I've pretty much settled on Santorini Blue 2 (code 327), but Dravit Grey Metallic looks pretty fantastic. More pics here: https://www.hrsprings.com/projects/d...1-bmw-m3-sedan


Yesterday I visited several shops on the way home from getting the airbag recall done. It was wet... not ideal... but I explained the project and found some shops that want to partner with me on the work. I should have some quotes coming in soon.

More to come, we'll see how this goes!

[Gt4]

Hell yeah, congrats on the Bronson! I'm thinking about a mullet as my next bike. I'm serious when I say, let me know how you like it.

Some of the riding in Western NC (about 1 hour from me) is next level good. A lot of the US bike component manufacturers (Fox, Cane Creek, Industry 9, etc.) have taken up residence there because of how big the MTB scene is and the access to incredible trails. The trails are a great proving ground. I grew up spinning wrenches at a bike shop and paid for a bit of my college doing so.

I too have taken a break from the track stuff. Went so far into debt trying to make pro racing a reality. It didn't happen for me, got really close, but I did have a lot of fun trying!

Back on topic...



That's exactly my plan. I have some photos I'll share in the next post of the the undercarriage work I did in 2020. Did exactly this and want to now finish the engine bay, motor, etc.

Did you post pics on the forum of your work? If so can you point me to a thread? I searched a bit but came up dry. Would love to see some photos if you have them

We have a nice playground also for MTB and a lot of new trails have been built during the last 5 years.

Can’t wait to build my Bronson!

I don’t have a thread about my Estoril. I used to have a nice build thread about previous E46 M3 race car builds on M3forum than Photobucket went down and after it was the forum itself so never started other build thread…


Hope you will choose Santorini!! Will look awesome on an E46 M3!

[Casa de Mesa]

Hope you will choose Santorini!! Will look awesome on an E46 M3!

I'm leaning heavily now towards Voodoo Blue. However, I'm having a hard time locating shops that want to take this on. I don't understand the finer details of body shops well enough to ask the right questions (maybe?) or locate the right partner. I say partner because I want to take on all the R&R myself less the glass.

Anyhow, while the search continues, I'm pretty sure Voodoo is the color. I played around with the BMW Individual Configurator to get an idea of what the blue tones *might* look like, then also searched for images in different lighting. This Porche is Voodoo Blue. Next step will be to attempt to locate some of these cars/colors in person. Computer monitors can be terrible at reproducing things accurately.

EDIT: For some reason, the image I created from the BMW Configurator isn't loading well (perhaps the physical dimensions are too big?). So I broke it apart into a coupe files. Will see if this works.

[oceansize]

I worked in a high end body shop for years and you are hitting an issue everyone hits when they decide to respray their car. Most good body shops are collision centers because that is where the money is. Cars in and cars out. Resprays are time consuming and that means a bay is busy and insurance companies are breathing down their neck on other cars. Resprays are a loser for most shops. This in turn causes shops to throw out random high numbers to see if u will bite.

The shop I worked in was so busy the moment you mentioned wanting to do work yourself was the exact moment you were shown the door. Just the way it was.

[Mayan-Viking]

I worked in a high end body shop for years and you are hitting an issue everyone hits when they decide to respray their car. Most good body shops are collision centers because that is where the money is. Cars in and cars out. Resprays are time consuming and that means a bay is busy and insurance companies are breathing down their neck on other cars. Resprays are a loser for most shops. This in turn causes shops to throw out randomly high numbers to see if u will bite.

This makes complete sense. Great insight ocean, thanks for that.

That said, if you do find a partner, I think Voodoo has that contrast...

[heinzboehmer]

Damn, I think voodoo blue would look awesome. Very cool color. Hope you go for that one, I'm super curious to see what a voodoo blue E46 M3 looks like.

[Casa de Mesa]

I worked in a high end body shop for years and you are hitting an issue everyone hits when they decide to respray their car. Most good body shops are collision centers because that is where the money is. Cars in and cars out. Resprays are time consuming and that means a bay is busy and insurance companies are breathing down their neck on other cars. Resprays are a loser for most shops. This in turn causes shops to throw out random high numbers to see if u will bite.

The shop I worked in was so busy the moment you mentioned wanting to do work yourself was the exact moment you were shown the door. Just the way it was.

Wuh, wuh wuuuuhhh... This is what I feared and suspected.

Any suggestions on how to locate the right shop? I'm willing to pay good money for quality. I don't want to overpay, but want the shop to turn a profit so long as the quality is excellent. I'm "open loop" if you have thoughts/ideas/suggestions.

Shops don't want to talk on the phone even for a relatively quick conversation. They tell me to stop by the shop, I'm sure to make certain I'm serious. I've done that in some cases. I've also visited a few custom car shops (i.e., full on classic cars, custom shop where they do all fab, body and paint work in house) thinking that attention to detail might be higher. No idea if that's true or not, but the quotes have been eye-watering in some cases.

I did find a body shop on recommendation that initially wasn't interested in taking on the project, UNTIL I told him I was going to bring him a rolling shell with front and rear glass and no motor. Then it made way more sense to him, as he wouldn't need to worry about my leather interior parts scattered about his shop for several weeks/months. He actually preferred this situation... but as you said, is swamped with insurance work. I'm simply not a priority and I get that, but there has to be SOME place that wants to take this on.

This makes complete sense. Great insight ocean, thanks for that.

That said, if you do find a partner, I think Voodoo has that contrast...

Yeah, the black trim against that bright blue... love it.

Damn, I think voodoo blue would look awesome. Very cool color. Hope you go for that one, I'm super curious to see what a voodoo blue E46 M3 looks like.

Will definitely keep you posted. I'm curious too, ha!

[Phoenix///M3]

Are you 100% sure you wouldn't be happy with a wrap at 1/3 or 1/4 the price and much less hassle?

Realize wraps are as popular as forced induction here

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

[Casa de Mesa]

Are you 100% sure you wouldn't be happy with a wrap at 1/3 or 1/4 the price and much less hassle?

Realize wraps are as popular as forced induction here

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

Nope, I'm not sure.

But had a buddy who left a wrap on a car for a year or two too long and when he went to remove it, it pulled 50-60% of the clear coat and color off the car. Car ended up needing a respray...

Admittedly, I haven't kept up with the times with respect to newer wrap tech. I'm not sure if they have gotten better, especially when it comes time to redo it. Also, a wrap will highlight imperfections underneath unless addressed beforehand, so I have some level of body work at min. Plus every time I opened the hood or other areas, the color mismatch would bug me.

As I've said, this project won't make sense to most. I'm still ok with that.

[S3diment]

Wuh, wuh wuuuuhhh... This is what I feared and suspected.

Any suggestions on how to locate the right shop? I'm willing to pay good money for quality. I don't want to overpay, but want the shop to turn a profit so long as the quality is excellent. I'm "open loop" if you have thoughts/ideas/suggestions.

Shops don't want to talk on the phone even for a relatively quick conversation. They tell me to stop by the shop, I'm sure to make certain I'm serious. I've done that in some cases. I've also visited a few custom car shops (i.e., full on classic cars, custom shop where they do all fab, body and paint work in house) thinking that attention to detail might be higher. No idea if that's true or not, but the quotes have been eye-watering in some cases.

I did find a body shop on recommendation that initially wasn't interested in taking on the project, UNTIL I told him I was going to bring him a rolling shell with front and rear glass and no motor. Then it made way more sense to him, as he wouldn't need to worry about my leather interior parts scattered about his shop for several weeks/months. He actually preferred this situation... but as you said, is swamped with insurance work. I'm simply not a priority and I get that, but there has to be SOME place that wants to take this on.




Yeah, the black trim against that bright blue... love it.



Will definitely keep you posted. I'm curious too, ha!

EAG's paint and body shop is very very good.

[oceansize]

Any suggestions on how to locate the right shop? I'm willing to pay good money for quality. I don't want to overpay, but want the shop to turn a profit so long as the quality is excellent. I'm "open loop" if you have thoughts/ideas/suggestions.

Talk to some of the better performance oriented shops in your area like EuroMpire as you might find a guy who knows a guy who does quality work out of his garage on a small scale.

Don't get in a hurry, might take you a year to find the right situation and the right situation may be 6 to 10 hours away.

[lvm3sm46]

Its New Jersey but call AMS autowerks they do resprays and he takes a lot of pride in his work. Check his IG also

[jet_dogg]

Its New Jersey but call AMS autowerks they do resprays and he takes a lot of pride in his work. Check his IG also

This is the key to finding a good shop, someone who actually takes pride in their work and isn't working for a paycheck. Might have to scour IG as well for some of these artisan painters.