Paint costs? Front end

[dr_011]

I paid $4k for front bumper, hood, grill, fenders, passenger door, A pillars, and passenger rear quarter panel. So I'd say three grand is pretty good.

[Grke46m3]

What’s everyone’s take on carbon black matching? I need a new bumper so I’m going euro. Front fender and hood have some rock chips but part of me wants to keep it as oem as possible so I’m wondering if matching just the bumper would be hard or should I just respray the whole front?


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[oceansize]

There is zero wrong with blending. If you trust the shop to paint then let them blend. I'm not sure why people avoid blending unless it is a cost thing but in my mind that is incorrect thinking. Now if your car is pristine without any fade then you can give it a shot but what if you aren't happy? My eye is better than most as I worked in a paint/body shop for years and I can almost, keyword almost, always tell when just the bumper has been painted, even when people say "you can't tell", I can. Posted photos lie a lot and we all know it. Blending will make the car look better, period. I'm not saying it is impossible to get really good results with only having the bumper painted but given my experience it isn't the path I would choose.

[fattycharged]

I'll agree with Ocean, the only reason I didn't go with a full front end respray (blend), is that I plan to replace my current NA front bumper with a CSL, I just wasn't able to source what I wanted and I wanted to make it look 75% better, for now. However, I wouldn't choose to respray the rear quarters to paint a rear bumper, that I would just live with and hope that the taillights create enough of a "break". I 100% can tell when bumper, door, fender has been painted solo, unfortunately it's really obvious to anyone who works with color.

[DJAM3]

(null)
Picked up the M3 about an hour ago, I’ll give it a 7.5/10
Paint match is pretty good for TiAg, which is really really difficult when you’re only painting bumpers and not blending into the body. Paint is laid a little too thick for my taste, but for what I paid and the hood/fenders still having 20yr old factory paint and imperfections that hasn’t seen a detail job in 5 years, they did a good job.

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fattycharged any idea what paint they used? I need to get my euro bumper painted TiAg and I don't really want to pay for Glasurit paint at todays prices.

[E46 M3]

I have a brand new bumper that's getting painted in 2 weeks, absolutely dreading it being TIAG so I went with the best paint shop in the city but I've heard they're slow as hell (I've already waited 2 months for the booking..)

[fattycharged]

fattycharged any idea what paint they used? I need to get my euro bumper painted TiAg and I don't really want to pay for Glasurit paint at todays prices.

No idea, I just went to the shop my detailer suggested, not impressed and doubtful they used Glasurit


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[DJAM3]

Just to add another data point I got some quotes at a well regarded BMW specialist shop. About $800 for just the front bumper and just under $3k to blend the fender and hood including repairing one small ding. Couple hundred less if I remove all the trim myself. This is using TiAg Glasurit paint. Just have to decide if I want to fork out the extra for the blending and if I do go the extra mile, should I swap to a CSL bumper. First world problems, I know.

[jet_dogg]

$800 sounds high just for a bumper re-spray

Also why blend, you can spray the fenders and hood for 3k.

[oceansize]

$800 sounds high just for a bumper re-spray

Also why blend, you can spray the fenders and hood for 3k.

If you spray the fenders and hood odds are you will have to blend the doors to get a good result. In most cases you will have to blend or take your chances on color match (I worked in a body shop for years). Not to say that blending doesn't have its own issues, particularly on a car that is faded but a solid paint correction should resolve that.

[Tbonem3]

The problem with blending is that it will be obvious (to someone with some knowledge) in the right light, especially with metallic colors like SG & tiag. You're chemically "melting" (I believe) the clear coat. You know, having worked in a body shop, how touchy paint is.

If you don't have the eye to spot the blend, you won't have the eye to spot two panels being different as long as the shop selects the correct variant of your color, and finishes the color sanding well enough to match factory OP levels.

To be clear, YOU CANNOT do any paint work, blend or not, and expect 100%. It will always be discernable to people with experience.

I would caution, after having done all this myself, that rock chips may not be that much worse than visible differences between factory and resprayed panels. Especially if you use Dr color chip.

[oceansize]

Don't disagree with any of that but in most cases we blended and particularly so on metallic. Here it is in a nutshell, trust their painter. If the shop is good then they should lead you. When it comes to paint work I state it like this to shop owners:

"I want what you think provides the best chance at providing me with a close to invisible repair/refinish".

Getting a good deal is nice but that isn't what I'm after, at all, when it comes to paint work. I mentioned this before but at the shop I worked at we were so good and so in demand that the moment someone mentioned wanting a "deal" the owner recommended other shops immediately and sent them on their way. Those people were always a PITA.

[Tbonem3]

I agree, that's good advice. Go with what the painter is best at or wants to do (as long as the shop is reputable, ofc).

I just, personally, don't like the idea of ruining good factory paint for the purposes of a blend even though the point is that a blend will provide a more perfect match or smoother transition.

[Boost]

The problem with blending is that it will be obvious (to someone with some knowledge) in the right light, especially with metallic colors like SG & tiag. You're chemically "melting" (I believe) the clear coat. You know, having worked in a body shop, how touchy paint is.

If you don't have the eye to spot the blend, you won't have the eye to spot two panels being different as long as the shop selects the correct variant of your color, and finishes the color sanding well enough to match factory OP levels.

To be clear, YOU CANNOT do any paint work, blend or not, and expect 100%. It will always be discernable to people with experience.

More often that not (almost always), any kind of paintwork/blending that goes beyond a bumper ends up being discernible, at least to eyes like yours and mine. For that reason, I think partial paint is only a hold-me-over until you're in a position to respray the entire car, which is a $5-10k+ job depending on the shop, quality, and how much work/prep/repair is involved. Ask me how I know.

Once you're past the point of garage queen status/original paint and start mixing n matching, I think its only right to take it all the way

[WestBankM4]

Bringing this thread back as I have a little aesthetic project here and I'd like some feedback, Bay Area Cali.

2003 M3 Carbon Black Metallic. Garaged it's whole life minus sitting outside for 4-years straight, PO started it on occasion but she baked in the California summers. I did a 2-step paint correction myself when acquired as the PO sprayed half the body in plasti-dip in anticipation of it being outside for an extended period. I didn't use a super abrasive compound but it came out better than I had initially anticipated. I think if I had a professional do the job, they'd remove the majority of the swirls/blemishes and would be back to near perfect. The chassis is clean and the paint thick, with one or two minor dings PDR can fix on the body. With that said these are the parts I've acquired and ready to install,

Karbonius CSL Trunk
OEM Euro Front Bumper
Vorsteiner Rear Diffusor

I have two little dings in the hood, I don't think I can reach them with PDR so I'm opting for the shop to repair it. Any issues repairing an aluminum hood with body filler? I'd hate to use that stuff, but they're super super small dings, can't reach them unfortunately.

My plan is to have the new Euro front bumper sprayed, at the same time paint the hood entirely and blend in the fenders. Is this a good idea to blend into the fenders or should I just paint them whole? They're in good shape, minus a couple of small rock chips.

For the rear, I plan on painting the CSL trunk and rear diffusor, should I paint the rear bumper as well or blend into that? After reading this thread, I'm going to opt for them to not touch the rear quarter panels if it's not needed. If I paint the whole rear bumper will it look ridiculous without blending into the quarters, if I don't paint the full rear bumper will the diffusor and CSL trunk look completely off?

I'm not expert in body work, is it normal for customers to purchase their own paint? A forum member purchased Glasurit on his own and plans on having a shop spray it. Should I be looking for Glasurit? Apparently it's not recommended anymore and technology has moved on with equipment so some shops may not have guns that can spray that thick of a compound? Is that correct or am I talking out of my ass. Thanks in advance, I'm an absolute noob when it comes to anything body work related.