Hi All, I am pondering a small issue with my 95 M3. Photo below. As you can see it has been painted all yellow, including the side trim that normally wraps the car and is usually black. I am thinking of painting it black again. Any thoughts?
+2 I like the contrast the black rub strips give the car. More expensive, but maybe just buy new rub strips.
I was looking at just buying new strips. If im not mistaken that will cost roughly 200 - 300 bucks for all the parts.. I am thinking I will just paint the ones I have. Do a fairly decent job and then a couple years down the line when it starts fading buy the new ones.. At the moment I am leaning toward black strips.
I am a sucker for all original so I guess my vote is black. But with new oem parts. It doesn't look horrible though!
I'd go ahead and just get he OEM ones. Seems to me no matter how good the paint job would be it would still look like "painted strips"......Just my .02....
I agree with you on the OEM, only problem for me at the moment is the spare cash. Paint for now, replace later, is kind of the theory I am working under at the moment.. Unless someone happens to know of a cheaper place to get them?
You guys have no imagination and you spend too much money on meaningless crap in the interest of 'originality'. Every damn German car built from 1970-2000 seemed to have a black belt around its gut. This monochrome look is different without being either ugly or jarring and it works great with light colors.. It is a subtle difference most would never notice. I know that because I once did it on an '86 Audi in white: painted the bumper strips, the bottom front grille, and left off the side rub strips, thus banishing 'Das Belt'. On top of that, IMO, there is no such thing as 'too much Dakar' ...
Okay take a deep breathe CR! Just giving out opinion here! Tongue in cheek! If you want the OEM look you can do this on the cheap, it will just require a little work on your part. Buy Duplo Bumper Coating from Pep Boys, Advance Autoparts, take your pick auto store. Here is the product I am talking about. http://www.duplicolor.com/products/bumper.html I have used this product on the plastic pieces that surround the bumpers on my 318i (see pic). It makes the plastic look like new. So I think this could be a good solution for you. I would suggest you take the rub strips off your car to do this. Also be sure to buff the strips with green scotch bright pads so the paint sticks. Be sure to buff every centimeter you plan to paint.
Thanks for the info, i will check it out. Nice job on the 318, that looks fantastic! On a side note I am also a member of the Delaware valley chapter.
No problem. When I use the word "buff" I really mean scuff. This product will make the rub strips look like plastic again. It has a mat finish to it. Thanks for the compliment on my 318i. The plastic was very faded and discolored in many areas. It is amazing how this stuff makes it look new again. Check the Del valley website from time to time. There have been a couple good events the past couple of months. There was a members meeting at VAC Motorsports that was great, there was also a meet at the Simeone Museum in South Philly. Fantastic collection of race cars. I suggest you go sometime! http://www.simeonefoundation.org/ Let us know what you do with your car!
Nice, sounds like there are some cool events. I know what you mean on the scuffing. I was thinking I might try sand blasting them quickly. That should be enough abrasive and it might even take the old paint off. However I have another problem at the moment. My neighbor backed into the front grills and crunched them in, dented the hood and scrapped up the bumper yesterday. So now ive got some more stuff to fix before I jump into the rub strips... On top of that, he isn't admitting it, even though I saw him do it and he has the scraps on his bumper to match... friggen jerk! even on top of that, I just replaced the whole nose peice + grills 8 days ago! I could rant on and on, but I will stop there....
Yeah, I did call them. They aren't much help even though the neighbors car is scratched exactly where it should be if he were to have hit my car the way he did. So I am out of luck. I was able to bang it out so its livable... for now. Here is a pic of the damage.. not huge but it makes me angry.. Oh well, what can you do. As for the rub strips. I think I might give those a try next weekend. Think sandblasting would be a good solution for surface prep?
Turn your insurance company loose on him by making a claim and telling them who did it. They hate spending money ...
I accidently voted for ''keep it the way it is'' so forgive me. In my opinion BMW did a great job with the car and I wouldn't change anything to the exterior.
