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Originally Posted by F10550xi
Does anyone with Sophisto Gray have experience getting parts painted? The paint has some additive in it called Xirallac from Merk Chemicals. I need to have my rear bumper repainted and am wondering if body shop will be able to match and procure the additive.
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I looked up Xirallic out of curiosity the other day. Xirallic pigments include special highly reflective aluminum oxide flakes or particles. The product is described here:
http://www.merck-chemicals.com/pigme...wAAAEWg8UfVhTn
Xirallic is used by various paint manufacturers to supply auto manufacturers with metallic colours that meet their individual specifications (Ford, GM, Toyota, as well as BMW). I suspect it would be extremely difficult to achieve a decent colour match unless you use the same paint supplier and mix that BMW uses at its factory. A slight variation in the concentration of Xirallic or the other components will undoubtedly affect the appearance. I would recommend trying to purchase the paint through BMW.
Merck produces Xirallic at a factory in Japan, which was affected by the recent earthquake. I believe that caused BMW to suspend production of Sophisto Grey, although Merck recently restored production at its plant.
More on the background appears here:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...521120106.html