[AWF10]

Is alpine white 300 paint hard to match? Had a bumper sprayed and the painter said this was the best match. Also he said bumper materials painted will always be slightly different color and shade than rest of car. I personally think the shade can be matched closer and I hate to pay for paint that isn't in my opinion at least 95% match.

[The Beast]

That's way out! I have had two smart repairs both on my front and rear bumpers done by BMW on my AW F10. Both are a perfect match and you can not see any difference at all

[jasonle89]

Damn...that is kinda really off to me. My painted bumper match better. And usually to see if paint match or not, you compare under the sun because usually under low light it's hard to see. But yours even shows 2 different paint shades in low light

[gatorfast]

That looks really bad. Any good shop should be able to match the paint where it is indistinguishable from the rest of the car.

[jasonle89]

Here is my thread to review after market bumper. I have a bit fitment issue, but not paint match

http://f10.5post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1114325

[Pimpsy]

Originally Posted by AWF10

Is alpine white 300 paint hard to match? Had a bumper sprayed and the painter said this was the best match. Also he said bumper materials painted will always be slightly different color and shade than rest of car. I personally think the shade can be matched closer and I hate to pay for paint that isn't in my opinion at least 95% match.

The problem is "matching" the paint at all instead of simply using the correct paint. Those colors aren't even close really. Also, the bit about bumper colors always being off is simply dumb.

[AWF10]

Yea I agree with all comments. It's really off and I've wasted so much time with these guys. Bad part is this is the outcome of second time it's been painted. First time it was white but very yellow color. Now this is the final result and best match they said. I'm still not satisfied and the shop said no more repaint or refund. Going to see if I can dispute the charge and take it to another shop to paint it.

[The Beast]

As I understand it each paint colour has 6 shade variations to allow for matching and any slight variations, at least that's what I've been told. Many body shops take a punt on the base code rather than spraying out 6 sample sheets and going for the one that blends best.

I'm no paint expert but this is what I was told when I had a match issue on my wife's A Class and had to have the bumper repainted after the initial repair was way out...

[lsturbointeg]

That's way off. I know sometimes u can't match it exactly but that's like two different whites. I'd recommend taking it somewhere else or else ur gonna have people looking at car and ur gonna know why. I've had all my other cars taken into a body shops and they've manage to color match the car every single time. Just Sounds like that shop doesn't have all the abilities to do what a paint shop should?

[E90Fleet]

Originally Posted by AWF10

Is alpine white 300 paint hard to match? Had a bumper sprayed and the painter said this was the best match. Also he said bumper materials painted will always be slightly different color and shade than rest of car. I personally think the shade can be matched closer and I hate to pay for paint that isn't in my opinion at least 95% match.

It looks like they were either mixing the incorrect color code or using a cheap make of paint.

BASF Glasurit is the official BMW refinish paint and Standox is the supplier of the factory paint (Spies Hecker is the same as Standox aswell, same company different tin).

They develop their mixes directly with BMW so the match will be very good with a proper colormatcher.

See if any place near you uses these or other top brands

[E90Fleet]

Originally Posted by The Beast

As I understand it each paint colour has 6 shade variations to allow for matching and any slight variations, at least that's what I've been told. Many body shops take a punt on the base code rather than spraying out 6 sample sheets and going for the one that blends best.

I'm no paint expert but this is what I was told when I had a match issue on my wife's A Class and had to have the bumper repainted after the initial repair was way out...

There are some variations listed for shops without proper colormatcher staff, but the proper way is to match the batch to each car by hand.

Did lots of work for a company that as one of their jobs trains colormatchers.
They would mix the base color spec , spray it on a test card and then slightly adjust the color as needed by adding certain small amounts of color or metallic flake mix, using very sensitive scales to ensure they are adding the correct amounts.

Decent color matchers could match any color perfectly in less than 15min with only a few test card sprays. The instructors could often judge by eye and get the mix right before even spraying 1 test card (same guys would do work for the 3 Series factory in Rosslyn from time to time)

[E90Fleet]

Originally Posted by AlanM

The problem is "matching" the paint at all instead of simply using the correct paint. Those colors aren't even close really. Also, the bit about bumper colors always being off is simply dumb.

There is no "correct paint"
All refinish paint (non factory paint) is mixed from a set of base colors and metallic/pear/xirallic flakes according to formulas developed by each paint manufacturer and matched to each car.
Paint also slowly changes color with car age and UV expsure.

Even the factory paint is mixed and adjusted per batch.
Plastic parts also have a plasticizer added to the paint that slightly changes its mix and is cured differently to metal parts.

Factory paint cannot be used to repair cars since it requires large very hot ovens to cure and these would melt plastic and interior parts.

[Pimpsy]

Originally Posted by E90Fleet

There is no "correct paint"
All refinish paint (non factory paint) is mixed from a set of base colors and metallic/pear/xirallic flakes according to formulas developed by each paint manufacturer and matched to each car.
Paint also slowly changes color with car age and UV expsure.

Even the factory paint is mixed and adjusted per batch.
Plastic parts also have a plasticizer added to the paint that slightly changes its mix and is cured differently to metal parts.

Factory paint cannot be used to repair cars since it requires large very hot ovens to cure and these would melt plastic and interior parts.

Don't get caught up in a technicality. You can buy several versions of alpine white pre mixed and ready to go depending on year and model from shops that actually know how to make it. There is no excuse for a second rate shop to push crappy matches like that, and no reason for every painter in the world to create their own version of Alpine White.

[lsturbointeg]

Originally Posted by AlanM

Don't get caught up in a technicality. You can buy several versions of alpine white pre mixed and ready to go depending on year and model from shops that actually know how to make it. There is no excuse for a second rate shop to push crappy matches like that, and no reason for every painter in the world to create their own version of Alpine White.

+1

I just can't believe a shop would actually let u drive off knowing it Looks that bad! We're they hoping u said it's OKAY?

[P1]

My father used to have a BMW motorbike. They had to respray the tank twice before the match was right. Same with my brother's metallic gray M3. Rear bumper off, but second time around it was perfect.

[jasonle89]

I agree that the shop suppose to spray a few times before the color comes out right. In fact, I heard of that before too. But that "few times" suppose to be done before they return the car to customer. What kinda of shop that return something like that and called it done. That's really bad business.

[snj1013]

That isn't close and you should demand the shop to either refund your payment or fix the problem. Hopefully you paid with a credit card. If the shop isn't cooperating, call your credit card company and dispute the charges.

[lsturbointeg]

So what did u end up doing cause that's totally unacceptable!

[spyroz]

Lol...hate to say it man, buy your painter SUCK ASS! I had my front bumper painted and it match 100% alpine white.

[lsturbointeg]

Originally Posted by spyroz

Lol...hate to say it man, buy your painter SUCK ASS! I had my front bumper painted and it match 100% alpine white.

LOL! I was trying to say in the nicest way but I really wanted to say the way u said it Haha!

[AWF10]

Originally Posted by The Beast

As I understand it each paint colour has 6 shade variations to allow for matching and any slight variations, at least that's what I've been told. Many body shops take a punt on the base code rather than spraying out 6 sample sheets and going for the one that blends best.

I'm no paint expert but this is what I was told when I had a match issue on my wife's A Class and had to have the bumper repainted after the initial repair was way out...

I don't know if alpine white has 6 variations but I heard there may be a few possible variations. Anyhow this is for sure not the right alpine white painted.

[AWF10]

Originally Posted by lsturbointeg

That's way off. I know sometimes u can't match it exactly but that's like two different whites. I'd recommend taking it somewhere else or else ur gonna have people looking at car and ur gonna know why. I've had all my other cars taken into a body shops and they've manage to color match the car every single time. Just Sounds like that shop doesn't have all the abilities to do what a paint shop should?

Yea they suck. For sure not match and I agree that may not be possible for 100% match but still this is ridiculous.