[///M TOWN]

Originally Posted by larry.beck

Strip the PPF from the original good, color match to that, and then store it. That's an easy piece to get PPF re-applied and that paint under there PPF is what you want matches.

Easy enough to paint match the gas door

[Got f1?]

Originally Posted by ///Monika

Quick question for everyone. Just heard back from the paint shop today. They want to blend the paint into the adjacent panels (fenders). This normally wouldn't be a problem but the car has PPF.

Does anyone know if the paint that's used on the car from the factory is also applied to the mirror covers ? These were removed from the car (replaced with CF) and are pretty much the only part that's not covered in PPF now. So I'm hoping they can use these to paint match too.

As someone in the insurance/collision repair industry, here's what I can share. No white paint is just white, no black paint is just black. This is true even with non-metallic colors but more difficult with. If you have the opportunity to see the paint mix formula from the shop you will see other colors besides white. When respraying, not only the color has to match but the texture as well, thus the desire to blend. Blending = scuffing of the fenders in this case and light application of color and the full clearcoat to trick the eye into not seeing a variation.

One of the reasons for this is variations during production. There are slight variations to colors during production. So one batch of Alpine White 300 might have a slight variation from another. Even more when certain models are produced in multiple plants. This is why paint manufacturers create a standard and alternates to the color. Some paint types, like Toyota's 4M9 (The champagne color) have in excess of 7 alternates. Not sure on alpine white.

If it were me, I would absolutely not allow a blend. Two reasons, the original hood will likely no longer match and second, I prefer to leave OEM paint undisturbed. My suggestion would be to offer to pay a couple labor hours for them to spend more time matching to your car.

Had my rear bumper redone and the shop nailed it. Bear in mind during production, plastic parts are often painted separately from the body so some variation in color is guaranteed. Next time you walk a parking lot check out how many cars bumpers don't match the metal.

Hope this helps!

[///Monika]

You are exactly correct ..

I watched a video of the paint process for BMW and the fuel door is attached to the rear passenger window so this should be all they need to match the paint.
So next question. How does one remove the fuel door ? I see Kies Motorsports has a video but that was an F30 (I believe). Is the process the same ?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2utI3gQP6kc

Originally Posted by ///M TOWN

Easy enough to paint match the gas door

Update:
Looks like it's exactly the same according to Newtis.
https://www.newtis.info/tisv2/a/en/f...flaps/1Kyt1yZ1

[tutankhamon]

From what my bodyshop explained to me (and I trust them as I've been doing business with them for a very long time), depending on the panel and the colour to be painted, a lot of times a blend with adjacent panels is necessary to guarantee a perfect match. In my case, with LBB it was a requirement.

Also for those thinking of purchasing this hood, do remember that this is an aftermarket part. It will NOT be perfect. Find a reputable bodyshop to do the work and that is incredibly OCD. The hood I received appeared fine to me, however my bodyshop was completely unsatisfied with it and found there to be a number of imperfections which they evened out down to the metal.

It will also take quite a bit of adjacent panel adjustment to get it to fit perfectly. Again this all really depends on how OCD you (or your bodyshop) is.

My final outcome I am quite happy with but I would not have trusted this with just anyone.

[///Monika]

Thank you..

I too was a bit skeptical that the plastic parts may not be an exact match. So we're going to supply them the fuel door and maybe one mirror cap. I'll steam off the PPF so it doesn't interfere.

Originally Posted by Got f1?

As someone in the insurance/collision repair industry, here's what I can share. No white paint is just white, no black paint is just black. This is true even with non-metallic colors but more difficult with. If you have the opportunity to see the paint mix formula from the shop you will see other colors besides white. When respraying, not only the color has to match but the texture as well, thus the desire to blend. Blending = scuffing of the fenders in this case and light application of color and the full clearcoat to trick the eye into not seeing a variation.

One of the reasons for this is variations during production. There are slight variations to colors during production. So one batch of Alpine White 300 might have a slight variation from another. Even more when certain models are produced in multiple plants. This is why paint manufacturers create a standard and alternates to the color. Some paint types, like Toyota's 4M9 (The champagne color) have in excess of 7 alternates. Not sure on alpine white.

If it were me, I would absolutely not allow a blend. Two reasons, the original hood will likely no longer match and second, I prefer to leave OEM paint undisturbed. My suggestion would be to offer to pay a couple labor hours for them to spend more time matching to your car.

Had my rear bumper redone and the shop nailed it. Bear in mind during production, plastic parts are often painted separately from the body so some variation in color is guaranteed. Next time you walk a parking lot check out how many cars bumpers don't match the metal.

Hope this helps!

[///Monika]

Your car looks absolutely beautiful ..

As with most aftermarket body panels, our expectation wasn't that this was going to be a plug-n-play. Other cars we've owned it was (bonus), this one not so much. We knew we were either going to love it (even if it wasn't 100%) or reject it. After adjusting for an hour or two, it looks really good and I imagine with paint it'll be 99%. So off to paint it'll go but it's a no go on blending. As Got_F1? mentioned, we'll apply the cost of blending the adjacent panels to accomplishing a proper tint.

We really hope that this body shop takes the care yours did as we need someone we can trust in the future. Our BMW experience was pretty bad even though they tried to make it right, it just didn't look good and my husband spent a couple of hours claying off the over spray (everywhere) and 3-stage polishing the car. In the end he found areas where the solvent popped. So fingers crossed ...

Originally Posted by tutankhamon

From what my bodyshop explained to me (and I trust them as I've been doing business with them for a very long time), depending on the panel and the colour to be painted, a lot of times a blend with adjacent panels is necessary to guarantee a perfect match. In my case, with LBB it was a requirement.

Also for those thinking of purchasing this hood, do remember that this is an aftermarket part. It will NOT be perfect. Find a reputable bodyshop to do the work and that is incredibly OCD. The hood I received appeared fine to me, however my bodyshop was completely unsatisfied with it and found there to be a number of imperfections which they evened out down to the metal.

It will also take quite a bit of adjacent panel adjustment to get it to fit perfectly. Again this all really depends on how OCD you (or your bodyshop) is.

My final outcome I am quite happy with but I would not have trusted this with just anyone.

[Anthony1s]

Good call on the difference between plastic and metal. I didn't think about that.

[///Monika]

Just a quick update.

Paint:
Husband dropped off the hood and vent this morning for paint (he provided the fuel door for paint match).

Hydro dipped vent:
We received the hydro dipped CF vent on Saturday and didn't open it until yesterday. Let me just say that I'm going to issue a return on this one. The CF looks good but the clear coat is unacceptable. It's pitted in numerous locations. I will try to take some pictures and share it here in the next day or two. It's unfortunate as it seems this clear coat process would be far easier than the hydro dipping. If they were to improve this, it would have been a nice addition.

[Endeav]

Placed my order for a hood yesterday. Never ordered such a large cosmetic aftermarket part before, but having seen multiple people have minimal fitment issues I decided to bite the bullet. Thanks so much for putting together all those photos, really helped me in deciding whether or not this product was worth it.

Here's hoping BSM is an easy color to paint match!

Anyone ever have issues with paint matching Black Sapphire Metallic?

[///Monika]

In the photos I see of Alpine white with this hood, it looks really good (hard to see the lines though) but I can only imagine what this would look like in BSM. Congrats and cant' wait to see how this turns out.

Originally Posted by Endeav

Placed my order for a hood yesterday. Never ordered such a large cosmetic aftermarket part before, but having seen multiple people have minimal fitment issues I decided to bite the bullet. Thanks so much for putting together all those photos, really helped me in deciding whether or not this product was worth it.

Here's hoping BSM is an easy color to paint match!

Anyone ever have issues with paint matching Black Sapphire Metallic?

[///Monika]

Just got word from the paint shop that the hood/vent is ready for pickup today. Will post pics over the weekend.

[///M TOWN]

Originally Posted by ///Monika

Just got word from the paint shop that the hood/vent is ready for pickup today. Will post pics over the weekend.

Good stuff

Waiting to see the finished results

[///Monika]

Pretty sad evening. Arrived and the hood was sitting vertically on a stand. Looked pretty good but lighting was bad (ok not lighting, indirect from outside). They packed it in it's shipping box and away we went. At home (amazing lighting in our garage), we placed it on the stand and on close inspection (sitting horizontally), It has 6-7 clear coat imperfections (craters) and the highest part (flattest too) has a tremendous amount of orange peel underneath the clear. There are other issues too and I'm just not sure how to describe it. Like little stars in the clear.

Sooooo, I guess an email to the manager is in order. I have no idea why something like this would ever make it's way out the door. The painter & body shop manager obviously have lower standards than us. Cost to us so far was $805.

Anyone interested in seeing this ???

Originally Posted by ///M TOWN

Good stuff

Waiting to see the finished results

[///M TOWN]

Originally Posted by ///Monika

Pretty sad evening. Arrived and the hood was sitting vertically on a stand. Looked pretty good but lighting was bad (ok not lighting, indirect from outside). They packed it in it's shipping box and away we went. At home (amazing lighting in our garage), we placed it on the stand and on close inspection (sitting horizontally), It has 6-7 clear coat imperfections (craters) and the highest part (flattest too) has a tremendous amount of orange peel underneath the clear. There are other issues too and I'm just not sure how to describe it. Like little stars in the clear.

Sooooo, I guess an email to the manager is in order. I have no idea why something like this would ever make it's way out the door. The painter & body shop manager obviously have lower standards than us. Cost to us so far was $805.

Anyone interested in seeing this ???

I am interested in a closeup

Sounds like fish eyes to me (a painters term)

Caused by contamination from a dirty rage or improper prep

[Got f1?]

Originally Posted by Endeav

Placed my order for a hood yesterday. Never ordered such a large cosmetic aftermarket part before, but having seen multiple people have minimal fitment issues I decided to bite the bullet. Thanks so much for putting together all those photos, really helped me in deciding whether or not this product was worth it.

Here's hoping BSM is an easy color to paint match!

Anyone ever have issues with paint matching Black Sapphire Metallic?

Metallics are quite a bit more tricky than non.

[Got f1?]

Originally Posted by ///M TOWN

I am interested in a closeup

Sounds like fish eyes to me (a painters term)

Caused by contamination from a dirty rage or improper prep

Correct. Fisheye is from a contaminants like wax, oil, or silicone like what's found in detail products. Sometimes called craters.

Similar issues occur when cleaning solvents are used and not allowed to cure before application of base coat and clear causing the solvent to erupt during the bake process.

Sorry to hear this happened to you. I know it is frustrating and the shop should know better.

[///Monika]

It's the strangest thing, it's like there are some areas that look really good and others that have these stars in the clear coat (WTH is that ?!?) and the 'fish eyes'. There not too deep, just shallow enough I don't think they can be sanded down and polished out. The high part of the hood is the biggest trip. When the light hits it just right, the orange peel is so bad. Like concentrated to one area. The clear feels smooth but you can see massive peel underneath. Almost an illusion where it seems like the clear has the peel.

I'm going to try and stay positive and hope that the shop will listen and have solutions so this can be rectified. It's their last chance (opps, negativity coming out). Will post some pics in the morning ... To pissed right now to do anything but complain.

[///Monika]

Couple of photos for discussion ... Very difficult to get a picture of the fish eye and orange peel ..

[nioh_lbbm2]

Originally Posted by ///Monika

Couple of photos for discussion ... Very difficult to get a picture of the fish eye and orange peel ..

Wowwww 800 to paint a hood and that's the quality they give to the customer? I would take it to a different shop. They clearly do not have any standards. Most likely they just propped your hood outside on a rack and painted rather than use a controlled and closed environment.

Looks like a Maaco paint job

[///Monika]

Yeah, that'll buff right out. Marked the glaring areas with yellow tape that had fish eyes/imperfections. Found one area on the edge where it looks like they something mucked up the finish (hard to tell).

Originally Posted by nioh_lbbm2

Wowwww 800 to paint a hood and that's the quality they give to the customer? I would take it to a different shop. They clearly do not have any standards. Most likely they just propped your hood outside on a rack and painted rather than use a controlled and closed environment.

Looks like a Maaco paint job

[Rick4345]

Originally Posted by ///Monika

Yeah, that'll buff right out. Marked the glaring areas with yellow tape that had fish eyes/imperfections. Found one area on the edge where it looks like they something mucked up the finish (hard to tell).

Sad.

It looks like a kindergarten art project!!

Obviously no pride in their work.

[Got f1?]

Originally Posted by ///Monika

Couple of photos for discussion ... Very difficult to get a picture of the fish eye and orange peel ..

Overall very poorly prepped for paint. The orange peel comes from inaccurate adjustment of pressure during the paint application process. Ideally, they should be spraying a test panel to match the original texture. The last picture above tells me they either didn't bother to clean or did a very poor job of it. Completely unacceptable, obviously. This cannot be corrected by sanding and buffing. It would need to be sanded and resprayed.