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1999 E46 323i DIY colour coding trim

5K views 21 replies 6 participants last post by  goughy 
#1 ·
I want to paint the black exterior trim the same colour as my car (Titanium silver). Has anyone done this to their car? If so, does the paint last and does it look pikey? I don't want it flaking off a few weeks down the line and I certainly don't want it to look pikey. I'm not sure if the paint will crack or not trying to get the trim back on.

Thanks.
 
#2 ·
your better off spending the money on a brand new trim, as there would be alot of time and effort to get the trim to look good and evenly sprayed, plus then you will need a protective layer of varnish or something, and as soon as you catch it itll proberbly come straight off.
and for the £120 from a breakers to get a oem sprayed trim in the silver, i think it will be a much better finish.

and you do look at it every day you drive the car =D

only my thoughts ;)
 
#8 ·
I think it should be doable as a DIY job - I plan to do it and had a go on a spare piece of trim that I had and am really surprised, even with just a quick attempt. Colour match is good and so is the finish.

As goughy says, use a plastic filler primer and laquer it and you should be good to go.

I think the key is patience, if you sand the trim properly and get it as good as possible, it will transfer through the layers of paint. Worst case is, your not happy with it and have to pic up some trim from a breakers.
 
#10 ·
The paint from Halfords is about £6 for a small can and £8 for a bigger one. Would imagine that you will need a couple of cans of (each) primer, filler primer, paint and lacquer.

You may want to test the colour match though - for my car, the colour seems pretty much spot on.
 
#12 ·
The filler primer is fill / smooth out any dimples and texture in the trim. Or other minor imperfections like stone chips etc.

I think that some of the trim can be quite heavily textured - luckily mines not and comes up smooth without the filler (well the one test piece that I did).

In terms of the colour, someone who did it (I think it may have been Goughy) said that there are actually three or four variations of Titanium silver! The Halfords stuff seems to match mine pretty damn well - may still be worth testing it on something to double check.
 
#14 ·
yep there is 3 different shades but to be honest the 3 shades on colour swatches wer'nt that different on ya trim it shouldnt look that bad i did my bumper an skirts so needed to be right:thumbsup the filler primer is mostley for the front and rear bumper trim as they are quite bumpy:thumbsup as said:lol rub it all down as smooth as ya can befor spraying but make sure you use plastic primer first or it will be off within a month:eek
 
#13 · (Edited)
Yep. Done quite a bit of refurb body work on my car when I got it. It was a bit of a rust bucket. The BMW titanium silver I got from Halfrauds and elsewhere was too dark. Had to get some made up at a specialist shop. Don't mind the trim being a tiny bit darker though TBH. Will be hardly noticeable but when trying to blend it in to a panel it stands out.
 
#16 ·
ye that will be the metalic not seporating in the can the laqure will sort it or give it anouther coat but warm the can up first and give it a good shake for 2-3 mins before spraying:thumbsup get some pics up when finished mate
 
#17 ·
I can't wait to do mine - am going to do it over the August bank holiday as I have the Monday off work as well.

Are you sure the blotches aren't from an iffy nozzle? One of my cans of Wurth oaint did this when I was painting one of my wheels last week.

Be sure to get some pics up when your done.
 
#19 · (Edited)
Well, sort of finished the trim but didn't have enough spray paint for the side trim. I should have remembered the seven P's. Prior Planning & Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance. ;) Looks a lot better than the black trim though and I don't have to keep applying trim blackener now after polishing. My Saxo VTR in the background. Nippy little bugger!



 
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