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BMW Z3 exterior makeover

6K views 43 replies 10 participants last post by  pangster 
#1 ·
Thought I'd share a couple of pictures of what I'm up to today (whilst I'm waiting on the base coat drying):

Z3 ///M side gills:







Z3 ///M mirrors:










:D



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#4 ·
Thanks for the comments!! Coming along nicely.. Although I need to rub down one of the mirror necks as there is a slight run!!! Grrr... Just finished shooting the ground coat now:







:)


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#5 ·
Looking good mate....
 
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#6 ·
made pretty good progress today - got the first couple of coats of colour on:

















Will let it dry overnight and the plan for tomorrow is:

(1) flatten back any high spots/imperfections and then give them their final coat of colour

(2) paint mirror bases

(3) paint satin black gill inlay

(4) lacquer gills and mirrors

(5) finish off with rubbing compound

With any luck I might have these finished and fitted by Sunday night! :D
 
#7 ·
Ready for the Monday Spin.....:D
 
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#10 ·
So are you painting new bits or just parts already on your motor?
 
#11 ·
new bits! :D - I bought these direct from the dealer about 8 or 9 months ago and just haven't got round to painting and fitting them yet.. the gills and mirrors are both from the Z3 ///M model. I'll post up before and after comparison pics when I've finished! :D
 
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#12 ·
more pics from today - now I'm back on my computer and not typing from the iPhone! LOL!...

PARTS AFTER PREP AND PRIMER:



GROUND COAT:



GROUND V FIRST COAT OF COLOUR:



2 COATS OF COLOUR (Pretty hard to pic up the metallic fleck/lustre on my iPhone camera! - but it does look better in real life!):


I'll let it dry overnight and the plan for tomorrow is:

(1) flatten back any high spots/imperfections and then give them their final coat of colour

(2) paint mirror bases (acid etch primer / ground coat / colour x 2 / lacquer x 2)

(3) paint satin black gill inlay

(4) lacquer gills and mirrors

(5) finish off with rubbing compound

With any luck I might have these finished and fitted by Sunday night! :D
 
#14 ·
LOL! - nope!!.. I've done some painting before and it helps knowing someone in the trade who can offer advice.. but it's been a while since I've had to do any painting. I think the last thing I painted was alloys for my MR2, then it was colour coding the sills and front splitter on the MR2 - which must have been about 9 or 10 years ago now! and before that I painted some parts on my old Fiesta! so it's been a while since I've had to do any! - but its been quite enjoyable picking it up again.. I'm realistic enough to realise that I'm not going to get it 100% - but if I get it around 90% then I'll be happy enough as I plan on putting it in the bodyshop next year anyway. :D
 
#15 ·
Here's a picture of my stock Z3 mirrors just now - notice how the aluminium has corroded/oxidised - it's a very common issue with Z3's (and will happen sooner or later) - this was the main reason for changing to the Z3 ///M items - that and they look a LOT better! :D







I could have repaired and resprayed the stock Z3 mirrors fairly easily - but the Z3 ///M mirrors came up at a price I couldn't resist! :D
 
#18 ·
Thought I'd update the thread on progress or lack of progress today!!

Had another look over the mirrors today (with fresh eyes) and I wasn't 100% happy with either of them (although to be fair, I was probably nit picking! LOL!) so I've decided I'm going to redo the mirror caps on both - the slight problem I have is that I've now run out of Montreal Blue paint that came in the kit!.. I bought some new cans from Halfords - but I'm not holding out too much hope for a decent colour match (I've heard mixed reviews and they can be a bit hit or miss!) - although they have a review for Montreal Blue on their website which seems vaguely promising! :rofl

Anyway - today I managed to finish off the side gills (although I might redo the inlay tomorrow to make it matt/satin - I wasn't sure if it was mean to be properly matt/satin or if it should have a slight shine to it? ).. so I lacquered it when I was going over the rest of the gill and the more I look at it now... the more I think I should have masked it off!! - oh well.. quick job for tomorrow and then I can get them finished off with rubbing compound and get them fitted) - the first 2 pics below were pre-lacquer:



Given both mirror caps now need rubbed back and re-done, I figured that for today (so it wasn't a complete waste) - that I'd mask the mirror caps off and make a start on the mirror bases.

At present they've just been primed with acid etch primer and flattened back:



The plan for tomorrow now is to finish off the mirror bases and to then finish off the gill inlay and go over the gills with some rubbing compound and then get them fitted!! :D

I'll take the mirror caps right back at some point during the week and then respray them next weekend - maybe it was a bit too ambitious trying to fit it all in this weekend... still, I'd rather take my time and get it done right and make sure I'm happy with it as it would bug me if I had just fitted them knowing I had a few niggles with them!!:D
 
#23 ·
I made decent progress today and done almost all I set out to do..

(*) I re-did the inlays of the Z3M gills to give them a smooth black satin finish

(*) I finished prepping the mirror bases ready for colour. Given I had ran out of the Montreal Blue paint I ordered from www.paints4u.com - I decided to take the plunge/chance and bought some from Halfords... complete waste of money - I would have been better off painting them Arctic Silver - it probably would have been a closer match to Montreal Blue (which was a real shame as I got a really good finish on them as well - but the colours are poles apart!!).. just means even more work next week or the next chance I get as they'll both need rubbed back again!!!

(*) Fitted the Z3M gills (yet to go over them with G3 so they will appear a little flat just now) - pics below:



Overall in terms of colour matching - I'd give the paints4u paint a solid 9 out of 10 and the halfords paint 2 out of 10.. once I order more Montreal Blue paint I'll get the Z3M mirrors redone and then fitted to the car. I'll then need to go over the Z3M mirrors and Z3M side gills with some G3 and in the next month or so I'll give the rest of the car a proper machine detail. :D
 
#25 ·
I've not got to that stage yet - but the lacquer will be buffed lightly with some G3 rubbing compound on a damp cloth.. maybe next weekend if I get a chance and the weather is decent! :D
 
#27 ·
yep - last step!.. you really need to let the lacquer harden properly (2-3 days) before you can buff it.. if you're doing metal panels/parts and have sprayed a lot of paint/thick coats then you'd probably want to flatten the lacquer back with some very fine wet and dry (using lots of water) and then go over it with some G3/G10..

I *should* be ok bringing mine up with some G3 on a damp cloth.. :)
 
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#30 ·
FWIW - this will give you an idea of how different the Montreal Blue supplied by Halfords (mirror bases) is compared to the Montreal Blue supplied by Paints4U (///M gills):

 
#32 ·
cheers Jamie!.. with a bit better planning and foresight this might have been done this weekend!!.. oh well.. with any luck I'll get some time over the next couple of weeks to finish it off properly.. :thumbsup
 
#38 ·
Matey the car is lookin fookin sweet.......
 
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