Body / Paint experts needed
 

My wife and I just purchased a 2013 BMW 328ix from a local, reputable, auto liquidation dealership. The car is super clean with low miles (22,000). My wife noticed that the emblem on the hood was crooked and the hood gap was slightly off so we had the dealer check it out. She also noticed that the car's paint was very easily chipped (we do a lot of highway driving).

The dealership is going to send it off to their reconditioning shop to have all stone chips, alignment and emblem issues addressed at no charge but, now my wife is suspicious of the car. She has a friend who took a picture of the car and claims that, by looking at the picture, he can tell that it isn't the original paint. He claims that new car's paint show up in pictures with some type of flecks while repainted car's paint comes off as flat. I think he's full of it but, now my wife is all upset, thinking she bought a previously damaged car that someone painted with inferior paint.
BTW: the Car fax came back clean; I know there are ways around that but, I am just pointing that out.

Is my wife's friend's picture / paint claim true? I assume that a BMW would be painted with BASF paint from the factory; what could cause a car's paint to be easily chipped? Could it be bad prep work, inferior paint, the paint wasn't baked and is still not cured?

What's so upsetting it this is / was my wife's dream car for years and years; a white BMW 3 series. Now she has it and all of these little things are taking some of the joy of ownership from her.

Any thoughts from the experts would be appreciated.

I've been told that Carfax is a good thing providing the information is reported...Joe

Easily chipped paint can be caused by improper prep and / or the finish being "too thick", i.e., too many coats. If a scuff and shoot was performed on the hood, the finish may be too thick. A paint thickness gauge works well, but good ones are pricey.

If a finish is too thick, an undetectable blend will be difficult.

I'm speaking from a collision industry standpoint, not an auto restoration standpoint.

They likely scuffed over the areas that are chipping with grey scotchbrite or something similar. A paint gauge would show the added coats but I guess you have to ask yourself what the end game is. The dealer must know there is some sort of issue if they are fixing the car. If you think the only solution to make your wife happy is to unwind the deal than its important to make that known sooner than later. Lots of cars get areas repainted without a car fax, many times before the car hits the showroom when new.


Jason

Unless the original paint has either pearl or metalflake, I doubt you could tell from a picture if it is factory paint.

Any good auto body guy can do a close inspection on the car and tell you if it has been repainted. There are ALWAYS some tell tale signs. Regardless of how reputable the dealer is, you need to get an independent specialist to give you an opinion.

I have not heard of widespread paint issues on that model. It is possible for any manufacturer to get a bad batch, and have several cars end up with inferior paint. Not the norm, but can happen. If a paint an body expert tells you it has not been repainted, then there is a chance it is just an inferior paint job from the factory.

I am a regular on bimmerforums (between my brother and I we have bought 59 bimmers over the years), so did a quick search over there and found this thread from last year about a 328 with paint chip issues: https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/s...ht=paint+chips

If you cannot see the pics on that thread, let me know, and I can post them here.

Interesting coincidence although I was unable to open the pictures.

Was afraid of that. If you keep the car, you might want to join that site. Good info.
I am sure you saw the last post that conclued that the car in question had been repainted.

Other than some clear coat issues (mostly on blue cars) in the 70's and 80's I am not aware of any widespread paint issues on BMWs.

Good luck. Here are the pics, pretty ugly.

YIKES that is ugly. Fortunately for us my wife's car isn't anywhere that bad; in fact there are just one or two minor chips that have occurred during the 4 days of ownership. Our plan is to allow the dealership to make their repairs (BTW, they have been very accommodating) and then have a clear bra installed.
How long after a car has been touched up should we wait before installing the clear bra? Do we need to wait a few weeks / months to allow the paint to cure and/or outgas?