Bill109

Greetings everyone,
Is it possible to find oem paint for our cars? if so where, can a bmw dealer obtain it for you? Or possible to obtain a forumla code?

Car is silvery grey metalic "Silbergrau Metallic A08/7"

Thanks for your time

-Bill

jose_gerardo85

Yes the dealer carry our paints dude, brought a little container the other day for paint my trunk finisher paid like 70 for the paint!!

Bill109

70 for a pint?
thats not to terribly bad..

tonyb635

OEM paint is Glasurit and BASF. Don't waste your time and money going to a dealer you will just over pay and probably get some very old paint. Find a local paint store that sells this and have them mix you a pint or what ever you need. There are lots of other brands out there that look just as good etc and are much cheaper. They won't give you the formula for the paint. If you are looking to use this for touch up paint then I would only ask for 1/2 pt that is plenty. If you are planning to spray something then you would need more. If you don't have the experience in paint application, don't waste your money on the expensive paint, it won't matter... Our cars have waterbase paint with a solvent base clear. So if you are using this paint for touch up you can just use the paint if its a very small chip. If bigger, then you would want to apply the paint in the chip then put a little clear over it trying to keep everything inside the confines of the chip and not on the top surface. If you get it on the top surface you can use 1500 -2000 wet paper and then polish it with clearcoat safe polishing compound.

Bill109

thanks for the insight.old paint shouldnt be a problem, just give it a good mix.
however i want exact match to the car. I do have experience with paint and sprayed my front bumper based on a light matched color. Painted it, and it was a shade or two off. I had it tinted and it looks good, but an exact match would be better. i don't mind spending the cash on the right stuff.
At this point, i just want to respray with a more accurate color. thatssilvergrey is a very difficult color to match on the dot.
-Bill

tonyb635

Ok, well I would go for Diamont paint, not OEM but a derivative of Glasurit and has very good properties and matching is very nice. The experience of the painter makes a big difference in the outcome. Not to say you don't have enough, but as you know you can take the exact paint that was mixed and spray two panel separately and get two different outcomes and then throw in another person and it can become even different. Then toss in the person who mixed the paint. Even though they are good at what they do, the paint is poured in and weighed to each additive. If they are off a little it can make a difference. Don't forget about air pressure, distance and technique and equipment also affecting the outcome. Silver is not an easy color to spray since the wetness can cause the flake to show the darker side

Bill109

Ah, yes i agree there are a lot of different things to weigh in when matching paint. When i do anything painting for my car i have my dad give me a hand. He's been in the business for over 25 years so i do trust him to help me get a good match.

Dont get me wrong, the paint on the bumper looks good and the only way you can see it is if your looking for it but i have to pick your brain for another minute..

-You keep saying to shy away from oem paint.. why? is it solely on price?
Even if the paint is old, after a good mixing the matching of the paint is done. this means even if i do spend a little more there is no hassle to light match the color.

Last time i got a light match there was only a very tiny difference in the silver colors and it seemed any would be a good choice when in reality non of them seemed to be spot on like i want it to be.

check out the pictures.. its a shade off. doesnt look bad but i cannot stand it!
Now, i cant tell if the hood has been repainted, or the bumper is just off. either way the hood needs a respray and id like to do the bumper once again.
Notcieable in this pic..


here is a pic it looks right.

before the m5 front was fitted. thought the front oem bumper was resprayed but after seein these two pics the paint looks solid.



thanks for your time!

tonyb635

The first pic looks more that a shade off but the second one looks really close. This goes to show you the metallic reaction in the flake. If you walk around and look from different angles you will most likely see different variations in how far it looks to be off. Bottom line is, if you are happy then it's all good, if not, it will drive you crazy!

How OEM paint works is, the factory has a selected source or paint from a manufacturer such as BASF, they also have a secondary and in some case a tirsherary for a back up source. The company decides on a color and provides this to the paint manufacturer. This formula is not provide to other paint suppliers but only to the approved sources of the paint for repairs that would be needed outside of the factory (crash repair). Next they generate acceptable master plates for light to dark variation. When a supplier of the bumpers and hangon parts in color produce these parts and paint them they have to be within these master plates. A good example is these parts are painted with a solvent base paint and clear where as the car body at the factory is painted with waterborne paint and a solvent base clear but they all still have to match. Not perfectly, but within these master plates that were established.

For me, I would buy a cheap price mixed paint for touch up when using a small touch up brush and doing chips etc, but if I am repainting my fender or a hood, I would go with a better paint. More expensive paint doesn't always mean you will get a better match, but it will last longer since it's normally a better paint. I've used some very cheap paint and have been very impressed with the results.

OEM (approved) paint in the US could be PPG BASF but in Germany it could be Silkens, Glasurit BASF it just depends on which supplier they go with. Now, non OEM supplier of paint don't have these formulas so they have to figure them out using special paint analysis equipment. This is where you can see a variation within different manufacturers. Most often they are close enough. A lot of shops will use a blending technique to the adjacent panels to hide this shade off effect. There are just tons of techniques out there to make it look the best.

I wasn't really shying away from OEM, just wouldn't go to the dealer for it and I would clearly avoid these little touchup bottles. Paint shops would not go to the dealer for this paint. They would mix it on site or go to a paint store and they would mix it which then makes the need for this "oem" paint at the dealer quite low which results in the paint sitting around forever. And there is a shelf life for it. Eventually it not any good anymore...

If you have the time and don't money dropping I would purchase a small amount of paint that was mixed and use this for touch up. If this cost seems too much, then next best thing would be to get a small touch up bottle from the dealer but that's about all it would be good for.

Bill109

So i have a few options, considering i am repainting and not touching up spots.
a paint match from the dealer, has got to be closer than what i've got so far.
so..
-attempt to rematch the paint.. which i am skeptical about. its been matched once, tinted twice. its still not right. To bring it in again and get it matched seems pointless. However i will still need more paint to do the hood, over as well as some other items.

-I could blend the paint on the bumper/hood with something the paint shop feels is more accurate..

-Go to the dealer, buy the paint and take a look at a date is was mixed, assuming there is a "production date" i do not see how they can sell something without an exp. date if a shelf life is included.


The paint i used in the pics above is a PPG paint. Deltron to be more specific which seems like a good paint..
for the clear, ill double check for brand. i have used euro clear on my e39 when i did an mtech kit and i thought it looked great! I've also used one other brand name that escapes me at the moment for clear.
Maybe PPG Basf has a closer match.
im going to take a few more shots of the car and take a good look.Ill post them up tomorrow which hopefully will reveal something.. like the hood actually being resprayed at one point in its life.

tonyb635

Yes, PPG is very good paint. Maybe if you have a chance to run by one of BMW's certified repair/paint shop they will tell you what they are using and what their experience is with your particular color. Another option would be to try another brand, and take your fuel lid off and leave it with them to see if they can get a better match. I can be tough to get a good match sometimes. There is another member here Auchtunge60 that I think has the same color as you. Maybe PM him and see what his experience was with it. My car is white and no one notices but me, but my bumper that I painted are more white than the car is. I will be re-doing them soon and will take my fuel lid down to see if they can get a better match. Maybe you should give that BMW paint a try, you never really know maybe it's a better match for ya. But I can tell you, it;s just mixed paint from somewhere. Maybe ask them some questions about it.