Paint blues
 

FOOK ME couple of months, longest I’ve left car in garage without getting csl into the sunshine , and giving it a rub down, can’t believe these bubbles appeared in a couple of months... Think this will be a job for body shop. As paint isn’t my thing. Will take wings off have a look see what’s going on underneath

Wings off. All looks good underneath wings. Paint bubbles seems to be where plastic under arch drops into wing , suppose it not to bad for 14 year old car, wings are very simple design, so I guess this helps keeping rust at bay. I realise csl is lightweight, but a heavier coat of paint BMW wouldn’t hurt :whistle: easy repair for bmw body shops I suppose.

Paint is so thin on backside of wings. Surprised they lasted as long as they have , doesn’t appear to be any wax protection either. Anybody do there own waxing :gayfight: cslgirl’s input welcome on this topic ,

I had the same issue and BMW said it would be better to replace the wings to stop the dreaded rust from returning within 2 years :).

Hi mike. Thought they would be more rust on the inside of wings, but all good, rust just starting to appear on lip hardly anything really,, but that tinworm is a tw-t once it get in there, going to drop them at bmw body shop tomorrow, don’t expect for a minute any kind of warranty now:whistle: Fooking damp northern weather :banghead:

My dealer said that just painting the wings would limit the warranty they would give on the work to 2 years, fitting brand new wings and painting that went up to 10 years. Given this is a keeper it was a no brainer, especially as the wings were only £250 each (same as a normal M3).

I have kept the original wings (and mine weren't as bad as yours) - I'm just really fussy about this car :gayfight: .

thanks Mike good to know ,didn’t realise they would give 10 year warranty on new wings , had a close look at the lip of wing. There is definitely tinworm chewing away :hahaha:

Common fault on the E46

:hahaha: I pay someone else to take care of the wax on... wax off!:thumbs:

hi mike, bmw body shop quoted me £480 each wing on Tuesday :whistle: plus about £850 labour and paint , :banghead: Didn’t really seem interested in painting old wings,
Pointed out I’d been quoted £400 per wing at Spares’s department now waiting to see what they come back with. :whistle:

While I’m waiting for bmw to come back with a price , though I may as well have a mess will old wings , and see how they turn out , sanded back inner lip where the tinworm infested the wings, not as bad as it could have bin, had some paint mixed , see how this turns out :whistle: before body shop try’s to drains my life’s blood :banghead:

Wow, that is some price hike :eeek: !

Had email back today, estimate cost to do new wings paint etc from my friendly bmw body shop. Suppose we all have to make a living..:whistle:

Thought I’d look for a bit more trouble front bumper off , inner wings etc, in the hunt for more dreaded tinworm , but all looks good upfront :thumbs: All prity easily done,,, easy diy job:smt055

I had front end painted 3 ish years back wasn't too happy with the out come as they didn't blend into doors so I had wings re painted by an approved BMW shop in pershore wings into doors plus had small trim painted and cost me £500.. the finish was spot on.

. Hi Paul. I’m partway through rubbing down wings myself wings look prity good now back to clean metal as far as possible, treated, then coat of zinc, coat of primer. And some paint code silver, Doesn’t look to bad, will give it some clear coat , when I’m happy with Finnish, now I’ve figured out how to blend paint. I can always take it to a good paint shop , when cash flow permits, definitely don’t think it warrants £2200 at the moment.:whistle: I’m guessing there are a good few wings out their far worse, just waiting to pop. :smokin: repainted and blended into wing under black line,, and about 3 coats on the inside of wings ,, no longer a lightweight csl.

Couple of easy places to check for the diy home check, under the cill covers. Behind the front plastic inner wing , rear battery box with bumper off, all known places the e46 m”s suffer from tinworm , happily all ok 👍 places that all rarely get looked at. If your car is a keeper..:thumbs:

Wings painted and clear coated,hopefully blended into top sections of wings to door, will buffer down see how they turn out , but look really good for cans £50,:thumbs: i recon way better than bmw could have possibly done for £2200::whistle: don’t think tinworm could ever chew through again :smokin: had one of these wings previously sprayed in the past after it was scratched, was a bit disappointed with bmw repair when I noticed one of side lights was actually stuck on with silicone,, goes to show you can’t even trust them to do a proper job ...not for the first time either

Very impressive work Chad. Wish i had even a quarter of your skills and time to work on the girl. :bigcry:

Taking the bumper off is really easy, getting it back on is a bit of a :birdman: job ;)

Cheers Julian, will find out soon,I think it’s the mounting blocks near the arches that would probably be the problematic part , but l haven’t taken the rear ones off , so hopefully won’t be to bad guess il soon find out. :smokin:

The rear isnt bad at all. I was talking about the front bumper. Getting the snorkel attached is annoying also lining up the bumper with the impact absorbers :bigcry:

hi Julian yes I can imagine it will be tricky, hopefully will be easier as I?€™ve got wings and plastic under arches etc all off, undertray off, so I should have good access, also am able to drive over a pit / steps for easy access,... plus I like a challenge :smokin:

Really happy with £50 results so for, after only 5 mins of buffing, But really happy with paint match :smokin: Possibly a bit more clear coat to matching doors, but definitely not to bonnet, will see better when buffed and a proper polish,... ended up spraying about 85 percent just blended into top of wings.

Very nice work - wish I had those kind of skills (and patience) :).

Another place to check , rear wheel arches, where rear clip holds rear bumper to arch . I’m presuming this is a common rust point, luckily this is only on underside of arch and isn’t visible with bumper fitted, so carefully sanding back and will treat light rust , and repaint seal etc,, there are a fair few cars that have been done under bmw warranty in this area, mine being one of them wax treated on the inside to prevent any problems, but I guess they don’t do this part of paint ,, :whistle: Glad I found this before it affects visible areas :thumbs:

Luckily not affected paintwork under and around rear arch near filler cap flap area, so not overly disappointed as they all nearly 15 years old now:smt055. Coat of kurust for now

Very nice work chad. I wonder if you will be finished in time for 15th anniversary :hahaha:
Btw if your filler cap gasket is a bit worn now is a good time to replace it with the rear bumper and inner arch liners (?) removed.

hi Julian,checked out parts not sure, but it says seal part no ended , so will call at parts check out if it’s available , as for being ready it wouldn’t take long to put back together,so all good, while it’s got bumpers etc off..want to check over a few more known problem areas, rear top damper mount gasket area while I’ve got easy access, surprising how you find rusty bits when you take a close look then pick the paint back.. but better to catch it now.., .:thumbs:

Yes you are correct you cant buy the gasket individually. You have to buy the whole assembly including the filler cap itself but its not expensive from what i remember. I can look up the bill when im back at home.

I have placed a small patch of helicopter tape between the clip and the body work. Stops the clip from rubbing away the paint.

You don’t need much of a break in underseal to get water in there , on these Uk salted roadways , something to do on a Friday afternoon,,:whistle:

sounds like a good idea,, could do with it all over the car with the state of the roads in Manchester area:thumbs:

Only for the not to squeamish :banghead: ..Rear wheel arches, if you fancy taking a close look at your arches before they bite you in the arse... only looks like the slightest bit of paintwork/ underseal cracking, so fook it cut some back ,,, Could be worse :whistle: starts off pic1. clean it up, Treat it to some rust killer prep for zink paint primer :smokin: I can only imagine bmw are glad to see the back of th e46 m3 paint warranty.��

Hopefully tinworm poison will do the job. Or at least slow it down :thumbs:

Almost done, prepping done ready for final colour, as near oem as I can do, Used seam seal and bmw underseal ,:smokin:

I'll give you £5 and a bag of Revels to do mine :bigcry: :whistle:

Hi mike. to be honest,I wouldn’t even give bmw a bag of revels anymore to do any work on my car, had some warranty work done on the arches about a couple of years back. It just goes to show they don’t do it properly, and I’d wouldn’t have to do a diy job myself, but I’d put money on it it will last longer than there so called warranty repairs,:whistle:

No sure if it will stay this shade of grey, but anybody that’s had a new boot floor won’t have original factory underseal finish anyway, but al least it’s covered now and looks tidy, get my new discs and back disc covers fitted won’t look to bad ,waxoil and refit bungs ,and a clear coat.. :smt055. If anybody knows original colour code for underseal, be better to do in in that,,,??? Original underseal colour in bottom pic..

Hopefully be ok for a few more years , clear coated.. waxoil in arch cavity, plugs back in and sealed , repainted shock dampers while they were off ,, will see how colour fades with time, :smokin:

good job ! :thumbs: