How much for a TOP quality respray?

[bloom_meister]

Speaking of retro fitting i have bought an entire SH air con unit setup and in my naivety was expecting a couple of small condensors/heators and the like, not knowing anything about AC. You can imagine my suprise when the guy pulled several very large 'bits' out of his garage and i stood there wondering ..wtf are these all going to go!

Tim,

I have done the A/C retrofit twice now, to be fair it's not too bad a job to do properly. Certainly not one of those jobs you can do in a rush though. The wiring is there to plug in, you just need to know where it is. If you are going to pay a garage to do it then choose a specialist that has done one before. Otherwise you will be paying for someone elses learning curve!

I would say 20 hours labour would be fair for a complete hood up - hood down job.

If you need some advice with it then drop me a line.


Dameon.

Only one question, where do you live and how much?

Tim

[Andyboy]

To be fair, the Convertibles were much better for rust than the saloons (built in a different plant) and I've yet to see a really horrific example.

My recommendation? Ben at Route 66 Coachworks in Clacton on Sea so not TOO far from you. He owns the Calypso red 325i Convertible on the cover of TBMW mag 1-2 months ago and the paint on that is like glass and arrow straight. They've done some absolutely top work for me as well, so take that as a recommendation.

Green top tint screens are available anywhere, Autoglass still do them.

[bss325i]

Original bmw paint finish is not glass like, it has a slight shimmer/mottle, even very slight orange peel finish if you like. I would also assume that if you got a top tint screen from someone like auto glass then it wouldn't have a bmw stamp in the corner.
Not try to be pedantic but from what i can gather Tim is trying to get the car as close to if it had just left the dealer in 1991?

[Andyboy]

Original bmw paint finish is not glass like, it has a slight shimmer/mottle, even very slight orange peel finish if you like. I would also assume that if you got a top tint screen from someone like auto glass then it wouldn't have a bmw stamp in the corner.
Not try to be pedantic but from what i can gather Tim is trying to get the car as close to if it had just left the dealer in 1991?

Maybe yours is orange peely, but a proper factory finish from 1991 is not. do bear in mind the water based finishes on modern BMW's is nowhere near as good as the older stuff.
The paint on my crappy old Touring is as smooth as. As for the glass, words fail me.
It's an old 325i Convertible, not a Gullwing Mercedes. Green tint screens are available from BMW and the price is comparable to Autoglass (Sekurit).

[bss325i]

Original bmw paint finish is not glass like, it has a slight shimmer/mottle, even very slight orange peel finish if you like. I would also assume that if you got a top tint screen from someone like auto glass then it wouldn't have a bmw stamp in the corner.
Not try to be pedantic but from what i can gather Tim is trying to get the car as close to if it had just left the dealer in 1991?

Maybe yours is orange peely, but a proper factory finish from 1991 is not. do bear in mind the water based finishes on modern BMW's is nowhere near as good as the older stuff.
The paint on my crappy old Touring is as smooth as. As for the glass, words fail me.
It's an old 325i Convertible, not a Gullwing Mercedes. Green tint screens are available from BMW and the price is comparable to Autoglass (Sekurit).

Mine is not orange peely, come and see for yourself, plenty of others have and think its the original paint! It was only a way of trying to describe that original paint isn't like glass. Before i had my sport painted it had original paint. When i had it painted the guy who painted it asked what sort of finish i wanted so i asked for original and thats what i got. The guy has been painting for 20+ years at top end bodyshops and has owned several bmw's including a Macau motorsport and my sport, so in short i know the guy knows what he's doing.
I know the glass is a bit anal but as i said i think this is the direction Tim is trying to go with his car. This sort of thing only occured to me when someone picked up on the fact my heated rear window was not an original bmw one.

[bloom_meister]

Its true that I want it 100% original BMW, thats why my project is a bit trickier than others I guess, however i am not sure (because i have no first hand experience) of the difference between a factory paint job and a 'glass finish', to be honest I have always been satisfied with BMW paint, I know my M3 certainly had as good a finish as I have ever seen but it was easier to see on that car as it was carbon black.

If BMW still sell the green tint screens its a moot point on that one i guess as it would be the correct part if it did need to be replaced. I'm not blind to the fact that there are people out there who can probably do better than factory though (like the guy bss325 suggests) and I'll have to think long and hard which way to go with it. Because so many people have said that the price I have been quoted is a fair one then the no cost to fix for any paint faults from BMW plus the fact they will warranty the work is a big factor in their favour.

I know the car would never return me what I am going to put into it but i'm not doing it to make money, with the conversion+car+paint+servicing/faults fix+retrim its a very expensive project but when its done it will be special and will provide me with a lot of pleasure. i wish I had a workshop and the knowledge to do more myself but neither space, knowledge or work allow me that luxury.

Tim

[Andyboy]

Pics?

[ChrisBarns]

the guy i suggested gives a 3 year warrenty

[Rosc0PColtrane]

[bloom_meister]

Just got in and its still raining cats and dogs here so i'll take some when there is some light and its fine (now dark at 4.20pm...)

There are some shots on the SP27 found thread taken from when the car was in autotrader to give you an idea what its like though.

Tim

[spook]

lets see some pictures of this car, i wont be offended if its a little rusty, or if its got a few pin dents, mine had plenty of both. please tim

[Rosc0PColtrane]

Ok cool. Light is a nightmare at the mo. I'm trying to do photographic assignments and cannot complete them due to light/weather!!! Oh well, days get longer from December 21st!

Good luck with the resto, certainly a pedantic approach, and I mean that in the best possible taste. The results will be worth seeing.

[pacerpete]

Wow 4 1/2 bags to paint an e30 cab ! i,m in the wrong game . I have used a body shop in wembley for many years and they have painted lots of my cars including a B10 bi turbo, B6S , M5 tourings,countless e30 M3s including 3 of my sport evos I am very fussy and don't suffer fools or shoddy workmanship, if they are good enough to take my money i am sure they can handle an 'ordinary' e30 cab with a kit !
One thing i have learn't , just because a job cost lots, doesn't mean its done well ! Also one thing worth noting is that many BMW dealers don't have inhouse body shops and often sub the work out and put a big premium on top.

[bss325i]

Also one thing worth noting is that many BMW dealers don't have inhouse body shops and often sub the work out and put a big premium on top.

Yep they certainly do! Cooper bmw Croydon use us, a Renault factory outlet bodyshop for all their body work, the guy who painted mine does most of it.

[beardymat]

Original bmw paint finish is not glass like, it has a slight shimmer/mottle, even very slight orange peel finish if you like. I would also assume that if you got a top tint screen from someone like auto glass then it wouldn't have a bmw stamp in the corner.
Not try to be pedantic but from what i can gather Tim is trying to get the car as close to if it had just left the dealer in 1991?

i have to agree with baz here that the factory paint does have a very slight orange peel effect and that it would look wrong polished to a glass like finish. a lot of my car was original paint before my resto/repaint and care was taken to replicate the finish from the factory.

as for glass, i took out a screen stamped bmw and safevue and replaced it with a toptint marked just safevue. cheaper than the dealers and i could always paint a bmw roundel on it

[bloom_meister]

Few I took while the sun is actually shining, car has about 500 miles of grime on it but i cant be arsed washing it just for a few pics



The Alpinas which will be coming off:



Dirty car!




Leather has not been cleaned in some time and is quite dirty but in remarkably good condition, no splits, tears, scuffs but its goin anyway for new stuff:



Drivers side

[oakey]

Looks nice Mr miester Why are you taking the alpinarses off?

[d6dph]

Another vote here for Route 66 in clacton.

Ben is a very good painter.

**edit, Here is his car**

[bloom_meister]

Looks nice Mr miester Why are you taking the alpinarses off?

Its getting a full Birds/Hartge conversion so some 16'' hartge are going on.

Picked up a spare 14'' set of Hartges on my travels if anyone is interested, lovely condition.

d6dph - I really appreaciate the reccomendations, problem is that I'd expect any pantshop worth its salt to only quote if they have had time to look over the car and getting the car sent around the country to the guys i have been reccomended is a bit of a logistical nightmare, unless of course a shop would take the BMW assessment as gospel and quote on that basis.

Tim