Painting Alpine white another color. bad idea?

[Vicarious]

Been thinking of putting some decent cosmetic work into my 318i. its alpine white, and faded. I'm not a big fan of white anymore, and this is my 3rd white bmw. honestly i'm kind of tired of it. Thinking of repainting it another color, down the road.

Are white cars a really bad idea to repaint any other color? I mean anything else will be darker. I would ideally want door jams and trunk, but not engine bay = that would be too much work/money.

what do you guys think? IF one were to repaint a white car another color, what are better colors to do? Silvers, lights, i dunno.

What would you do?

[Vivek]

Do it right or don't do it. In your case: don't do it. Alpine white on your car is probably not clear coated, and will look a thousand times better if you polish it.

[Vicarious]

explain the clear coat part? If not clear coated, then easier to repair paint?

[Vicarious]

is that your actual face in your sig and avatar? If so, i can't take any of this advise seriously from such a goofy looking dude, lol

[Vicarious]

is it expensive to "pearlize" a paint? Thinking maybe keep it white but do it different, do a pearl white paint. is it a lot more to add pearl to a paint?

[bmwstephen]

if its the original paint. i say you have liquid gold underneat the oxidation. a good detail would make it look just as good as any new paint job that's less than 2k...

[camip]

Try this out first.

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=85120

[Vicarious]

ive been contemplating doing this as soon as my shoulder heals from surgery, should be another month or so. I've also contemplated having a detail shop do this. How much can this job cost?

[RUFFLZ]

is that your actual face in your sig and avatar? If so, i can't take any of this advise seriously from such a goofy looking dude, lol

i lol'd

[Vivek]

explain the clear coat part? If not clear coated, then easier to repair paint?

Easier is debatable. You can get much better results though. Like, you can take oxidized to SHIT single stage (not necessarily single stage, but non-clear coated) paint and make it look almost new.

is that your actual face in your sig and avatar? If so, i can't take any of this advise seriously from such a goofy looking dude, lol

Yes it is. I'm sort of a professional detailer so take it or leave it i guess.

is it expensive to "pearlize" a paint? Thinking maybe keep it white but do it different, do a pearl white paint. is it a lot more to add pearl to a paint?

If you repaint it, I don't think it would be any more expensive. Lexus pearl white or something...I don't think the price of the paint would be significantly more.

if its the original paint. i say you have liquid gold underneat the oxidation. a good detail would make it look just as good as any new paint job that's less than 2k...

MUCH less than 2k.

ive been contemplating doing this as soon as my shoulder heals from surgery, should be another month or so. I've also contemplated having a detail shop do this. How much can this job cost?

I'd do it for around 200 on an e30, with a full detail. Maybe slightly less if you wanted just the paint. It'll be a couple days work for an individual, multi step polishing. A detail shop...you may be able to get it for like 200-300 bucks. It really depends. Some places just charge exorbitant prices for no real reason, some are reasonable. For example, I was quoted like $480 to remove a clear bra on my dad's M3 that I took off myself with nothing more than the sun and patience in a couple hours.

i lol'd

Of course you did :)

[bmwstephen]

Vivek, how durable are original e30 single stage paints in your experience? have u ever detailed one to the point where the paint would get so thin that you cant do future details?

-Blame my typos on my fat fingers & Droid Charge

[Vicarious]

Vivek and everyone, all great info, just what i've been looking for without even knowing it. I'm going to somehow restore the paint first. Not sure about doing it myself at this point because I've never done it. but i think i'm pretty competent, maybe be able to pull it off. I have a power tool i can attach buffing pads to.

I'd rather maybe take it to get detailed, but Vivek, if you're saying that i'll most likely be charge around $200!??! then thats crazy out of my reach, and does not compute with me at all. I'd rather spend that money on something else, or put that $200+ towards the money of a paint job. I figured maybe $85 or something.

I'm gonna shop around in my area. A friend of mine worked at a body shop for a few years, and did a lot of detailing a presume in the process. I'll ask him as well.

But I still kind of want another color on my car. This is my 3rd BMW and 3rd alpine wiess one. First one I liked in white, it was an E36 325 with M3 kit and suspension.
Current and previous one was/is 318i(s) both in white, and not of my choice but the fact that they were amazing deals I couldnt pass by.

Ok, Vivke, since you're a professional detailer, what would you say are my chances of doing this myself, being a detailing noob. I have a driveway with shade and a lot of free time, but a busted left shoulder making my arm pretty useless for the next couple months.

Edit: when i say detailing at a detail shop i meant just the outside paint brought back to life with claying/waxing/etc. Ive seen detail/carwash-detail places have specials like $129 for total detailing, i know thats all sorts of stuff, but I remember a few years ago when I had my first 318is, i brought it to my local hand car wash/detail spot and I asked the guy how much he'd charge me to bring the white back to shine and I think he said around $85. I might be wrong and it might be 2012 already.

[th3blue]

$200 is crazy out of reach, but the other option is a color change respray of the whole car?

[PNWDan]

I'd rather maybe take it to get detailed, but Vivek, if you're saying that i'll most likely be charge around $200!??! then thats crazy out of my reach, and does not compute with me at all. I'd rather spend that money on something else, or put that $200+ towards the money of a paint job. I figured maybe $85 or something.

$200 wont even get your fender painted. The E30 Alpine paint is single stage and will buff out awesome. A proper full repaint on your car will probably cost you more than you paid for it. The reason he quoted you that price was he estimated the time it takes for the several stages he'll have to go through depending on the current condition.

[Vivek]

Vivek, how durable are original e30 single stage paints in your experience? have u ever detailed one to the point where the paint would get so thin that you cant do future details?

-Blame my typos on my fat fingers & Droid Charge

It honestly depends on the history of the car. If someone has compounded it every year, you could wear through the paint. If it's never really been touched (like most e30's), you can polish it quite a bit and make it look great. I don't have a paint thickness gauge, so I'm not entirely sure how much paint is left on there, but you can sort of tell based on the texture (orange peelyness) of the paint.

Vivek and everyone, all great info, just what i've been looking for without even knowing it. I'm going to somehow restore the paint first. Not sure about doing it myself at this point because I've never done it. but i think i'm pretty competent, maybe be able to pull it off. I have a power tool i can attach buffing pads to.

I'd rather maybe take it to get detailed, but Vivek, if you're saying that i'll most likely be charge around $200!??! then thats crazy out of my reach, and does not compute with me at all. I'd rather spend that money on something else, or put that $200+ towards the money of a paint job. I figured maybe $85 or something.

I'm gonna shop around in my area. A friend of mine worked at a body shop for a few years, and did a lot of detailing a presume in the process. I'll ask him as well.

But I still kind of want another color on my car. This is my 3rd BMW and 3rd alpine wiess one. First one I liked in white, it was an E36 325 with M3 kit and suspension.
Current and previous one was/is 318i(s) both in white, and not of my choice but the fact that they were amazing deals I couldnt pass by.

Ok, Vivke, since you're a professional detailer, what would you say are my chances of doing this myself, being a detailing noob. I have a driveway with shade and a lot of free time, but a busted left shoulder making my arm pretty useless for the next couple months.

Edit: when i say detailing at a detail shop i meant just the outside paint brought back to life with claying/waxing/etc. Ive seen detail/carwash-detail places have specials like $129 for total detailing, i know thats all sorts of stuff, but I remember a few years ago when I had my first 318is, i brought it to my local hand car wash/detail spot and I asked the guy how much he'd charge me to bring the white back to shine and I think he said around $85. I might be wrong and it might be 2012 already.

Different places will have different rates. I'd say you could get someone to do it for under a hundred. Honestly, if you were closer i'd do it for you for under a hundred if all you wanted was to clay, compound/polish, and seal/wax the paint.

You can do it yourself. Just read up on sites like autopia.org (read the forums, not only the articles, which are mainly sort of primitive information). If you have a rotary buffer, don't even attempt it. You'll probably ruin your paint. If you have a random orbital, knock yourself out. But you'll need around $20-30 in pads, maybe $30 in polishes, around $15-20 in clay, and then a wax (i'd actually recommend a synthetic sealant) of your choice, budget around $20 at least for that.

If you can find an up and coming detailer on like craigslist, there are people that would do it for $50-$75, but you're gonna have to trust them with your car. If they seem to know what they're doing, they're probably not gonna mess anything up.

$200 is crazy out of reach, but the other option is a color change respray of the whole car?

This. I don't think you realize how much a good color change would cost. for $200 you could make your white paint look great. For maybe $7,000 you could properly repaint it silver.