How should I go about replacing or possibly repairing and painting my fender?

[willfill]

I have a 1987 325is, Delphin-Metallic. My brother in law was driving our friends VW van (he is used to a Subaru Impreza) and tried to pull into our driveway, ended up swiping my front fender and now there is a fairly large dent. I don't think it is repairable, the dent goes right across the line that runs the length of the car, so I was planning on getting a new fender. I have sourced a few at a local parts yard, but none of them are the same colour.

I'm only 20, and live a few blocks from my high school and I'm pretty good friends with the auto teachers there, so if I needed to I could go in and use their paint booth and all of the equipment they have to paint the new fender.

Basically I need to know where to get the paint, because I have heard it is rare, but I'd pay a premium for OEM paint if I can get it; I am only doing the fender after all. Also is this something that I can do myself? I have almost no autobody experience, and I'm not sure if it will have to be colour matched to the surrounding areas or what that entails, so I'm thinking of maybe getting all of the supplies and paying my old shop teacher to paint it for me because it seems like the most cost efficent option.

Anyway I'll attach a photo of it, let me know what you think. Kinda sucks that this happened right now, just detailed my car and I was really enjoying it and I wanted to make an introductory post for the car, over in the Member's Rides section considering I've had this car for 2 years now and am basically just a lurker on r3v.

[oliver.r]

you cant buy oem paint. bmw doesnt sell paint. you need to buy base (color) and clear to match it to oem specs.
i would recommend you let a shop paint it and you install it. delphin is a very metallic color and difficult to lay properly, especially if you dont have any experience

[jimsill]

Don't mess with it. Buy a clean used fender for a 100$, drop off car with fender to a reputable local shop and send the bill to your brother. Simple as that.


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[ddavidv]

Any good body shop these days mixes their paint on-site. There is no such thing as "oem paint".

Fender replacement isn't hard, but I might consider having that fender fixed by someone because the fender itself could be painted at the front and the metallic blended back. If you replace the fender, now you almost have to blend at least the door to hide any color/metallic variance, which drives the cost up.

Of course, if this is just a 'driver' then you may want to live with a fender that's a slightly different shade.