Back in an e30 after 10 years - 318is

[mike.bmw]

Looking GREAT! Long live the 318is.

[2mAn]

Looks good! How long did paint take/ was it expensive? I hate dealing with cosmetics and having fresh paint is always something I have heard was a nightmare

[MrBurgundy]

Damn that turned out well. Painting the iS lip is ballzy

[Il Duce]

Looking GREAT! Long live the 318is.

Thank you! I'm a big fan of your white car. (and the rest of your fleet too haha)

Looks good! How long did paint take/ was it expensive? I hate dealing with cosmetics and having fresh paint is always something I have heard was a nightmare

It took 2 weeks and was just shy of $2k. I shared this on reddit too, but believe it or not it was a Maaco. I was skeptical initially but a buddy had a car done there, and they literally had pictures of e30s they'd painted in their office. I went in to see how much it'd be to just paint the front end... ended up being cheaper to just paint the entire car because they were running a promo. Thought about it for a few weeks and pulled the trigger. At the end of the day the car is a driver and I know it'd take an insane amount of work/money to get "perfect" and that's not what I'm after. I just wanted it to look as good as it drives after all the maintenance/repairs I've done. Feels good man.

Damn that turned out well. Painting the iS lip is ballzy

Yeah lol. I've always wanted a color matched iS lip and it was included in the price anyway. It's not an OEM lip - I couldn't justify $700 or whatever the hell those things cost now. It's one of those eBay knockoffs but I can't complain about the fitment for the $60 or whatever it was 4 years ago.

[Northern]

$2k is wild for that outcome

[Il Duce]

$2k is wild for that outcome

It's far from perfect, but I'm very happy overall. There's a 4 year warranty on the paint and they messed up a little part on the front fender. The paint has to dry for a month or so but they're going to fix it.

[Northern]

Even better then if it has warranty. Sounds like a steal for how it looks in the pics.