My 325iC Body/Paint Project

[s_ribs]

Looks great man! I'm looking forward to seeing it after a few more coats of clear.

[oekundar]

Beautiful!!! Nice job!

[N2MYE30]

This is serious motivation for my own paint job. Looks great!

[bimmerboy12]

Thanks! I used 1500 for most of it and it worked great, but the hood had the worst peel in it (and overspray) so I bumped it down to 1000 to get it out. It was actually pretty painless, just had to keep running my hand over it to make sure I didn't get too deep. You can feel the difference between peel and smooth really easy, but can't see it till its completely dry. I would also recommend using the 1000 on sags or drips. I had a sag on the fender and it took it out great. I used a foam block for everything, then the paper and a finger for the ridges on the hood, etc.

[jahnaboi]

Looks fucking tits.

I see you only did the front! Stop being lazy with your buff self and do the rest! LOL.

[bimmerboy12]

Looks fucking tits.

I see you only did the front! Stop being lazy with your buff self and do the rest! LOL.

haha you noticed... yeah I did finish it eventually but couldn't contain my excitement to snap a couple pics.

[iamsam]

wow that looks awesome!!! i want moar pics/updates!!!!

[E30FreaK89]

soo did you finish color sanding yet?

[bimmerboy12]

soo did you finish color sanding yet?

I wetsanded the whole thing smooth on friday, sprayed three more layers of clear on saturday, and wetsanded about half the car yesterday. It now has 5 coats of color and 5 coats of clear. There is a happy medium somewhere between getting orange peel and getting runs/sags, all adjustable with your air pressure in as little as 3-5 psi. I think I finally found it at the end around 58 psi.
Im taking a half day vacation today and will finish the 1500 wetsanding then polish buff! May even start some assembly depending on how much I get done.
After this I start on my hardtop. Will document that closely as there are no how-to's on here for stripping/painting a hardtop.
Will post pics tonight.

[bimmerboy12]

UPDATE August 31: Finished wetsanding and started buffing. This is the hardest part by far... for me as a novice at least.
Here's with the hood and fender done.. still have to finish the car and bumpers/iS spoiler tonight.
This is the final product. No water on the car, polished and wiped. The paint has to fully cure before I can put a nice layer of wax for added shine.

[oekundar]

You do GREAT work! nuff said!

[e30325ic]

Looks great. Nice job on the paint.

[bimmerboy12]

UPDATE September 2... Got the front bumper buffed and assembled most of the front end! Lamin-x put on the headlights, euro grills installed, trim installed. Notice my self-made euro trim shaving the markers! they came out perfect.
Paint looks a little orange under the 1600 watts of fluorescent lights...

[s_ribs]

How did you do that to your molding? I'd really like to do that to mine!

Car looks awesome! Paint job turned out incredible for a garage job. I'll bet those tight spots were fun to wet sand and buff!

[s_ribs]

Sorry if I missed it, but what was your final paint cost and what brand, etc. did you use?