[agarbati]

Had the car parked in the sun and as I was getting in I noticed a speck in the paint right above the door on the roof. So out of habit I just swiped it with my finger but it didn't come off. I wet a towel and rubbed it just a couple of times but to no avail. So I looked carefully and it's as if a particle of dust or a foreign material got caught in the paint while it was being applied. It's no biggie since it's very hard to see and probably will cause no problems but as we are all fairly eccentric about our E90's it's quite disappointing to see this shoddy paint quality in a car so expensive. I'm sure it's the 1 in a million occurrence but I will be zaino'ing the car tomorrow and needless to say I'll be looking very carefully to see if there are any other. I don't think it can be clayed or polished out - the whole roof will have to be re-painted and I'm certainly not getting that done. It's the size of a needle point.

[midwest_rollin']

that sucks. i'm always very nervous that the car i get will have paint swirls and imperfections all over the place. sounds like your paint speck isn't too big though so thats cool.

[marcus330i]

It's probably a fiber from the emu feathers. And yes, I'm serious.

[agarbati]

Originally Posted by marcus330i

It's probably a fiber from the emu feathers. And yes, I'm serious.

Emus in Munich? I thought those were indigenous to Australia and New Zealand.

[CC 330i]

I have at least 3 defects in the paint on my 330i. Very small and hard to see. One looks like a fiber or hair under the paint, one looks like a small dent in sheet metal (very small) and the other one looks like a speck of something in the paint. You REALLY have to look close, but this kind of sucks considering my VW Jetta had NO paint defects. :mad:

[E90Fleet]

Originally Posted by marcus330i

It's probably a fiber from the emu feathers. And yes, I'm serious.

They use Ostrich feathers (They come from South africa to the German factories )

Its been a very long time since i have seen defects in BMW paint from the factory. The defects are usually from the dealer not polishing thecar correctly


Here is a E90 in a German factory being cleaned with ostrich feathers

[Gnosis]

WTF??? Is this for real?

[CC 330i]

I am positive my paint defects are not the result of poor polishing. The dealer does not do the final polishing of the paint before clearcoat, so I don't see how it could be. My defects are not scratches, they are things UNDER the paint.

When I took delivery of the car I looked at it VERY carefully but didn't see them. It was only when I was waxing the car and was up really close to every inch of the car that I noticed them. They are only things that you would notice if pointed out to you, but they are there. One defect looks like a fiber (perhaps from an ostrich feather) under the paint that is more than 2 cm long. I tried to get a picture but I have sparkling graphite and it is hard to see with the flake in the paint.

Another defect looks more like a small dent in the sheetmetal before the car was painted. (a little bigger than the head of a pin) It is on the front fender between the crease line and the side marker light. It is impossible that this was a door ding, and highly unlikely that it was damaged after leaving the factory, and the paint over the "dent" is perfect and shows no sign of abrasion. I think the panel was defective slightly and it was missed. Again you have to be looking pretty hard to see it, but I expected more from BMW.

[marcus330i]

BMW spends an extraordinary amount of money to ensure that their paint shop produces high quality results with a minimum of environmental damage. On the factory tour this becomes obvious...the paint dept is a major expenditure for the company. It's too bad that a "pin-head" size defect results in an entire thread about "shoddy quality" that maybe requires a new paint job. What a spoiled group we are.

[agarbati]

Originally Posted by marcus330i

BMW spends an extraordinary amount of money to ensure that their paint shop produces high quality results with a minimum of environmental damage. On the factory tour this becomes obvious...the paint dept is a major expenditure for the company. It's too bad that a "pin-head" size defect results in an entire thread about "shoddy quality" that maybe requires a new paint job. What a spoiled group we are.

Marcus330i,
Nope, I don't think we're a spoiled group. I would expect the same from Lexus, Mercedes, Porsche, or any other high end car maker. When you dole out 49k of your hard earned money you expect a perfect paint job. If Lexus and Mercedes can do it why not BMW, we are not asking the impossible here. A 2 cm emu feather left in the paint is in my books very 'shoddy quality'.After all's said and done, at the end of 5 yrs financing, this car is going to cost me ~51k. That may be chump change in your books but not mine. When I spend that much money on a car, I DO expect a perfect paint job. We are not talking about a new technology here, painting cars is a well matured technology. Why is BMW having troubles with it?

[marcus330i]

So you're saying Lexus and Mercedes have never sold a car with a paint defect?

[agarbati]

Originally Posted by marcus330i

So you're saying Lexus and Mercedes have never sold a car with a paint defect?

No, I'm saying we should bow down and praise BMW for whatever they throw our way.

[scottz5]

You are getting crazy about nothing at all. No factory paint job is perfect. The only perfect paint job you will get is by an expert painter that wet sands the car between all coats. So, if you are talking about money count on 10-15 grand. It is a BMW not a one off 250,000 grand hotrod. If we all look at our cars close we will all find a little something wrong. It is a mass produced car. Same is true for Lexus and MB.

[CC 330i]

What I am saying is that I have done better paint work that this, and I am a rank amateur. I object to the "dent" in my door panel that is between the size of a pencil eraser and the head of a pin. (about 1/2 cm across). When you are looking at it in the right light, it looks like a door ding, but it is close enough to the side marker light that this is impossible. It was there before the paint was applied. Unacceptable.

There are 2 other places where there are "fibers" under the paint that are visible if you look at the correct angle, and one other place where there is a speck of somthing as well.

Do I want the car repainted? NO. Am I disappointed? YES. I didn't notice the defects until I waxed the car the first time, but now that I know they are there, I can see them from a distance. I can tell you that I waxed my VOLKSWAGEN JETTA about 100 times and I never saw any defects like this. The paint was a little more "orange peel" in my VW, but at least it didn't have foreign objects visible under the paint!

I love my E90, but I have the right to be disappointed in the paint if I don't feel that it is up to the quality of the rest of the car. (And it isn't).

[scottz5]

I understand.

[IDENTITY_MOTORSPORTS]

my jey black paint has a large amount of orange peel. i own my own shop and my painter told me that if he were to repaint part of my car I would be unhappy because it would look better then the factory paint job.

[fredtoo]

I know what you mean on the jet black. If the paint is thick enough to color sand, you coould make the car look like a mirror. But alas, I think the clear coat on it is too thin to do this.

I aslo have a dust mark on the hood. (Bonnet for those off shore). It's really small, but it's there.

Originally Posted by identity

my jey black paint has a large amount of orange peel. i own my own shop and my painter told me that if he were to repaint part of my car I would be unhappy because it would look better then the factory paint job.

[afocoryw20]

I saw 3 imperfections on my paint job also.

[FlyingFinn]

Originally Posted by marcus330i

So you're saying Lexus and Mercedes have never sold a car with a paint defect?

My brand new Mercedes had a picture of glove in the hood. I got a new car after being pain in the ass for nine months.

[FlyingFinn]

Originally Posted by fredtoo

I know what you mean on the jet black. If the paint is thick enough to color sand, you coould make the car look like a mirror. But alas, I think the clear coat on it is too thin to do this.

I aslo have a dust mark on the hood. (Bonnet for those off shore). It's really small, but it's there.

Well, it does not matter if it's metallic or not. The painting procedure is the same. There is orange peel in black sapphire as well.

[ga-bmwdrvr]

I have two specs of dust and a fine strand of fiber in the paint of my TiAg E90. I only noticed them because I clayed the car and they stood out. I even showed it to the CA at the dealer when I went to pick up my floor mats. He was surprised and agreed that this is from the factory. I only showed him as a curiosity, not because I was upset or anything. It will have plenty of chips and scratches soon enough.

[longtran]

there is too much post, i am not reading all of them. anyway i will cut it short. i had a paint defect too. i took my car back to the dealer and they fix it before the day ended. they gave me a rental. they told me all they did was color sand and buff it out.