Finally Arrived! Laguna Seca Blue M3 Competition Pack

[Brasko]

Originally Posted by Lafathephotog

Welcome to Florida, Im out in Orlando so I am sure I will eventually see you around.

Thank you! I'm sure you will!

[Brasko]

Originally Posted by justinauto

Congrats! Love LSB

Looks like you had yours replaced as well due to paint imperfection?

Yes, the original, non-ZCP I purchased had inconsistent paint on every panel. I spec'd out my replacement identical to the original + comp pack.

[Justin.AutoTalent]

Originally Posted by Brasko

Yes, the original, non-ZCP I purchased had inconsistent paint on every panel. I spec'd out my replacement identical to the original + comp pack.

Nice. Always good to see BMW taking care of their customers.

MFNATIK had a similar situation

[MFNATIK]

Originally Posted by Brasko

Yes, the original, non-ZCP I purchased had inconsistent paint on every panel. I spec'd out my replacement identical to the original + comp pack.

WOW, what are the chances of that? They screwed up the LSB paint on both of our cars? Sounds like we both got taken care of by BMW so I have nothing but good things to say about how they handled it. But wow.

Let's share notes. Mine was very thin and you could see the base coat in direct sun at about 1-1.5 ft away. Under the paint meter it was registering 2-3mil so it was definitely thin. Do you recall the build date on your original LSB? Mine was 7/15 so I wonder if ours were both painted around the same time. I recall you had done your ED a week or two after mine in September.

[Bluer2]

very nice!

[Brasko]

Originally Posted by MFNATIK

WOW, what are the chances of that? They screwed up the LSB paint on both of our cars? Sounds like we both got taken care of by BMW so I have nothing but good things to say about how they handled it. But wow.

Let's share notes. Mine was very thin and you could see the base coat in direct sun at about 1-1.5 ft away. Under the paint meter it was registering 2-3mil so it was definitely thin. Do you recall the build date on your original LSB? Mine was 7/15 so I wonder if ours were both painted around the same time. I recall you had done your ED a week or two after mine in September.

Apparently pretty good if you own an LSB F8X.

My paint was in a pretty identical situation. Not exactly sure about the build date, but it was early September. Purchased in mid August and took ED 3rd week of October. Didn't notice (or expect) paint defects under the overcast German weather. Took redelivery in the United States on NYE. Noticed a few weeks later during a bright, sunny day that the paint was spotty and inconsistent. Took the car into the auto-collision repair shop of the dealership I purchased the vehicle at and didn't mention the paint defects to them. Got a call a couple hours later. The SA told me the paint was so thin that I better hope I don't get a scratch on the car. I told him that's all I needed to know and picked up my vehicle.

Got home and called BMW NA and filed a compliant with them They were very understanding and immediately escalated the concern and told me they will speak the the dealership and get back to me soon. About 1-2 hours later I received a call from the Service Director at the dealership. He asked that I bring the vehicle in to document/photograph. He said that in his 20+ years of working for the brand, he hadn't seen anything like that. He kept insisting that they fix the issue by repainting the entire vehicle which would take approximately 2-3 months to strip down, repaint and reassemble. I wasn't happy about that and told him there has to be a better solution.

Fast forward a couple weeks and I get a call from the same Service Director asking me to bring the car in for another evaluation. This time around they flew out the Director of Paint from Germany. I drove to the dealership that morning and met the Paint Director upon arrival. He got within 20-30 feet of my M3 and immediately said "this is unacceptable" and apologized many times. He was very understanding when I told him that I didn't pay for an individual paint color to only get 65% paint coverage. I explained how the dealership insisted on a repaint, but I wasn't going to accept that. He then asked me what would ultimately make me happy and I said, a new M3 with a proper paint application. He said to give him two weeks and he'll have an answer for me.

Just under two weeks later I receive a call from the original Client Advisor I purchased from. He said that BMW has approved my new vehicle and that he was calling to confirm my build order. I opted for the exact same build (that's what I wanted in the first place) and added the ZCP option to the mix. The vehicle is fully loaded except for the rear auto sun shade which I opted out of to save a few lbs.

Almost 1 year and 7,000 miles later I turned in the paint defective non-ZCP in for a flawless ZCP and could't be any happier.

According to BMW the Laguna Seca Blue color is very difficult to apply and often have this issue. I'm not sure I believe that. Seems odd that BMW couldn't resolve the issues since the first LSB rolled off the showroom floor. But it doesn't really matter since they took care of the issue and now I have ZCP. Woohoo!

Apologize for the long reply, but there was a lot involved in the process.

[elisiX]

Lovely car. One of my all time favorite colors.

Happy to hear they sorted the two of you out on the replacement vehicles.

[MFNATIK]

Originally Posted by Brasko

Apparently pretty good if you own an LSB F8X.

My paint was in a pretty identical situation. Not exactly sure about the build date, but it was early September. Purchased in mid August and took ED 3rd week of October. Didn't notice (or expect) paint defects under the overcast German weather. Took redelivery in the United States on NYE. Noticed a few weeks later during a bright, sunny day that the paint was spotty and inconsistent. Took the car into the auto-collision repair shop of the dealership I purchased the vehicle at and didn't mention the paint defects to them. Got a call a couple hours later. The SA told me the paint was so thin that I better hope I don't get a scratch on the car. I told him that's all I needed to know and picked up my vehicle.

Got home and called BMW NA and filed a compliant with them They were very understanding and immediately escalated the concern and told me they will speak the the dealership and get back to me soon. About 1-2 hours later I received a call from the Service Director at the dealership. He asked that I bring the vehicle in to document/photograph. He said that in his 20+ years of working for the brand, he hadn't seen anything like that. He kept insisting that they fix the issue by repainting the entire vehicle which would take approximately 2-3 months to strip down, repaint and reassemble. I wasn't happy about that and told him there has to be a better solution.

Fast forward a couple weeks and I get a call from the same Service Director asking me to bring the car in for another evaluation. This time around they flew out the Director of Paint from Germany. I drove to the dealership that morning and met the Paint Director upon arrival. He got within 20-30 feet of my M3 and immediately said "this is unacceptable" and apologized many times. He was very understanding when I told him that I didn't pay for an individual paint color to only get 65% paint coverage. I explained how the dealership insisted on a repaint, but I wasn't going to accept that. He then asked me what would ultimately make me happy and I said, a new M3 with a proper paint application. He said to give him two weeks and he'll have an answer for me.

Just under two weeks later I receive a call from the original Client Advisor I purchased from. He said that BMW has approved my new vehicle and that he was calling to confirm my build order. I opted for the exact same build (that's what I wanted in the first place) and added the ZCP option to the mix. The vehicle is fully loaded except for the rear auto sun shade which I opted out of to save a few lbs.

Almost 1 year and 7,000 miles later I turned in the paint defective non-ZCP in for a flawless ZCP and could't be any happier.

According to BMW the Laguna Seca Blue color is very difficult to apply and often have this issue. I'm not sure I believe that. Seems odd that BMW couldn't resolve the issues since the first LSB rolled off the showroom floor. But it doesn't really matter since they took care of the issue and now I have ZCP. Woohoo!

Apologize for the long reply, but there was a lot involved in the process.

Again, wow. Its like we are telling the same story. My situation played out almost the same as yours as I did not notice the defects until my car arrived stateside and I went to go detail it around springtime last year. I first noticed the door jambs appeared to be darker and uneven. Because I loved the color and the car was an absolute dream, it did not bother me that the door jambs were not painted as nicely.

Then I met kuko who also had an LSB F80, at which time I kept getting ribbed by justinauto about my paint looking a shade darker. That's when I started to look a little more closely. Low and behold I started to see it. What appeared to be orange peel at a distance was actually thinly sprayed top coat that was showing the dark basecoat. At first I noticed it on the gas cap, then I saw it on the rear quarter, then I saw it on the trunk lid, then I started to notice it almost everywhere except for the plastic painted bits (bumpers, rocker, mirror caps, etc). My next move was to take it to my detailer to get a professional opinion. He had a paint meter and began to meter all the areas noted and nothing measured more than 3.8mil and as low as 2.2mil.

From there, like you, I called BMW NA and reported my issue. They actually handled things very well from that point and sent me back to the dealer and arranged to have the factory rep come out and inspect the paint first hand. Upon inspection, he immediately apologized and offered to strip the whole car down and have it resprayed at VPC (factory paint shop). I politely declined and said I didn't pay 5k for factory paint job that needed to be repaired. He completely agreed and asked what I wanted. Like you, I said a replacement would do just fine. About 2-3 weeks later the dealer called and said BMW authorized a replacement allocation and i could order another F80.

I didn't hesitate for a moment to reorder the exact build + ZCP. I loved everything about my F80 and did not want to change a thing. However, by the time I ordered it BMW had some delays with individual painted cars and mine didn't end up getting built until October. I was in no hurry since other than the paint there was nothing wrong with my F80 and I enjoyed it very much.

Funny you mentioned you passed on the sun shades. I kept mine b/c I have two young girls and sometimes they will roll down the windows but keep the shade up to block the light but let the air in so I kept it even tho I figured I could shave a few pounds off by not getting it since I always tint my cars.

In the end, BMW stood behind their product and made up for the inconvenience. It was a good move on their part as I'm all for promoting the brand and me and wife enjoy driving their cars. We just replaced our '14 i3Rex with a '17 i3 94AH Rex and we look forward to the next gen of BMW EVs. But as for the LSB, this one's a keeper. The paint is spot on perfect and everyone who's seen both cars have noted that the color is brighter which makes sense as the paint is definitely solid and deep.

Glad it worked out for the both of us

[NOLATom]

Brasko and MFNATIK, now you guys have me paranoid and waiting for the sun to come up. I had my whole car wrapped in XPEL with 4 miles on the odometer. It came off the truck and I drove it 2 miles to the place and had it wrapped and it was dusk when that happened. When I got it back I didn't wash it for about four weeks because I didn't drive it in the rain, but when I did wash it I though my rear quarter panel on the passenger side looked like orange peel while the door next to it did not. I can't get the paint thickness tested now with the XPEL on, but I'm going to take a much closer look at all of the paint later today.

[DE Urlaub]

Thanks for recounting your issue and resolution Brasko. This helps the rest of us to see how these things progress and is certainly a marketing coups for BMW having fixed things with the customer. In my mind, you know you have a good company (car or refrigerator) when they respond appropriately during bleak times. Glad to see BMW do the "right thing"! Congrats on your persistence - you have a SWEET ride! LSB will be in the stars for me upon the next go round!

[DE Urlaub]

Originally Posted by NOLATom

Brasko and MFNATIK, now you guys have me paranoid and waiting for the sun to come up. I had my whole car wrapped in XPEL with 4 miles on the odometer. It came off the truck and I drove it 2 miles to the place and had it wrapped and it was dusk when that happened. When I got it back I didn't wash it for about four weeks because I didn't drive it in the rain, but when I did wash it I though my rear quarter panel on the passenger side looked like orange peel while the door next to it did not. I can't get the paint thickness tested now with the XPEL on, but I'm going to take a much closer look at all of the paint later today.

I would think the Xpel guys can let you know what the thickness of applied Xpel is and you can subtract that out when you perform a paint thickness measurement. "Xpel" is a member here and may chime in or you can contact him. Good luck.

[catch]

love it! looks great

[MFNATIK]

Originally Posted by NOLATom

Brasko and MFNATIK, now you guys have me paranoid and waiting for the sun to come up. I had my whole car wrapped in XPEL with 4 miles on the odometer. It came off the truck and I drove it 2 miles to the place and had it wrapped and it was dusk when that happened. When I got it back I didn't wash it for about four weeks because I didn't drive it in the rain, but when I did wash it I though my rear quarter panel on the passenger side looked like orange peel while the door next to it did not. I can't get the paint thickness tested now with the XPEL on, but I'm going to take a much closer look at all of the paint later today.

I didn't want to make you worry unnecessarily and really thought mine was an isolated case. I am a bit surprised that Brasko went thru the same experience but rest assured, if you have the same issue, I believe BMW will take care of you and make it right.

[F80NJM3]

It's a beautiful color in person. Congrats

[bringbacklsb]

Originally Posted by MFNATIK

I didn't want to make you worry unnecessarily and really thought mine was an isolated case. I am a bit surprised that Brasko went thru the same experience but rest assured, if you have the same issue, I believe BMW will take care of you and make it right.

What is the scientific way of determining whether a car is impacted by this paint mishap? Mine looks fine to me, but with two examples of the exact same issue in this thread, I wouldn't mind checking to make sure!

[MFNATIK]

Originally Posted by bringbacklsb

What is the scientific way of determining whether a car is impacted by this paint mishap? Mine looks fine to me, but with two examples of the exact same issue in this thread, I wouldn't mind checking to make sure!

With a paint meter. Just for example, here is a shot of what it looked like. Kinda like a mottled orange peel. BMW spec on paint is 4-5 mil on average. Its pretty thin but they can get away with this due to their paint bonding process.

[Powerbeast]

Loving it man.

[bringbacklsb]

Thanks for the reply. Do you know if Ceramic Pro on the car will impact the paint meter reading?

[MFNATIK]

Originally Posted by bringbacklsb

Thanks for the reply. Do you know if Ceramic Pro on the car will impact the paint meter reading?

It shouldn't. Those are nano coatings right?

[bringbacklsb]

Originally Posted by MFNATIK

It shouldn't. Those are nano coatings right?

Yes.

[Brasko]

Originally Posted by bringbacklsb

Thanks for the reply. Do you know if Ceramic Pro on the car will impact the paint meter reading?

It really shouldn't. If anything it's at such a small (nano) level that doesn't register on the paint meter.

[Brasko]

Originally Posted by MFNATIK

With a paint meter. Just for example, here is a shot of what it looked like. Kinda like a mottled orange peel. BMW spec on paint is 4-5 mil on average. Its pretty thin but they can get away with this due to their paint bonding process.

Isn't it a shame that they get away with that? I understand there is a tolerance level, however some panels like the gas cap door that get plenty of usage (More likely to get scratched) have the some of the thinnest paint.