Finally Arrived! Laguna Seca Blue M3 Competition Pack

[Brasko]

Originally Posted by 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!

Thanks bud! I couldn't agree more. I'm thankful they resolved the issue and will little fuss. It's always a great feeling and good brand experience when an organization understands and supports their clients.

[Brasko]

Originally Posted by MFNATIK

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

Hey bud!

Been traveling the last couple days hence my delay in reply. I'm very happy that it worked out for the both of us. It elevated my brand perception of BMW.

I'm still blown away by how similar our stories are. Only difference I can spot is that you noticed the thin paint on the door jams first. I actually didn't experience this. It was my first thought considering that radius/curved corners are more likely to have a variation in paint thickness due to the change of angle and distance from the spray nozzle. There are exceptions to the rule. For example, if the robotic spray bots used at BMW's paint facility are calibrated properly, the arm should adjust/track distance of the spray nozzle from the body panel to maintain a uniform coating.

However, during my European Delivery I took a factory tour and observed and asked many questions. One of which had to do with the production line and methods regarding the paint booth and individual paint colors. My questions to the tour guide was "How do you manage Individual Color vehicles?"Do they run thru the Series paint production line or a different channel?" I just couldn't imagine them stopping the production line to switch paint colors. From an operations stand point, that would cut into their $5k Individual Paint fee margin.

The BMW representative replied with "Individual Color paint orders are painted manually by a BMW paint professional". I replied with "That would mean that vehicle is pulled off the normal production line and taken to a spray booth, correct?" Yes, the representative replied.

Immediately my mind began to wonder about the variables of manually applied paint at a mass production level. My stomach sunk as I imagined my Laguna Seca Blue M3 being painted by a guy in a paint booth. Is this how a $5k, factory paint job should be applied?

After the tour I headed over to take delivery of my new M3. In all my excitement I totally forgot about the representatives comment about Individual Paint and didn't think to check the condition of the paint before driving off.


*Sunshades: I was referring to the Power Sun Shade for the rear windscreen. Just didn't want the added weight of the motor assembly and electronics. The Manual Sun Shades located on each rear window is standard with Exec or Full Leather (Can't remember which). Would have opted out of them if I could since I had already planned on ceramic tint.

[Brasko]

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'd suggest taken a look at door jams, gas cap door, and rear bumper first since those are the areas most likely to have variations in paint thickness and least amount of XPEL.

Another thing to note is, if you paid for the XPEL out of pocket, you should be entitled to a reimbursement considering the paint defects are not your fault. For instance, I had MPE, custom gloss black trim pieces, aluminum pedals, key hole delete, etc. installed on my original, paint defected, non-ZCP prior to discovering the paint condition. Once the replacement ZCP M3 arrived, the dealership swapped everything over to the replacement vehicle and billed BMW for the labor cost.

***For you and those who may experience this paint defect issue. The term used for the transaction of a replacement vehicle due to defects in paint or otherwise is an "Exchange of Collateral". If you experience an serious or persistent issue that may qualify for a replacement, I would ask for an Exchange of Collateral as a resolution.

Keep us posted on your findings!

[Brasko]

Originally Posted by bringbacklsb

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

Why are you selling? Paint defects too?

[bringbacklsb]

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.

When you apply the paint meter to your new LSB M3 in the same spot, what reading does it give?

[bringbacklsb]

Originally Posted by Brasko

Why are you selling? Paint defects too?

I am considering an M4. I have no reason to believe my paint isn't per factory specs, as it looks great to my eyes, but I'd love to have it tested with a paint meter just in case!

[MFNATIK]

Originally Posted by bringbacklsb

When you apply the paint meter to your new LSB M3 in the same spot, what reading does it give?

I XPel'd the whole car after inspecting the paint so there is no way to tell now. The paint was perfect to my eyes the 2nd time around. Pretty sure BMW wasn't gonna mess it up this time. Especially now that we know they blew it with mine and Braskos' LSB. Hopefully everyone else benefited from it as well.

If you look closely, you can see the darker shade on the top left of the gas filler door. That's how bad mine was but all over.

[BimmerBahn]

Well done! That is one pretty car. I'll keep my eye out for it when I'm in TPA.

Cheers,

[MFNATIK]

Originally Posted by Brasko

Hey bud!

Been traveling the last couple days hence my delay in reply. I'm very happy that it worked out for the both of us. It elevated my brand perception of BMW.

I'm still blown away by how similar our stories are. Only difference I can spot is that you noticed the thin paint on the door jams first. I actually didn't experience this. It was my first thought considering that radius/curved corners are more likely to have a variation in paint thickness due to the change of angle and distance from the spray nozzle. There are exceptions to the rule. For example, if the robotic spray bots used at BMW's paint facility are calibrated properly, the arm should adjust/track distance of the spray nozzle from the body panel to maintain a uniform coating.

However, during my European Delivery I took a factory tour and observed and asked many questions. One of which had to do with the production line and methods regarding the paint booth and individual paint colors. My questions to the tour guide was "How do you manage Individual Color vehicles?"Do they run thru the Series paint production line or a different channel?" I just couldn't imagine them stopping the production line to switch paint colors. From an operations stand point, that would cut into their $5k Individual Paint fee margin.

The BMW representative replied with "Individual Color paint orders are painted manually by a BMW paint professional". I replied with "That would mean that vehicle is pulled off the normal production line and taken to a spray booth, correct?" Yes, the representative replied.

Immediately my mind began to wonder about the variables of manually applied paint at a mass production level. My stomach sunk as I imagined my Laguna Seca Blue M3 being painted by a guy in a paint booth. Is this how a $5k, factory paint job should be applied?

After the tour I headed over to take delivery of my new M3. In all my excitement I totally forgot about the representatives comment about Individual Paint and didn't think to check the condition of the paint before driving off.


*Sunshades: I was referring to the Power Sun Shade for the rear windscreen. Just didn't want the added weight of the motor assembly and electronics. The Manual Sun Shades located on each rear window is standard with Exec or Full Leather (Can't remember which). Would have opted out of them if I could since I had already planned on ceramic tint.

Sorry to have hijacked your thread. I feel like we are Laguna Seca "Blues" brothers now!

[bringbacklsb]

Originally Posted by MFNATIK

I XPel'd the whole car after inspecting the paint so there is no way to tell now. The paint was perfect to my eyes the 2nd time around. Pretty sure BMW wasn't gonna mess it up this time. Especially now that we know they blew it with mine and Braskos' LSB. Hopefully everyone else benefited from it as well.

If you look closely, you can see the darker shade on the top left of the gas filler door. That's how bad mine was but all over.

Wow, no close inspection needed of that pic as the color difference on the top left of the gas door is instantly visible. What was yours and Braskos' production dates on the defective paint job cars?

[MFNATIK]

Originally Posted by bringbacklsb

Wow, no close inspection needed of that pic as the color difference on the top left of the gas door is instantly visible. What was yours and Braskos' production dates on the defective paint job cars?

Mine was 8/15 and I took delivery in September, so one of the earliest MY16 cars. Brasko I believe is 9/15 as he took ED during October. ED cars they usually produce around 30 days before delivery.

[Brasko]

Originally Posted by MFNATIK

Sorry to have hijacked your thread. I feel like we are Laguna Seca "Blues" brothers now!

Hahaha @ Laguna Seca "Blues" brothers.

No worries. It's always nice to know you are not the only one when there is an issue related to your vehicle.

[Brasko]

Originally Posted by MFNATIK

Mine was 8/15 and I took delivery in September, so one of the earliest MY16 cars. Brasko I believe is 9/15 as he took ED during October. ED cars they usually produce around 30 days before delivery.

Sounds about right.

[Brasko]

Originally Posted by bringbacklsb

I am considering an M4. I have no reason to believe my paint isn't per factory specs, as it looks great to my eyes, but I'd love to have it tested with a paint meter just in case!

Right on!

[Brasko]

Originally Posted by BimmerBahn

Well done! That is one pretty car. I'll keep my eye out for it when I'm in TPA.

Cheers,

Thanks bud!

[M2PDX]

Originally Posted by Brasko

Sounds about right.

I picked my San Marino up the same week as Brasko, but it was actually built and painted in early September, and then waited patiently for me to arrive in Munich. Fortunately, my paint appeared evenly spread and no thin spots.

[F80_M]

Car looked amazing man

[einscot]

Originally Posted by F80_M

Car looked amazing man

if i didn't have a 10 day old baby, i would have joined you guys at reeves. if you're going next month let me know and we can meet up then!!

[StealthFish]

Fr the paint issues, have there been any other individual colors that had the same issue? I am just wondering and I am glad everything worked out for you guys. Nice individual color choice. I have not seen a FR being defective but who knows. I have to definitely look over the paint thoroughly now for sure. Pick up is sometime this week.

[Brasko]

Originally Posted by F80_M

Car looked amazing man

Thank you! Next time say hi!

[Super Spartan]

Originally Posted by Brasko

Thank you! Next time say hi!

Hi. So how would you compare the YMB vs the LSB I may be biased since I ordered a 2018 F83 in YMB / SO full leather but I find YMB a bit more fun although both are some of the best M colors

[Brasko]

Originally Posted by Snappy Phoenix

Hi. So how would you compare the YMB vs the LSB I may be biased since I ordered a 2018 F83 in YMB / SO full leather but I find YMB a bit more fun although both are some of the best M colors

Funny you ask. There was a YMB M at the meet and my girlfriend summed it up nicely...."It looks feminine"

I like how YMB was inspired by the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi. If you've ever raced/been there you will notice all the branding, including corner apexes are in a similar color.

Laguna Seca Blue is a BMW heritage color. It has two personalities much like the M3. Teal & Blue. Depending on the lighting and angle it can reflect either color, much like a lagoon. Haha