BMW has a reputation to uphold when it comes to the quality of their paint. They have standards to uphold, customers to impress, and trends that they either need to set or keep up with. We dug into the backs of our brains and dove into some deep corners of the web to find the trove of BMW paint facts that you will find below.
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- Every auto paint color has a paint code associated with it. If you need touch-up paint, all you will need is the paint code in order to create the exact same paint that the factory uses.
- Body shops do not buy or sell factory paint. They mix the paint according to factory specs for each paint code.
- In order for a repair shop to be certified by BMW they must use the BMW ColorSystem. This dictates which paint manufacturers they may use to mix BMW paint colors.
- Every BMW gets at least two layers of corrosion protection, 1 layer of sealant, 2 base coat layers of paint and then 1 layer of clear coat.
- All of the paint and sealant that is added to BMW weighs 20 pounds.
- It takes 12 hours to paint a BMW
- The final thickness of all paint and protection layers added to a BMW is 120 microns.
- BMW is planning to make a car that can change colors. You can read about it here:
- Each year BMW will commission a small number of “art cars” that will be painted by artists from outside of the company. These vehicles will use creative paint schemes that stand out from anything that you would expect to see come straight from a factory.
- BMW is using matte paints made from biomass instead of crude oil at its European plants.
- The blue and white colors of the logo represent the colors of Bavaria.
- In 1990 a batch of nearly 1,000 BMWs sustained acid rain damage while in transit from Germany to the US. BMW repainted the vehicles without telling any customers and was promptly sued for $4 million by one of their customers.
- BMW offers more than 100 colors through the BMW Individual program. I some years the numbers is higher and in some years it is lower. In 2014 they offered 230 exterior colors!
- One of the most expensive paint colors is Pure Metal Silver. This is a water-based paint the has aluminum flakes which create a unique surface glare. It costs approximately 40 times more than a normal paint color through the BMW Individual program. It is applied in the BMW Dingolfing factory in Germany.
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Sources: BMW, Venturebeat, GTLA.org