Ugly

[Spinny02]

So I dropped my mothers Audi Cab off for service today and I had too look...... The exterior did nothing for me and the inside was hideous at best..... The fit and finish should be an embarrassment. There is no comparison to out M5. Happy that I made the right choice.

[Vic55]

Does that car even compare performance or pricing wise? I thought the RS7 would be the better comparo and Im gonna go look at one in person this weekend. I need to see how bad the rear end is in real life vs pictures now that the car is on the ground.

[boots]

Hey your back good. They had a blue one at the Katy shop last week. It did nothing for me either. I would rather have the rs5. Hey I'm waiting for my bud to get back w that info you requested about that shop.

[JOHNBMWM5]

Which ever colour the paintwork is on the Audi, it will be miles better than the bmw, all my BMW Cars have had S**T paint bar none.

[Jay-K]

looks like entry level from front x_x

[Dionysus]

Originally Posted by Vic55

Does that car even compare performance or pricing wise? I thought the RS7 would be the better comparo and Im gonna go look at one in person this weekend. I need to see how bad the rear end is in real life vs pictures now that the car is on the ground.

2nd Cousin has A7; personal opinion but they still look slightly awkwardly styled at rear in real life. The wing mirrors also don't seem right.

I prefer the styling of the RS6 Avant. Alternatively M6 GC then Aston Rapide if looking at 4dr coupe.

Audi tends to do ageless styling (although front of S6 above is a bit 'bling' for y taste), but not convinced the A7/RS7 falls into that category.

As an owner, however, how often are you going to be looking at the back/outside of the car?

[mstmng]

Originally Posted by johnbmw6

Which ever colour the paintwork is on the Audi, it will be miles better than the bmw, all my BMW Cars have had S**T paint bar none.

that "orange peel" looks very cheap on all bmw's!! but good detailers get rid of it without problem
bmw tries to use as less paint as possible to paint there cars, being "green" and they spray their cars very close, so paint doesnt go anywhere, but on the car panels, this is why we have orange peel

[avlnch]

The worst paint quality on any BMW I have ever owned goes to my '13 Frozen Black M5. Some panels have horrendous orange peel, and others have almost none.

What really sucks is that there's nothing I can do about it. It's a frozen paintwork.

My best paint quality BMW was my '10 Frozen Grey M5. Couldn't find any orange peel on it. It was one of the last M5's off the line before EOP.

My FB is so bad that when I took it home from delivery I thought about talking to BMW about it. But it's an individual car.. I spent a long time working with them on building it.. it came out great.. decided to just deal with it. Besides I will be the only one that really sees it, and that's only when detailing the car. Can't exactly notice it unless your very close to it.

[mstmng]

Originally Posted by avlnch

The worst paint quality on any BMW I have ever owned goes to my '13 Frozen Black M5. Some panels have horrendous orange peel, and others have almost none.

What really sucks is that there's nothing I can do about it. It's a frozen paintwork.

My best paint quality BMW was my '10 Frozen Grey M5. Couldn't find any orange peel on it. It was one of the last M5's off the line before EOP.

My FB is so bad that when I took it home from delivery I thought about talking to BMW about it. But it's an individual car.. I spent a long time working with them on building it.. decided to just deal with it.

thats the problem with frozen colours... its very hard to match the the colour if u scratch it, or want to respray bumper because of stone chips and i guess impossible to get rid of orange peel, unless u paint the whole car again in TOP body shop

[avlnch]

Originally Posted by mstmng

thats the problem with frozen colours... its very hard to match the the colour if u scratch it, or want to respray bumper because of stone chips and i guess impossible to get rid of orange peel, unless u paint the whole car again in TOP body shop

Yeah I had that issue with FG. It was impossible to match and it was attempted about 5 times with the front bumper.

I had IND send me out a new rear bumper, and they paint matched FB spot on. Luckily for me they had a FB M3 at the shop for reference and have painted FB a few times before. It matches up perfect, only the texture/feel is slightly different than the factory paint. Couldn't figure out why.

[JOHNBMWM5]

Originally Posted by mstmng

that "orange peel" looks very cheap on all bmw's!! but good detailers get rid of it without problem
bmw tries to use as less paint as possible to paint there cars, being "green" and they spray their cars very close, so paint doesnt go anywhere, but on the car panels, this is why we have orange peel

Orange peel is one one thing, but I am finding "Nibs" under the lacquer , even on the M5
I have also found what looks like fluff on the lacquer dried into it.

It details out but why should it be there in the first place!!!!
Poor quality control IMO.

[mstmng]

Originally Posted by johnbmw6

Orange peel is one one thing, but I am finding "Nibs" under the lacquer , even on the M5
I have also found what looks like fluff on the lacquer dried into it.

It details out but why should it be there in the first place!!!!
Poor quality control IMO.

yeah, i find those nibs here and there as well

[nugent]

Originally Posted by mstmng

that "orange peel" looks very cheap on all bmw's!! but good detailers get rid of it without problem
bmw tries to use as less paint as possible to paint there cars, being "green" and they spray their cars very close, so paint doesnt go anywhere, but on the car panels, this is why we have orange peel

one reason for orange pealing paint is to hide minor imperfections that will occur during the ownership process. with a completely smooth paint job, those would all be more visible.

[Dionysus]

Originally Posted by nugent

one reason for orange pealing paint is to hide minor imperfections that will occur during the ownership process. with a completely smooth paint job, those would all be more visible.

I agree that the orange peel can hide imperfections, but it's not intentional.

BMW has worked very hard to minimise orange peel over the last few years, so they are clearly listening to our feedback. Admittedly my LCI F10 has had a two stage polish, however, it arrived from the factory relatively free from orange peel (the orange peel is worse on our other German cars). I actually don't believe the orange peel is that significant on the latest cars (F10 at least), whereas E70 from four years ago had horrendous orange peel.

I do however agree with you insomuch as I personally would not have my DD wet sanded as it would should up inevitable 'post-build' imperfections (although an expert should only remove 1 micron of clear coat - a weekend warrior could remove more clear coat machine polishing).

The areas I would like BMW to improve in paint quality it swirl resistance, stone/rock chip resistance and reduce imperfections such as nibs, synthetic fibres/fluff, (as John mentions above), etc. (Mercedes ceramic lacquer is way ahead in these areas, if not orange peel, although ours is a 2011, so current production cars may be better).

[bobblehead]

^ I do have to agree MB's paint quality is way ahead of BMW's.

[clar]

Originally Posted by mstmng

thats the problem with frozen colours... its very hard to match the the colour if u scratch it, or want to respray bumper because of stone chips and i guess impossible to get rid of orange peel, unless u paint the whole car again in TOP body shop

Not sure if that's the fault of Frozen paint. It's probably the dealer/paint shop lacking in ability. I recently replaced my left side skirt due to some scratches and the paint job on the new skirt matches the rest of the car just fine. My side gills were painted FG much earlier with no matching issue as well.