A funny thing about Alpinweiss…

Happy Friday!  The sun is fighting through some clouds today, hopefully it will come out strong this evening for the Cruise-In!  Just a few photos from last Friday:

It’s been a great week here at the shop.  Reggie is really pleased with the progress on the 1988 325i cabrio!   After laying down a nice blanket of Alpinweiss last weekend, he noticed that the color just did not quite match the rest of the car.  After some more research, we learned that BMW made 2 variations of Alpinweiss during the same production year!  So we’re chalking this one up to experience.  We took a piece of the cabrio to an expert about 30 minutes away, where he custom color matched the paint for us and stored the new code in their system.  Once that was squared away, Reggie prepped the cabrio and got busy painting.  As it sits right now, it’s just waiting to be wet-sanded.  And we couldn’t be happier with the paint match!

To see a full gallery of the bodywork done to this cabrio, click here.  Just a few photos from the prep work to buffing:

Reggie block sands all areas that have imperfections, then masks the car for primer before yet more sanding.  Masking takes quite a bit of time, but it’s very important.  Reggie found a good deal on a masking cart, which adheres tape to paper allowing you to tear off pre-taped strips as needed.  It was well worth the investment to save a little time during the prep work.

First, the car gets a coat of high-build surfacer/primer to fill any last flaws:

Here is the car after the high-build primer has been finish sanded (ready for the white paint!):

The car is now ready for the “base coat” paint and then the clear coat!

Then the fine tuning begins!  The car is wet-sanded and then buffed to let that new paint shine!  (Yes, these photos are from the first round of paint with the ‘other’ Alpinweiss, but the process is the same!)

So despite the whole Alpinweiss paint code debacle, we’re pretty darn pleased with how this car is coming along! We’ll be sure to keep you posted on its progress!

Reggie also replaced front and rear brakes on a very nice 2005 Mini Cooper S.   The Mini’s brake calipers and brackets  also got a coat of red ceramic paint.  They really pop against the silver and black body.   We’re also working on a 1989 325ix and doing some A/C work on a Volvo, just to name a few.

If you’re a subscriber to our Newsletter, you’ve probably read that we’ve recently upgraded some technology around the shop, allowing us to work on later model BMW, Mini, Audi, and Volkswagen.  We’re very excited to be able to work on these marks, as many of our customers own one or more of them in addition to their Bimmers.   If you would like to schedule an inspection or need to take care of some routine maintenance, give us a call at 317.804.9313.

We’ll be going to the Mecum Auction tomorrow, so if you’re in the Indianapolis area, you may want to check it out!

Have a great weekend!