rahula

It isn't the type of paint that is the problem on the S but rather the thickness of the colour base-coat and the clear-coat. The paint is very thin on the S and I suspect it might have been a deliberate attempt to either reduce weight or to save costs. The clear-coat is also very thin compared to the Z4 and these factors dictate how well the paint will stand up to abuse, especially stone chips.

On the latter car you can actually see the CC being about 1-2mm thick and it is very strong. The front of my S is really poorly but I will get it resprayed in the summer. I will be going to an independent place and get around 4-6 coats of colour and then 3 of CC to the front of the car as well as CC to the rest of the body. The front really needs the protection but I also have a few deep scratched where other people have opened their car doors on to mine that need fixing.

I have stopped removing swirls on my car now, it isn't worth the risk. If I eat through the clear coat I will have a major problem and I might even go through the base coat and then I will be totally screwed. Therefore until the summer when the whole car get a new CC and the front the full works I am only going to wash it and protect it.

euan

Is a new CC not a huge (expensive) job Rahul? Surely it must involve enormous amounts of preparation to get a clean surface to put it down on?

rahula

Yup it will be mate. They will need to wet sand it smooth but not go the base-coat. They can then apply a new CC, wet sanding it down in between each layer. It will be time consuming and as of yet I am unsure if I will get the whole car done but the front will need doing but with that they will have to get to bare metal and start from there. I will definitely be getting a decent paint job on the front with some very hard wearing CC too. I might even consider the 3M tape install but not sure about it at the mo.

I then have to look into mods to the car including a race harness and uprated brakes and suspension. I think I will either go down this route or get a different car but I am very undecided on this topic at the moment.

I have had a very productive day today. Washed both cars and the S hadn't been washed since Dec! Tomorrow will be a wax night and I will be posting my initial findings and impressions on the Swissol wax.