Black & Orange

[tiglon]

Little bit of work done over the last two weeks. Firstly, I've changed the grills to gloss black - took me about 10 minutes to get the first one off but easy on the second once I'd got the hang of it.

Then I spent some time wrestling with the side repeater/indicators and painted them jet black. It's the first time I've attempted anything like that so, unsurprisingly, my first effort was rubbish. Second time around the paint application was much better with a lot more patience, but the lacquer isn't perfect around the edges where it occasionally spurted out of the can mid-spray and pooled in places. It was thoroughly shaken beforehand, using halfords paint and lacquer - if anyone has recommendations let me know. It's tempting to take it to the bodyshop round the corner and get them to redo it, but I'm determined to persevere! It's fine for now unless you look closely, so I'm going to save the second attempt for a quieter week.

The black grills looked a bit odd IMO before I did the side indicators, but I feel like it links up well now with the black A-pillars and windscreen/window surrounds. The wing mirrors will be done next (black) and then possibly add a small black boot lip to continue the theme at the rear.

Dark grey or anthracite wheels will follow, but I'm leaving that until last because it's the least easily reversible bit.

I'm also considering painting the 2 diagonal bars behind the grill - I've seen bright blue ones on a white M140i and it looked great, perhaps dark blue or mid-grey will work on mine. It's an easy one to experiment with so I might just try a few colours and see what looks best.

Black ///M badges for the wings arrived, but I think it looks cleaner without any badges at all.

P.S. apologies for the filthy wheels!

[Silverstar]

Mmm I am not sure I am digging the black and orange theme! Although your paint job looks good from the photos but I think I would have kept the silver grills that your 35is came with and painted the LCI indicators in Valencia Orange ditto for the other bodys bits you mention although gunmetal / anthracite wheels would look well against the orange. If you keep the black grills and want to paint the bars behind how about doing them in Valencia Orange?

[Pbondar]

Having gone down a similar path with my yellow and black theme my personal view is that it’s ok in any two colours but not three..

So the silver bars across the faux air scoops in the nose would have to go IMHO..plus black roll over hoops etc etc

[Mr Tidy]

I like your theme OP.

The black kidneys and side repeaters look great, but personally I'd keep the mirrors VO - after all that is unique because all the other 35is had (tacky IMHO) silver covers.

3 colours can work, but I can't think of another colour that would work with VO and black. So maybe the 2 braces behind the kidneys and the bars across the fake air scoops would look best in VO?

I'm not sure how a black boot lip would look - I'm not sure I'd risk it, but you seem much braver!

Not a fan of black wheels either, but Anthracite or maybe shadow chrome might complement your theme? And might not show the brake dust quite as much.

Anyway it's your car so just do what you want.

The rest of us are just saying what we would like/do/prefer!

[Busterboo]

... all the other 35is had (tacky IMHO) silver covers.

Oh, how very dare you!

[buzyg]

[mcbutler]

The black is really subtle on your colour car to be honest, on a light coloured car it looks really odd. Some colours just go better with a wider range of other colours. The black grills look nice, gives the car a bit of attitude in my opinion.

All round a solid 9/10

[flybobbie]

p.jpg (43.33 KiB) Viewed 1202 times

Reminded me of something....

[Ole gits rule]

The black grills look good, side indicators I could take or leave, but better than the pre LCI ones no matter what.

I think True Blues car had anthracite with VO and they looked pretty good, black will mean that you just lose the definition of the wheel.

I had my callipers and front bars painted in blue and in all honesty you hardly see the blue on the bar behind the grill, may as well have done them in black IMHO but if they are scabby I would do it anyway.

[enuff_zed]

... all the other 35is had (tacky IMHO) silver covers.

Oh, how very dare you!

I'm with he who dares.
But then, I would say that wouldn't I.

[tiglon]

Thanks for your comments, always interesting to hear others' thoughts, particularly the penguin books comparison!

The head rest backs and fins on the front bumper will both be done in black too. I agree that two colours will work but three may not so am planning on blacking out all the silver. The only caveat to that is the bars behind the grill - I think a little splash of something there can add a useful contrast, but I'm also struggling to find what will work with orange and black, so will experiment. Blue and orange work on race cars (Gulf) but I think might look tacky on a Z4... we will see! I will also try VO as suggested, but I'm not optimistic I'll like it. Mineral grey was tempting, but I don't think you'd even see it (also considered this instead of black for the rest of it, but decided against).

The boot lip will be easily removable if I don't like it, so no harm in trying. My only concern is lining it up perfectly!

Next step though is to find out if the black paint is still on after the downpour this morning

[Deebs]

I think the black grills look good (imo, but I get they can split opinion). I did mine last week. I found the shiny new grills made my lower grills look decidedly faded as it introduced a previously unnoticed colour contrast. So I whipped them out and sprayed them with MOTIP High Gloss Black paint (which is an easy to apply quick drying spray, so you can get good results by lots of really thin layers, if you are looking for recommendations). It now all ties in together much better. (I also took the opportunity to do the windscreen washer nozzles and wing mirror brackets).
I think the darker wheels will tie your theme all together. Another option (that will again split opinions) would be to add black side skirt extensions, possibly even a front splitter? It would add more black, but could make the car look a bit ‘boy racer’ if not done right.
IMO the e89 suits a small boot lip spoiler, but body coloured works well.
But to tie in the rear, how about spraying the lower exhaust trim black?
Just my 10 pence worth. But it’s a nice looking car, so enjoy tinkering with it.

[Deebs]

There are always these covers you could play about with until you decide on a colour?

[Pbondar]

There are always these covers you could play about with until you decide on a colour?

Nooooooohhhhhhh

[tiglon]

Thanks for the suggestions, I'll have a look at the MOTIP paint. Bar covers are a great idea to try different colours, much easier than repainting them 6 times.

The trim around the exhausts is already black - it was another reason for me to go with the combination.

I have looked at side skirts and splitter, I think they're probably not for me, but I will revisit after everything else is done if I don't think it's enough.