Opinions - Is this paint protection?

[tomrdy]

Hey guys,

When I first got my car, I found some weird flaky clear bits around the Z4 badge. After a wash and an attempt at waxing, I discovered that the flaky bits started coming off and the area expanded! What started out as maybe a finger tip at the corner eventually grew to all around the badge.

At first I was worried it was the clear coming off but then I noticed that all on the boot, it's... really dodgy and orange peeled. As in, there seems to be specks of contaminants, streaks, foldy bits all along the back like someone laid down some film but did a really bad job at prep.

I mostly ignored this for the last few years but got triggered again.

I've tried heating it up and trying to "soften" it asif it WAS a PP to no avail. I've tried scraping it as well but beyond the perimeter I've established, I havent been able to get anymore progress.

The first flake...


Specks under the mystery layer. I couldn't capture it well but you can see some lines in the background - they're not swirl marks or anything. They're indented into the layer.


The perimeter. The side closer to the badge is what I suspect, the actual paint work. Beyond that is the mystery layer. Please ignore my dodgy plastidip


**EDIT** Got a pic of the crease-looking line.


What do you guys think? Is this PP? And do you reckon I should just hit it up with a rotary buffer with some sand paper and work it down?

 

[Z4M-2006]

That looks like it’s been painted and it’s stating to microblister under the laquer..

 

[philbo909]

Looks like clear coat to me, paint flaking

 

[Angelus666]

PPF feels very different to paint.

 

[tomrdy]

Thanks for the opinion guys.

Now that I think about it, all the PPF stuff I read online talks about having to deal with removing the adhesive after... literally no adhesive to be found here.

Hmm :headbang:

PPF feels very different to paint.

Right I've never felt PPF before. This feels exactly like paint - as in, had it not flaked, I would not have questioned whether it was paint or not. Another thing is I can't find an edge on it besides the flaked area. No edges between the panel lines etc.

Maybe I already knew the answer to my question... just in denial.

 

[Gazza51]

It’s clear coat, looks like the paint wasn’t prepped enough before the clear coat went on.

 

[warmasice]

Feel for you. It's the clear coat no doubt.

 

[ronk]

It won’t be a wallet plundering to fix it??

 

[Angelus666]

From your picture, my guess is that it was a silver boot, that's been resprayed grey, and then clear coat applied.....and all done very poorly.

Take it to a decent bodyshop and £200 will get it back to metal and then done perfectly.

 

[tomrdy]

Cheers everyone! Glad I got more eye balls on it so that I didn't waste anymore time still trying to "remove" it. Ill start looking into a respray

From your picture, my guess is that it was a silver boot, that's been resprayed grey, and then clear coat applied.....and all done very poorly.

This is a good theory. Considering my car had mismatched headlights, I wouldn't be surprised if it had a rear knock as well and the boot was a salvage or something.

 

[tomrdy]

Well, i decided to remove my badges today (wanted to spray them black properly with paint) and discovered that under the badges, the paint is on the same plane/level as the layer that is under the ugly/peeling "clear".

If it was the factory clear that was peeling, would I be right to assume that under the badges should be the same layer of clear? IE: I should've been left with a "Z4" clear mark (nothing came off with the adhesive).

Picture is a bit iffy because the car is dirty + glue residue but I assure you the "under-layer" is exactly the same plane as under the badge. Flat as (and less orange peel mind you!)



It seems someone, for whatever reason, has sprayed a clear layer on-top of what I presume to be the original paintwork - and did not bother removing the badges. That would also explain why this misc-clear-layer started peeling at the badges - there were exposed seems there.

Thoughts? Did they used to have spray-on paint protection back in the day? My car is an '04.

 

[srhutch]

There are a couple of sterling grey boot lids on eBay. One is £65 might be a mark on it though. And one on a car that is being broken up. Might be others I missed.

You might have to be patient, but probably cheaper than getting resprayed.

 

[philbo909]

Well, i decided to remove my badges today (wanted to spray them black properly with paint) and discovered that under the badges, the paint is on the same plane/level as the layer that is under the ugly/peeling "clear".

If it was the factory clear that was peeling, would I be right to assume that under the badges should be the same layer of clear? IE: I should've been left with a "Z4" clear mark (nothing came off with the adhesive).

Picture is a bit iffy because the car is dirty + glue residue but I assure you the "under-layer" is exactly the same plane as under the badge. Flat as (and less orange peel mind you!)



It seems someone, for whatever reason, has sprayed a clear layer on-top of what I presume to be the original paintwork - and did not bother removing the badges. That would also explain why this misc-clear-layer started peeling at the badges - there were exposed seems there.

Thoughts? Did they used to have spray-on paint protection back in the day? My car is an '04.

Clean off the glue, buff and wax and see if you can notice anything before you buy a bottled/respray

 

[tomrdy]

There are a couple of sterling grey boot lids on eBay. One is £65 might be a mark on it though. And one on a car that is being broken up. Might be others I missed.

You might have to be patient, but probably cheaper than getting resprayed.

Ah I'm based in Aus so no bootlids locally ATM and even at a wrecker it would be a lot more expensive than you gets get (a wing mirror from a wreck is $300AUD already). z4s are a bit rare here and our cars are exxy due to import/tax regulations. Respray at a shop might run about 250-400AUD but I'm going to check out more options.

Cleaned it all off yesterday and can confirm the area under the badges matches the layer beneath the peeled clear. However, there is the faintest colour difference (I assume UV had altered the area not covered by the badge).

I'm pretty sure a poorly executed repair/paint blending must've happened on some other part of the lid, and they cleared over the entire thing. It was however done poorly as all the areas around the BMW badge and the lock barrel, are actually starting to crust and peel as well. Also the contaminates.

At this point, my car-OCD won't let me let this be. Respray the lid, I shall.