So, today I decided to meter the M3's paint, and holy cost cutting BMW!

The average thickness of all panels is less than 5mls!

To put it in perspective, the E39 M5 that I also have has a paint thickness of about 8mls. Well, after the paint correction it was more like low 7mls.

I decided to meter the paint because I noticed that on my less than 200 mile M3, there are already micro dents on the paint. The good thing is that it's just a small dent on the clearcoat and that it did not go through either the clear or the paint, but WTF man!?? Do we really have to cut over 2mls of paint?

 

Define your unit of measurement. Mls is unit for volume. Did you mean micro meter?

 

A mil is equal to .001 inches or .0254 millimeter.

I should have written mils.

 

Oh, and the fenders are not metal. My Aluminum and steel paint meter registers nothing on the fender, are they plastic or something?

 

I believe so. I'm pretty sure a lot of new cars have composite body parts...

 

Yes they are plastic. Well, they are on the coupe. " weight saving".

 

does your paint meter read alum panels? that could be why you are not getting reading on fenders.

 

A big reason why there is such a difference in paint thickness between your M5 and your M3 probably has to do with the kind of paint used, i.e. solvent vs water-based.

And remember, more paint = more weight. Consider the thin paint a performance enhancement.

 

E39 is water based just like the E9X.

 

I love the thread title. That is all