Mark

If you want to do a really mint job I'd take the wheels apart, sand down the with some fine grade sandpaper (start with 1200grit, then work your way up to 2000grit) then polish with a metal polish before getting a clearcoat put on to stop further oxidisation. Also, do a search on bimmerforums.com, there are plenty of dudes on there who've restored old 3-piece BBS wheels and the like, they should be able to give you some tips.

Join the club!

The South African imports also came with under car flamethrowers and 9mm pistols taped to the underside of the front seats!

Is it down the whole side of the car? Ouch! I was at Bon Jovi too, but thankfully I walked!

I think it's basically an alarm like on a stopwatch.

Another update: Car is back in my possession and it looks good! No marks or hazing that I can see, so hopefully that's the end of it! One tiny thing that pissed me off is that they wouldn't accept responsibility for smashing the foglight , so after a heated argument I ended up getting them to pay for half of it. All in all, I'd find another panelbeater next time, but the paintwork is looking good now so I'm happy. Cheers for all your help everyone, especially yours Ian! When I started spouting terms like "wax holes" they were quite taken aback and started to take me a bit more seriously!

UPDATE: Took the car back to painters today, spoke to the head cheese who is going to flat the bonnet to get rid of the wax holes and hazing. If that doesn't work they will repaint it. Ian, you were right about the wax holes, apparently one of the apprentices opened the door to the bake oven while someone was buffing with silicone or something next to it.... Yeesh!! They're also realigning the bumper which I noticed last night was out of whack, so hopefully I'll have a nice looking car by 5pm tonight!

In the interests of good taste... I'll say they won't fit. Do you have the t-bar auto knob at the moment? Is so, there's a DIY on the net that shows you how to upgrade to the facelift auto knob which looks sleeker and sportier. As for the handbrake handle, at least go for an AC Schnitzer or Hartge model in keeping with BMW style. Just my 2c.

You're right, painter hasn't buffed out the imperfections, problem is, it's underneath the clearcoat so I can't fix it!!Â

Here's a pic of the hazing issue..... couldn't get a good pic of the little craters in the paint. The hazing is on the ridgeline... the stuff that looks all mottled on the right is just the reflection from the clouds in the sky.

Cheers Ian, but the little dents go inwards kind of like tiny wee craters in the surface of the paint. Still not sure what has caused this. As for the hazing, I took a closer look and it does look like they've sanded the paint to get rid of some dirt, but haven't polished it out properly before applying the clearcoat. And I sure hope they stripped the bonnet, because I paid for them to do that!!! All in all I think they'll be sorry for not doing a good job the first time round.... Once they've replaced the foglight they cracked and repaired the bonnet they won't have made much of a profit on this job!!!

Was $650 all up. However, I think I spoke too soon with regards to being 100% happy with the job. Just washed the car and as I was drying the bonnet I noticed a whole bunch of tiny dents the size of a pin head across the entire surface! And there is some hazing going on on the left ridgeline of the bonnet too!!! Bah! I'll call the shop on Monday and see what they say! Ian, you mentioned you were in the car painting business, any idea what caused these issues???

Yup.... last owner was a bit of a player apparently. He had a wife in Christchurch and a mistress in Blenheim, so lot's of hasty trips backwards and forwards resulted in many many stonechips!

Took another look this morning and it looks superb.... like a brand new car! I was at the video store last night and came out to find a guy in a brand new Range Rover checking out my little old 3 series! Needless to say I was pretty chuffed!

Got my car back from the panelbeaters today! Repainted bonnet, facelift nosepanel and front bumper. Very impressed with the work Gordon Milne Paint and Panel did, the paint match is excellent. They have, however, cracked the left front foglight so I'll give them a call tomorrow. Here's some pics; the facelift nose and grilles really modernise the E36's front end. Overall I'm very pleased with the result.

Gordon Milne Paint and Panel on Hands Road. He was recommended to me by a workmate who is into American cars (owns a very nice 1970 Camaro). Getting the bonnet, nosepanel and bumper painted for $600 + gst.... really good price compared to the quotes I was getting for between $800 and a grand. Hoping for a nice finish...get the car back Sat morning so will find out then.

This car is for sale on Trademe at the moment. Are you keeping it or selling it?

I use Turtle Wax Deep Black tyre shine. It's a silicon-based spray but stays on fairly well. If you don't want it to splash up over your mudguards and bumpers just wipe the excess off with an old towel.

$500-600??? I guess the 5 series bonnet is fairly big. My 3 series is in the paintshop at the moment: $250 for the bonnet to be stripped, a small dent removed and resprayed. So not too hard on the wallet.

It's a fox.... I'm a trained taxidermist. Not really.... just saw this on another forum.

I was experiencing severe withdrawal symptoms! It's good to be back!

I've owned my car now for 7 months. In that time I've put almost 5000 km's on it. I still have three green lights up on my service indicator. With previous cars I've owned I've done oil changes every 6 months or 5k. So, question is; should I do an oil/filter change between services or just wait until the inspection light comes on? And also, what oil do you recommend?

What model BMW is this for?

Awesome find.... I love watching projects like this unfold! I'm subscribed for future viewing!

Hey mate, just pop off the grilles, undo the screws and pull the bass reflex enclosures out from the boot side. You won't find many speakers that will simply plug and play as the rear speakers are 4.5" instead of the standard 4" If you want to put 6.5" or 6x9's in there you'll need to get out the saw and hammer!