Long term project BMW 325 iX How would you go about this?

**tuscarora dave** · 07-08-2011, 11:54 PM

Hi AG fellow members,

A real good friend of mine just bought this car. I was called out to the previous owner's house some time back to give him a quote on detailing it but I decided to pass on the job. Not really knowing the guy too well, I saw a lot of possible trouble in taking the job being that someone had burned through the paint on a lot of the trim pieces.

I suggested that he pull all of the trim pieces and send them off to be re finished and re painted and while they were off of the car I would come out and work my magic on the painted panels. Meanwhile, my friend who introduced me to this guy bought the car from him.

I agreed to work on this car piecemeal, doing a little at a time over time. We do intend to remove the trim pieces and try our hand at re finishing and re painting them ourselves. Some of the trim pieces have chunks of plastic missing in where I was thinking of using a rubber bumper repair kit to repair the bad spots rather than a Bondo type of plastic filler. I have used some color code matched paints from expresspaint.com and have found that their colors match pretty well so we may give them a shot for this project.

I have done no testing on this car at all yet so I am just assuming that it is a single stage painted vehicle but you all know what they say about assuming things...right?

This car is a 1988 325 iX with a seriously deteriorated black rubber coating over the bumpers.

Any recon guys out there that know of a good way to re finish these rubber bumper covers?

Any Bimmer experts out there know if these 1988 cars had gotten single stage paint from the factory? Obviously there has been some re painting done on parts of the car already.

How about these crusty dried up looking un coated wheels? How would you guys go about cleaning them up and protecting them?

How would you guys go about this project? This question goes out to people with restoration experience but I am open for any related discussion about these cars as well as any suggestions or experience shared from past projects that any of you may have been involved in.

As we make our progress on this project I will post more pictures with more detail on our process into this thread but for now here are a few pictures of the car as is now.

Thanks in advance to anyone who contributes anything to this thread. This could get interesting. TD

**jslym777** · 07-09-2011, 12:37 AM

ask your friend if its really worth the time/money to sink into getting it back to looking good. you may want to look for replacement trim peices rather than try and fix everything...

**tuscarora dave** · 07-09-2011, 07:06 AM

I will be suggesting that he look around to see if that is a cost effective or even a possible option. He purchased this car as a hobby type project and I'll surely remind him that it is "his" hobby not mine. Part of the reason I passed on this with the previous owner was that I had seen getting too much time wrapped up in it. My time has a price tag where his time would be well spent getting out of the everyday hum drum of things.

Any suggestions as to what should be used on these un coated wheels to get them looking new again?

**CrownKote** · 07-09-2011, 07:26 AM

With an E30 like that it is well worth it to repaint those pieces... Than paint is probably Hellrot red and will look very good once finished... E30's tend to be great little investment cars and I would be willing to bet that when it is cleaned up he will get some nice offers even if he isn't selling... lol...

**tuscarora dave** · 07-09-2011, 07:47 AM

Originally Posted by CrownKote

With an E30 like that it is well worth it to repaint those pieces... Than paint is probably Hellrot red and will look very good once finished... E30's tend to be great little investment cars and I would be willing to bet that when it is cleaned up he will get some nice offers even if he isn't selling... lol...

Nice encouraging post!! Thanks for the positive input.

I'll surely enjoy getting involved in this with my friend and will surely give freely of "some" of my time for the friendly bonding stuff.

**CrownKote** · 07-09-2011, 07:50 AM

Originally Posted by tuscarora dave

Nice encouraging post!! Thanks for the positive input.

I'll surely enjoy getting involved in this with my friend and will surely give freely of "some" of my time for the friendly bonding stuff.

No problem... The color may not be Hellrot cause IDK if Hellrot came out untill the E36 but you should be able to find the color code plaque under the hood on one of the front strut towers...

If you have any questions about BMW parts and sources please PM me I will be more than willing to help...

**CrownKote** · 07-09-2011, 07:58 AM

Originally Posted by tuscarora dave

I have done no testing on this car at all yet so I am just assuming that it is a single stage painted vehicle but you all know what they say about assuming things...right?

Any recon guys out there that know of a good way to re finish these rubber bumper covers?

Any Bimmer experts out there know if these 1988 cars had gotten single stage paint from the factory? Obviously there has been some re painting done on parts of the car already.

How about these crusty dried up looking un coated wheels? How would you guys go about cleaning them up and protecting them?

The paint on most E30's is in fact SS some of them (not many) had BC/CC...

The bumper covers tend to be a pain I wil look and see here in the next few days if I can find what the best method of restoring them is...

The wheels... I have been using Purple Power on the BMW wheels to clean them up then I clay them... If they are in poor shape I would recommend taking them off sending them to a media blaster then having them either powder coated (depending on budget) or painting them with some Duplicolor Wheel paint in silver or gold (gold would look amazing if you just polished up the lip and painted the center section (basket weave)...

**Devo242** · 07-09-2011, 08:46 AM

Hi Dave - looks like a fun project! Every so often I see a 325ix on the road and they don't look as good as this one. I remember a least a decade ago going to upstate PA to see the SCCA Rally held around Wellsboro, there were always a few of these all wheel drive Bimmers in competition that were fan favorites along with a number of other unique entries like the Audi 4000 and Dodge Omni GLH.

The good news with BMWs is very supportive of their older vehicles as far as parts go, I'm not sure it is to the extent of Mercedes where they will make any part for any vehicle they have ever produced, but a 23 year old 3 series shouldn't be too hard to source parts for if something can't be restored to the owner's satisfaction. Jumping over to Bavarian Autosport's website I can already see most mouldings and trim pieces are available if needed. Being a Volvo enthusiast I can tell you this is something I have always envied as Volvo's support of their history isn't nearly as extensive.

Let me know if I can be of any assistance.

Best,
Shawn

**zilla** · 07-09-2011, 10:21 AM

Crown is right, it's most likely single stage paint. And definitely right about E30's being worth restoring. They're very popular in the eyes of most BMW fanatics.

**C. Charles Hahn** · 07-09-2011, 04:47 PM

Originally Posted by zilla

Crown is right, it's most likely single stage paint. And definitely right about E30's being worth restoring. They're very popular in the eyes of most BMW fanatics.

Indeed. Those cars do seem to be very popular as affordable and reliable drivers for folks.