Managing to pick up accessories for your car from eBay can be
great - good quality and cheap items that you'd pay an arm and a
leg for from your dealer. The Blackcube Aluminium trim for the E46
is a prime example. Over €800 from BMW themselves, picking up a
set for €140 from the online auction site was a bit of a bargain.
One slight problem though - my interior trim is beige, and the
Blackcube set I bought was black. Not to worry though, all BMW
plastics have appropriate colour codes, so the paint can be mixed
by your local motor factors, and you can have a colour coded set
of trim fitted before you know it.
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What you'll need:
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Firstly, I got the paint I needed mixed by Vinny
Byrnes in Walkinstown. They matched it to the drinks holder,
which I was able to bring in to them. |
The first step is to carefully mask off the Aluminium section of
the trim. You should allow more time for this than any other
stage. Do it wrong, and you'll mess up an expensive set of trim.
Once masked off, I used a fine sandpaper on the plastic, being
careful not to touch the masking tape.
Once you have prepped the items, give them one or two fine coats
of plastic primer. This isn't completely necessary, as the paint
that Vinny Byrnes supply is designed for plastic, but it does
help with the bond. |
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I just laid out the trim on paper, and proceeded to spray. This
should be done somewhere with plenty of ventilation and not much
direct wind (or else you'll end up with a different colour skin
and clothes to the ones you originally had)
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You should apply several thin layers, giving about 15/20 minutes
in between each to allow time for drying. I gave the trim about
5 coats of paint each. This was then followed up with 2 layers
of a matt lacquer.
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Remove the masking tape, and voila. The trim is close to
perfect, and no one yet had been able to spot it's been sprayed. |
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The finished trim fitted to the car... |
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