By far, my favorite thing about being a car enthusiast is that no two are the same. It’s such a highly personal thing. Not just with kits or colors, but with performance parts and what kind of build you’d like. Well, this is my Miami Blue G80 M3, modified the way I’ve always wanted.
Color a mod all by itself
By now you know that BMW’s Individual program helps you stand out from the regular set of colors available for a car. There’s nothing wrong with Portimao Blue, but when you see it on ten different 330s, it loses some of its exclusivity.
Yet even with a Miami Blue G80 M3, BMW stubbornly refuses to make it all uniform by continuing to paint the lower portions of the car Jet Black. No other BMW sedan does this, including the M5. You can help yourself a bit at the dealer by telling them to take off extended Shadowline trim. Deleting that option (it’s no cost) will give you back body-color exterior mirrors and lip spoiler, and chrome exhaust tips.
Now this isn’t meant as a dig at anyone, but we all mod our cars the same way, especially when it comes to the G80. CSL grille, spoiler, rims…yawn. If we all mod our cars the same way, then it’s not really modifying, is it? Some extreme cases are Adrian’s 900-plus horsepower M3 – now that’s a build.
But me? I don’t want speed (well, more speed). I want to take pictures.
Carbon fiber feelings
Sometimes it pays to order things from BMW. The M Performance Suspension’s cost installed at the port is just a few hundred dollars more than buying it and getting it installed after the fact. But with BMW’s Carbon Exterior Package ($4,700), it’s just not worth it.
Instead, we go back to Kasey and NW CarbonHaus to obtain all the parts from them. Their CF air ducts, M Performance-style lip, CSL-style grille, rear diffuser, and high-kick spoiler are all half the price of BMW’s options without any loss of quality. If you don’t believe me, believe J&B – they see a ton of carbon and were impressed with the quality of the weave in these parts.
If you’re wondering why I didn’t do the full kit like I did last time, it’s because I never really liked it. Carbon fiber looks like a muted grey unless you’re up close, and I thought it clashed with my old M3. On the new one, with its bright blue color, it would be even worse. Instead, let’s take the stock parts and simply paint them. Actually, let’s paint the carbon too.
While I had installed the CSL front lip before, I felt the M Performance-style lip would be better suited, as you’ll soon see.
Planning what to do
With things like this, it helps to have a vision. I don’t want to walk into the shop scratching my head – time is valuable. But the genesis of this “mod” actually started years before when I heard of J&B for the first time:
That initial concept turned into working on the spoiler and shark fin, and it worked out well. But I still had this concept in the back of my mind, and I knew I’d do it once I ordered the car.
The diffuser, front lip and high-kick spoiler will get a Miami fade (sounds like a haircut). Nothing fancy on the rockers, just body color.
Miami is bright though – it would be a lot to paint everything that color. And…I sort of like how the black looks against it. So let’s take the air ducts and front grille, paint them gloss black, and fade them to bare carbon. Similar concept, but a bit less cartoonish.
Working with J&B
We know the what, and we know the who. The how is all that remains, and for that I rely on J&B. If you’ve ever wondered why body work costs to much money, spend a day here and you’ll figure it out. Simply sanding down all the parts took an entire day (and an entire team).
Disassembly
Here’s how I rate levels of difficulty when it comes to working on cars: can Michael D do it at home in his garage, with his orangutan hands? Surprisingly, this is one of those times. At least a little bit.
Most of the panels pop off with rivets and a trim tool, but the guys make much quicker work of it than I ever could. In about a half hour, the entire lower portion of the car is naked and the parts sent to be sanded.
Feels breezy in here.
Sanding
Sometimes new parts come prepped, meaning sanded and coated with primer. But this isn’t one of those times. Every part we’re touching is either already painted, or in the carbon’s case clear-coated.
The team uses sand paper, usually about 1,000 grit, to scuff up the surfaces and clean them with a kind of paint thinner. Some of the parts, like the grille, are intricate pieces with grooves and curves. It’s an entire day’s worth of work, and it’s tedious.
Imagine doing an entire hood. Imagine doing an entire car.
Painting
Oh, how I love to nerd out on paint! Let’s talk colors and names.
It seems that many auto makers are now offering famous colors from other makers. So you can get a Porsche 911 in BMW M San Marino Blue. Yes really, look:
And of course, you can get a BMW painted in a Porsche color like I did with Miami Blue. Porsche actually discontinued the color for 2023, so right now, you can’t get it on any model unless you choose their paint to sample option. Cost: between $15-$30k, depending on the model. If they will even do it for you at all.
Is this really a Porsche color?
Anyway, I was curious; is this really Miami Blue, or is it a shade or two off? The answer lies in the color cards that the painter pulled for my car – they were all from a Porsche 911 or a Macan. Color cards are painted cards the shop uses to make sure the color in the spray gun will match what is on your specific car. Any deviation, and you’ll notice right away once the parts are back on the car.
Remember that things like the time of the year, temperature, humidity, and the location of the factory can change how your specific paint color looks, which is why there are many different variants of something like Portimao Blue – it’s on cars made all over the world. But J&B hasn’t had another Miami Blue BMW to sample, so before going ahead and mixing their own blend for the M3, they pulled what they had from Porsche…
Hot damn – the shade from a 911 matches perfectly! BMW and Porsche both use Glasurit paint, but mixing them is a is a careful measuring process so it’s no guarantee it’ll match.
This isn’t always the case. Find another color that isn’t originally from BMW or Porsche, and their interpretations can differ. Park a British Racing Green M3 next to a 911 in the same shade, and you’ll see just how much darker BMW’s shade is.
The world of paint color will always fascinate me.
The end result
To see a lot of this work, you’ve got to get close to the car. That’s the entire point. How many times do you walk around at car shows, only to pass by a car or only look at it from a distance? With the M3, I hope that it’ll make people pause.
“Wait, is that faded?”
But most importantly, it’s the M3 as I’ve always envisioned – the way it should have come from the factory, in my opinion (no, BMW will never paint a gradient like this). It’s ready for the show season, and I hope to see you out there.
I guess dreams do come true.
