Engine bay black

[grannyknot]

My car is Sapphire Black but the engine bay paint is lighter in shade and looks like a single stage satin.
You can see the shock tower the paint is a lighter black than what is on the strut bar.
I haven't been able to find a specific colour code for the engine bay so was wondering if anyone could help?
Thanks,
Chris

[Piper1]

Originally Posted by grannyknot

My car is Sapphire Black but the engine bay paint is lighter in shade and looks like a single stage satin.
You can see the shock tower the paint is a lighter black than what is on the strut bar.
I haven't been able to find a specific colour code for the engine bay so was wondering if anyone could help?
Thanks,
Chris

I think that’s the full body dip you can see in the making of video that National Geographic put out I know it’s in a thread somewhere but it’s gotta be majorly buried but might come up in a search about Z4 factory tour. I’m not sure if you’re going to be able to find the paint code for that.

[pungo]

I thought the engine bay was the same color as the exterior body, just without the clearcoat

[Steeler]

Originally Posted by grannyknot

My car is Sapphire Black but the engine bay paint is lighter in shade and looks like a single stage satin.
You can see the shock tower the paint is a lighter black than what is on the strut bar.
I haven't been able to find a specific colour code for the engine bay so was wondering if anyone could help?
Thanks,
Chris

If there is a piece in the engine bay that is removable you could take it to a paint store and they could do a scan match.

[grannyknot]

Originally Posted by pungo

I thought the engine bay was the same color as the exterior body, just without the clearcoat

Sometimes, but that doesn't work with metallics.
I found this but haven't been able to find a colour that has the code of#10000 which is supposed to be the corresponding colour for Sapphire Black #475/9

[bwright657]

This was a common thing for 2000s BMWs. Only certain colors got full paint in the engine bay. On the Z4s red, burgundy and white got full coverage while silver, gray, black and blue didn't. What you're seeing in the engine bay is mostly the corrosion protection the whole body is dipped in before paint plus some mild overspray from the exterior paint.

If you want to create a uniform look, I would either get Black Sapphire Metallic to match the exterior, get a basic gloss black matched to the strut bars or get a basic satin black matched to the strut towers.

[kaybat]

Originally Posted by bwright657

This was a common thing for 2000s BMWs. Only certain colors got full paint in the engine bay. On the Z4s red, burgundy and white got full coverage while silver, gray, black and blue didn't. What you're seeing in the engine bay is mostly the corrosion protection the whole body is dipped in before paint plus some mild overspray from the exterior paint.

If you want to create a uniform look, I would either get Black Sapphire Metallic to match the exterior, get a basic gloss black matched to the strut bars or get a basic satin black matched to the strut towers.

Interesting, never knew that.

[grannyknot]

Originally Posted by bwright657

This was a common thing for 2000s BMWs. Only certain colors got full paint in the engine bay. On the Z4s red, burgundy and white got full coverage while silver, gray, black and blue didn't. What you're seeing in the engine bay is mostly the corrosion protection the whole body is dipped in before paint plus some mild overspray from the exterior paint.
.

So I guess I have to find a paint shop that can read the colour of the engine bay and try and make a match.
Okay, thanks guys.

[driveslikeagirl]

Running into this problem myself. My car is Sepang Bronze Metallic, but the strut towers look more satin charcoal grey than black. I've got a hairline crack that will be welded, so we're grinding some paint off. I may just look for something close enough and hope the strut tower bar covers the small repair.

Has anyone found a commercially available paint that matches well enough?

[kaybat]

I used this for my strut support bars,worked pretty well