This really has got to be the only car Ive ever seen this on. I know it scares away a lot of people, (not sure if thats a bad thing or not), and you cant always see it in person, but in EVERY SINGLE factory paint job e34 I have ever seen, both front fenders always look like they do not match. WHATS THE DEAL? :mad If It wasnt for this I would think my paint was perfect.

mine matches flawlessly..:woot:

same. maybe this calls for a " Offical BMW E34 Front Fender Color Matching Club" or OBEFFCMC.

I have no clue as to what youre talkin about my paint matches fine.......all the scratches are the same color as far as I can tell

you too? this club may be a success.

My front paint has all cracked clearcoat. My rear paint is all new. My car's been hit and put back together, quite poorly I might add. I'm in the middle of cutting and welding the door jam as we speak. I can't wait to do the wheel arch.

you too? this club may be a success.
no seriously tho i really have no clue at to what the OP is talkin about

mine matches too. I'd imagine at the age these cars are, it's not uncommon for them to have body work, and metallics especially will often not match perfectly.

My front paint has all cracked clearcoat. My rear paint is all new. My car's been hit and put back together, quite poorly I might add. I'm in the middle of cutting and welding the door jam as we speak. I can't wait to do the wheel arch.
me too, driver side for you? The door hinge was put together like crap. They welded it and put some bolts and a couple washers through it. I'd like to take it off and redo it, but i dont have the tools.

i know paint differs a little between different types of material (plastic and metal) but that can be taken care of with good prep work...

ithink the key here is that even if the paint code matches, if a fender was ever resprayed the newer paint won't have teh amount of fading the other does.

that being said, mine matches perfectly.

Now I do have a Toyota that is definitely 2-tone when you compare the plastic bumper to the metal hood. Right from the factory; probably painted on different assembly lines with different paint batches. (But I don't drive it for looks but rather gas mileage!)

i would say if its different colors, could've been in an accident or someone just decided to swap the front end due to rust. never know. carfax it if you're worrying about it.

Let me rephrase, in normal light its nearly impossible to see a bad angle, but the same car in a lot broader range of angle it will be visible in pictures.

Both my cars have matched.. Its probably been resprayed. For some reason these cars are prone to rock chips on the hood and leading edge of the fenders. I've seen a lot (including my old 535i) with front clip resprays that have never been hit. There are also usually a couple different color variants for most paint codes and sometimes they just don't match

My fenders match fine but my hood is starting to discolor over the years. Its 18 years old so that is expected.

me too, driver side for you? The door hinge was put together like crap. They welded it and put some bolts and a couple washers through it. I'd like to take it off and redo it, but i dont have the tools.


http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l287/Bin_jammin/DSCN0746.jpg


I think that says it all. My passenger's side quarter panel has been replaced. That rot is at the seam where they either poorly welded it in, used the wrong wire in the welder, or just filled the seam with bondo. It's all metal now, and at a quick glance looks pretty decent. I'm going to need to use a little bondo just to fill in where I ground the welds a little low, but it's nothing that won't last longer than I'll own the car.

Even if I do keep the car that long, 10 hours of work every 8-10 years won't bother me much.

P.S. it didn't look like that when I got the car, it just had some small rust bubbles, but considering I didn't want to find out the hard way how bad the cancer was, I took a hammer to the bubbles to see. Better to find out sooner rather than later.

wow thats crazy stuff. Good thing Southern California doesnt do that to our cars. Can't wait to see the outcome of your car.

to the OP, my paint matches perfectly... the paint on all the body panels looks like crap :)