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Ron Stygar Carl Buckland Dale Beuning Forums Help
Paint Protection & Maintenance BMW Germany's Perspective My trip to BMW's Dingolfing plant began in Stuttgart. My wife and I were visiting her sister and her husband in Vaihingen (location of the US Forces Europe Headquarters) and next door to Mercedes Benz in Sindelfingen. We drove from Vaihingen to Dingolfing in two cars, one of which was a Z3. My brother-in-law is a navy commander, who took European delivery of the Z3. At the time of the trip there were very few Z3s in Germany and, strange as it my seem, we received more appreciative stares on the auobahn than we would have, if we were driving an 850. I had arranged the meeting with the BMW paint process management over three months in advance and I had requested the opportunity to have a tour following the meeting. I had submitted specific and detailed questions relating to the subject of paint protection and maintenance. When we arrived, I was told that there had been a joint effort on the part of the BMW paint process management people at both the Munich and Regensberg factories in the development of the responses (I saw some of the hand written notes that had been assembled - unfortunately they were in German). Dingolfing is BMW's largest manufacturing plant. There are over 24,000 employees with three shift operations. Most of the employees are bussed to work in large, very clean, double deck busses. The cafeterias are absolutely phenomenal. You can have a complete meal including a hot entree, desert and a liter of beer for about $3.50. One thing you cannot do is take photographs. I found out the hard way. I was politely instructed that I should leave my camera at the office of the tour guide. This was after I had taken a picture of my wife enjoying a beer.
The plant uses robots
everywhere it is economically feasible. There are hundreds of them.
They are more efficient than manual labor and less costly to operate.
The mating and matching of the body and the doors is controlled by a
system which includes "smart boxes" attached to the body with magnets.
The doors are trimmed on a separate floor and then lowered into
position on the body shell. Each car is driven off the line and given
a complete check of the electronics.
With all of this control
and testing there is still a substantial amount of rejection due to
failure to meet quality standards. Correction is accomplished off the
end of the assembly line. Automation increases constantly and new
robots are always in development. The average hourly wages of the
plants employees, including benefits is over $55.00 an hour. The total
number of vacation and holidays is just under two months per year. It
probably goes without saying that many employees never change employers
throughout their entire working Before I go any further, I want to say that I was disappointed with the responses I received. This comment should not give the impression that I am dissatisfied with BMW in general. I have owned BMWs for 25 years and bought an M3 in May of this year. I can make an educated guess regarding why I received only broad generic and overly general responses to my questions in most cases. I'm afraid that there was a review of the material by other BMW organizations (possibly marketing and legal). The result was that I am not able to provide more specific answers to the readers of this article. Having made this introduction I will proceed with the answers that I received to my questions.
/Meeting With
BWM Factory Engineering Paint Protection and Maintenance Discussion Dingolfing, Germany March 25th 1997
Factory
Level Paint Processes and Repair /
1. Does the Factory use
low VOC, high solids for all paint
Yes. As an
additional clarification on the standard factory paint processes and
point of significant interest, BMW has been clear coating all color
options for the last three model 2. What is the percentage distribution among the various manufacturer's paint products used at the factories? Glasurit 45% / Heberts 40% Bollig & Kemper 15% 3. What are the Glasurit paint lines used, following shipment from the manufacturing plant, at sales locations? The 21, 22 and 54 Lines are used, depending on legal / regulations at the receiving location. 4. What is the rust prevention and metal prep process that is used? The rust prevention and metal prepping is based on a Zinc-Nickel phosphating process. 5. Is there a written description of the factory paint processes in English?
The description of
this process is not available in
6. Is there a video tape
of the paint process No.
General
Questions Raised by the BMW Digest
1.
What are the types of paint protection products (natural waxes and
synthetic resins) packaged and sold by A list of products is available in the BMW manual (Original BMW Accessories).
Editors note: There are
both wax and polymer products available from BMW AG. In addition there
are other manufacturer's products sold by BMW dealers in the US (both
natural waxes and
Is there a preference for
either type of product (wax or No.
Is there a description of
the content/composition of the BMW appearance products?
No
answer/information
2. What do you recommend
(products and/or techniques) to both prevent and subsequently, remove
surface scratching and swirl
Both synthetic and
natural waxes are fundamentally suitable for prevention of scratches
and swirl marks. BMW recommends the use of brushless car wash
facilities and regular hand polishing/waxing of the paintwork. We also
recommend products from the 3M company and Mequiars (e.g. Finesse-it)
for removal of swirl
3. Do you have a recommendation for how to protect and preserve the clear coat finish on the factory wheels (brake dust accumulation problems in particular)?
No. BMW does not
recommend any specific 4. Can you compare the current water based paints with the older (solvent based) formulation? Water based paints in combination with 1K or 2 K clearcoats have the same durability and all quality attributes of the prior solvent based paints.
BMW agrees that the new
generation of clear coats appears to be softer. This system is more
flexible and, for example, scratches with no abrasive characteristics
are regenerable (flow effect). The big advantage of the clear coat is
high acid rain Regarding damage due to rock chips, it is difficult to make a statement. There is the need to observe the cars at the dealers and to find out the kind and cause of the damage. 5. Is there any type of paint surface protection product you recommend to prevent rock chips? The factory uses PVC paint surface protection for rocker panels and under-body protection. For stone chip resistance all bumpers are produced using special plastics and flexible painting. All other parts of the body are protected with a special stone chip resistant primer.
6. Do you
recommend a different type of paint protection for the clear coat (two
stage paint) from the single stage
No. The same type
of product can be used on both
7. Do you have any
recommendations regarding paint
Paint shampoos
should have paint protection
8. Do you have any
comments on the "Wash and Wax"
These products have
only small paint protection 9. Are there any types of paint protection products that you would not recommend?
Silicon based
products are not allowed for use at any BMW facility (Up to the point
of delivery to the customer). It is the customers responsibility from that point forward. BMW dealers offer various products. 10. Is there a generic type of solvent product that you recommend to remove road oil and tar deposits on the paint? BMW recommends Isohexan.
11. Do you have
any comments or suggestions regarding the use of clay to remove
overspray and To remove overspray and contaminants, it is helpful to use mild solvents, like Isohexan. In case of older marks, polish with abrasive additives is necessary.
Editors note:
Since there was no direct response to the question regarding clay, I
would like to stress that this is an excellent generic product for
removing overspray and other
12. Do you
recommend the use of auto solvents to clean the paint prior to using
either a wax or a synthetic No.
13. Do you have a
recommendation for the removal of
To remove oxidation
(fall out particles), we recommend a mild acid based cleaner.
14. Do you have a
recommendation for removal of water Water spots should be removed with mild acids in combination with a following car wash.
15. When paint touch up is required (repair of rock chips), do you have a recommendation for cleaning the surface before applying the paint? Dust, rust, grease and other pollutions should be removed prior to use of the touch up paint.
Editors note: No
specific recommendation was 16. Do you have any type of paint repair facility qualifications or product standards for non BMW dealer facilities? No. Non BMW dealer facilities should conform with original BMW dealer's systems. 17. Are there any recommendations that you would like to give to BMW owners in the United States? No. General Comments Regarding the Meeting and PlantTour
We came away with a strong sense that BMW wanted to provide us with a
responsive effort to answer all of our questions and in particular the
ones regarding the portions of the plant that cannot be seen first hand
(This includes the body dipping, priming and color/clear spray
painting). It is very fair to state that the plant managers do not
appear to recognize the extent of the criticism that the water based
paints are receiving. This is not a high priority activity that they
are working on to
There was a clear effort
on BMW's part to not show favoritism toward any individual product line
or type of protection product. They would only give specific product
names when pressed hard for an example. As a general statement they
have no preference for either natural of synthetic products and BMW
offers both types under their brand
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