Mpowered02's 2002 E39 540iT story/maintenance/mod/build thread (long term)

[Mpowered02]

It's been a few months now, but I recently became the proud new owner of a nice 2002 E39 540iAT in Stahl Blau Metallic that I picked up from a fellow BF.c member. Figured I should probably post a thread to document the car, maintenance, plans, mods, etc. so here it is. Honestly, this will probably be a very slow, long build as this car currently serves as my full-time daily driver and family hauler (we have 2 kids under the age of 6) so I can't really afford much down-time for it. Also, after spending the last 3 years in Manila (Philippines) to Manage a BMW shop there and then moving back to my hometown of Baltimore, MD, I finally bit the bullet and decided to use my skills and experience (was a Level 1/Master Tech with BMW in SoCal for 8 years) for the betterment of me and my family by opening up my own shop. Working on that and on clients cars takes up a large majority of my time outside of family time so there isn't much left for personal projekts. To make matters worse, I also have an E36 projekt to spend time on as well...but I digress...

Anyway, i've always had a thing for E39 Tourings. Now that we have kids, I finally have an "excuse" (for the wife at least) to own one. We moved back to the US in August 2015, and for months prior to our return I had already been looking and scouring the classifieds, etc for potential candidates. Color wasn't that important, but I wanted a 540iT that had anything but a beige interior and unfortunately it had to be an automatic (for now). Since it's the family hauler, the wife needs to be able to drive the car as well but she hasn't driven a manual in ages and has no interest anymore in trying to. No biggie, i'll "settle" for the auto...for now at least (more on that later).

It's pretty difficult searching for cars from a foreign country because every time I saw one that looked interesting, there wasn't much I could do except oogle over it on my computer monitor. There were about 8,500-9,000 miles of distance that prevented me from being able to move forward with any possible candidates (unless I was willing to purchase it sight unseen. No Thanks. There's too much that can go wrong if you buy a car completely sight unseen). Within a short time after that, they'd be gone and sold. Then, I happened to come across a thread here on BF.c where a member (GoBlue) had eluded to the fact that he had a 540iT and that it "may" be up for sale in the near future. After a few PM's and some traded emails, I saw pics (loved the color and the fact that it had sport suspension, an M-tech front bumper, 19" wheels, and minor mods) and found out that the car wasn't officially for sale yet, but that he was just waiting for his other project (E28 w/ LS Swap) to be finished (JakeB doing the build) and he would let it go after that. Also, he was located in Virginia...an hour or so drive from where we would be in Maryland so it was relatively close as well. Our timelines for when his E28 was scheduled to be completed, and when we were scheduled to be back in the US were were pretty close as well, so I made plans with him to drive out to look at the car as soon as we got back to the US.

Long story short, after about 2 weeks from when we got back to the US (needed some time to settle the family in after another big international move), I drove to VA, looked at the car, and we made the deal. Here's some initial pics I took of the car after I drove it back to MD:





She's a bit higher in mileage (around 148,000 I think when I first picked her up), but according to the maintenance history and receipts of a previous owner most of the typical 540i repairs (V/C gaskets, valley pan, timing gaskets, suspension bushings, rear subframe bushings, rear air springs, etc.) had been done at ileages that were typical of what you would expect to see on these cars. The only thing I didn't see evidence of in the receipts was the timing chain guides, although the previous owner told GoBlue that they had been done as well.

While I would have preferred an all black interior, this car has the grey interior and a previous owner has had the wood trim painted a charcoal or gunmetal metallic color (paint quality is just "ok"...not too bad):




Of course, since this is the family hauler the back seat has to be appropriate to haul the kids:


In terms of mods, one of the previous owners had done a bit of work to the car as is evidenced by the pics. The wheels are BBS knock-offs in 19" with Continental ExtremeContact 245/35ZR19's in the front and Michelin PS2 275/30ZR19's in the back (mismatched tires because GoBlue suffered a rear blowout and the tire shop only had the Michelins in stock). The suspension has been lowered with B&G springs in front and adjustable links in the rear riding on Koni shocks/struts (adjustables in the front). I like the ride height, and the ride quality is relatively good. Wife and kids have never complained so the ride quality is "family approved". The front bumper has also been replaced with an M-tech bumper. Haven't pulled it off to inspect if it's original or aftermarket yet but it fits perfectly so i'm guessing it's original. All windows (including the front windshield) have been tinted as well. Not super dark, but a nice, light tint.
The only other additions from a previous owner were that he had an Orange TPMS system installed in the center console cubby, and had it hardwired for a Valentine 1 radar detector (no radar detector with the car, just the hardwiring...I installed my own V1 into place and plugged it in to the pre-wired connector):




The TPMS I didn't even know about at the time of purchase. Just kinda stumbled across it after I got the car back home while poking around the car. Didn't really look in there when I was checking the car out prior to purchase. Was kind of an added bonus. For the V1, GoBlue had told me that the PO had it hardwired for a V1, but since radar detectors are illegal in VA, he has never tested it or used it. In my head, I was hoping that maybe if the PO had hardwired a V1 into the car...maybe he also had the now, no-longer-available StealthOne module installed as well...the one that makes the radar warnings show up on the screen of the instrument cluster. I plugged my V1 into the car's hardwired V1 connector hoping that maybe I got lucky. Unfortunately, I didn't. The V1 fired up, but no StealthOne installed. Boo.

Anyway, that covers the story of the car itself for now. Next, i'll post some of the findings on the car after I got to drive it around for a bit, dealing with MD State Inspection to get transferred and registered in MD, and my future plans for the car...

[Redshift]

Another enthusiast-owned 540iT. Gotta love it.

[gmak]

Welcome. Not my cup of tea but it looks like a solid family car. Good job.

[Cereal]

Looks clean and tasteful. Nice tint, bumpers, rims.... Should be a great kid hauler...

Now throw in a 6 speed and supercharger like everyone else nowadays and enjoy!

[auaq]

Those wheels look fabulous and seriously 19's suit far more better on Tourings than on the sedans.

[Redshift]

I'll be up in MD first weekend in Dec hopefully. Touring gathering?

[dannyzabolotny]

I like how people consider 148,000 miles to be a high mileage, meanwhile I have one 540i that's got over 200,000 miles, and one that just passed 196,000 miles (my daily driver).

Congrats on the purchase though! Hopefully she treats you well and provides many years of fun driving!

[NordmanMg]

Virginia got all badass cars, looks fantastic

[Mpowered02]

Welcome. Not my cup of tea but it looks like a solid family car. Good job.

Thanks, I hear ya. Different strokes for different folks...

Looks clean and tasteful. Nice tint, bumpers, rims.... Should be a great kid hauler...

Now throw in a 6 speed and supercharger like everyone else nowadays and enjoy!

Actually...
A 6 speed and S/C are future plans for the car, but more on that later...

Those wheels look fabulous and seriously 19's suit far more better on Tourings than on the sedans.

I agree. Typically, 18's are the limit for me. I actually picked up a set of E39 fitment 18" AC Schnitzer Type II Rennsports that I was planning on putting on this car. Wanted to have them refinished with new lips and barrels for a 18x10 square setup but after having the car for a bit I quid like the 19's on it. Might just have the Type II's rebuilt as an alternative set of wheels for the E36...

I'll be up in MD first weekend in Dec hopefully. Touring gathering?

You talking the weekend of December 5th? Unfortunately, i'll be out of town that weekend. Will be up in NYC for a friends' birthday otherwise i'd totally be down for a Touring meet. I SO need to check out your beast of a touring. What you gonna be in MD for? Another tuning session with Frank?

I like how people consider 148,000 miles to be a high mileage, meanwhile I have one 540i that's got over 200,000 miles, and one that just passed 196,000 miles (my daily driver).

Congrats on the purchase though! Hopefully she treats you well and provides many years of fun driving!

Heh, yeah...not really high miles as I know there is a lot more life in there. Just meant higher than I typically buy cars at. Will probably run this car for a long time. I have a client that has a '99 528i with about 328,000 miles and it's still going strong...

Anyway, back to the story at hand...
First order of business after getting the car home was to work on transferring the title and registration to Maryland and getting MD plates. When registering a car from out of state, they require all cars to first undergo a relatively strict MD State Inspection. So, I took it to a state inspection center that's pretty close to the house since I've been away from Baltimore for about 10 years now and don't really know any "friendly" MD State Inspectors. Unfortunately, she failed for a couple pretty minor reasons.

First up, the tint. MD has a max of 35% for window tint on all windows, and does not allow any tint on the front windshield. This car has a light tint applied to the front windshield, but I was hoping that maybe they wouldn't notice (fat chance). Even more odd that that was that when they tested the light transmittance through the other windows (which all look relatively light and I was sure they were probably 35%), it turns out that some of the windows passed and some didn't. For some reason all of the door windows were at like 37% while the rear door triangle and rear quarter windows were at 35%. They even showed me the reading with the meter because id did seem rather odd. So, I needed to pull all the offending tint. A pain in the ass, but not a big deal.

The second reason for a fail was because the right rear sway bar link had some play and "needed" to be replaced. I checked it later after I got home and there was a hair of play in the joint. It didn't cause any noise and definitely was not a safety issue. Ok, also not a big deal. Will just replace both rear sway links.

The third, and more annoying reason it failed was the rear tires. The rear tires are practically brand new Michelin Pilot Sport PS2's, but they had slight rub marks from the edge of the tires rubbing the fender. I knew about the rubbing though...noticed the minor marks on the tires when I fist looked at the car and asked GoBlue about it. He said that they didn't rub at all with the original Continentals that the PO had installed on the car, but he had a tire blowout about a month before and the tire shop only had the Michelins in stock in 275/30ZR19...same size tire as the Continentals. However, the Michelins run a bit bigger and cause some rubbing. Due to the rubbing and the minor marks on the tires, the tires needed to be replaced. Crap...wasn't expecting to have to replace the rear tires since they are practically new.

First up was to fix the rubbing, so I pulled out my PSM Roller and rolled both rear fenders as much as I could:




Once the tires cleared the Michelins, I went ahead and picked up some new tires. Decided to just get the same Continentals that are on the front (Continental Extreme Contact) but in 275/30ZR19. One problem down.

Next up, the rear sway bar links. Picked up a "value line" kit of the 2 rear sway bar links from the dealership and threw those in:




Last was the more PITA problem...the tint. Had to remove the tint from the front and rear windshields, and all 4 doors. Removing the tint itself isn't too bad...it just peels right off. The real pain is removing the adhesive residue left behind:






For the adhesive residue, I pretty much just softened it with a soapy water solution that I sprayed onto the windows and let it sit for a bit before scraping it off with a razor blade. It works, but it's still a complete PITA.

Once that was all said and done, I drove the car back over to the inspection station, had them check it real quick and they signed off on the MD State Inspection form. Good to go...or so I thought. When I went to the tag & title place to take care of the registration and plates I found out that I couldn't register a car in MD if my driver's license is from out of state (I still have a California driver's license and don't want to switch to a MD D/L). Would have to at least get a MD State Identification Card in order to register the car, which meant that now I had to go to the DMV. Dammit...the whole point of going to a Tag & Title place is to avoid the lines at the DMV. Oh well...a long trip to the DMV followed by another trip back to the Tag & Title shop and finally the car was registered and tagged in Maryland.

Next up... the "issues" I came across as I got to drive the car more and more as well as my future build plans for the car...

[dannyzabolotny]

Jeez, that state inspection just seems excessive. But then again, we don't have any real inspections here in Arizona, just semi-annual emissions tests that are done with an ODBII scanner for like 30 seconds. And back when I lived in NYC I just paid the friendly inspectors a little extra to ignore problems.

[E39540V8]

Very sweet wagon mate.

[gmak]

kudos for getting rid of the window tints. I did that on my new-to-me car and (to me) it really enhances the look. Cleaner, less ricer (I know that those who live in a hot sunny climate appreciate the tint, but in the Great White, it's just posing, IMHO). I found that Bon Ami glass cleaner worked well on the glue residue, along with some rubbing with a cloth. I don't know what the US equivalent is for that cleaner - but it's strong.

I used a steam wrinkle remover to soften the glue when pulling the tint off. I didn't have any glue residue on the side windows, just on the back where (what goes through these people's minds?) there had been 2 layers used. That took a bit of elbow grease with the Bon Ami.

[Mpowered02]

Jeez, that state inspection just seems excessive. But then again, we don't have any real inspections here in Arizona, just semi-annual emissions tests that are done with an ODBII scanner for like 30 seconds. And back when I lived in NYC I just paid the friendly inspectors a little extra to ignore problems.

Yeah, a bit excessive. But I guess it's good. In California there isn't really an inspection either and i'm sure a lot of the cars on the road probably pose a hazard to public safety.

Very sweet wagon mate.

Thanks!

kudos for getting rid of the window tints. I did that on my new-to-me car and (to me) it really enhances the look. Cleaner, less ricer (I know that those who live in a hot sunny climate appreciate the tint, but in the Great White, it's just posing, IMHO). I found that Bon Ami glass cleaner worked well on the glue residue, along with some rubbing with a cloth. I don't know what the US equivalent is for that cleaner - but it's strong.

I used a steam wrinkle remover to soften the glue when pulling the tint off. I didn't have any glue residue on the side windows, just on the back where (what goes through these people's minds?) there had been 2 layers used. That took a bit of elbow grease with the Bon Ami.

Interesting. Never thought of trying to steam the tint before peeling. Makes sense though since the adhesive softens with water.
I know what you mean about tint, although eventually i'll probably have the windows re-tinted to a very light tint. It's funny though...as i've gotten older i've come to like tint less and less. When I was younger, I liked it super dark. Now that i'm older (i'm 42), no tint or VERY light tint. My E36 had 35% tint on it before but I stripped it all off a few years ago. Much prefer that car with no tint...although if I can find a V-Kool dealer here in MD, i'd have the windows treated with their clear film. The shop I ran in Manila was a vendor for V-Kool and It's pretty impressive....optically clear but blocks like 85-90% of the UV and radiant heat. Makes a NOTABLE difference in hot climates...especially if you do all of the windows including the front windshield. Only problem is that it also blocks Ez-Pass RFID signals.

[gmak]

Interesting. Never thought of trying to steam the tint before peeling. Makes sense though since the adhesive softens with water.
I know what you mean about tint, although eventually i'll probably have the windows re-tinted to a very light tint. It's funny though...as i've gotten older i've come to like tint less and less. When I was younger, I liked it super dark. Now that i'm older (i'm 42), no tint or VERY light tint. My E36 had 35% tint on it before but I stripped it all off a few years ago. Much prefer that car with no tint...although if I can find a V-Kool dealer here in MD, i'd have the windows treated with their clear film. The shop I ran in Manila was a vendor for V-Kool and It's pretty impressive....optically clear but blocks like 85-90% of the UV and radiant heat. Makes a NOTABLE difference in hot climates...especially if you do all of the windows including the front windshield. Only problem is that it also blocks Ez-Pass RFID signals.

Thanks for the tip on the V-Kool. I had no idea something like that was available for cars. With a black interior that can fade to 'purple' I think that would be a great idea in the summer, even in cold climes. Maybe even good if it was adaptable for headlights - especially the blocking of UV radiation.

[Redshift]

Yes Dec 5. Hoping to get final tuning done at TTFS.

[philly98540]

Great looking car with some nice tasteful changes. I really like the blue. Looking forward to your updates.

[dannyzabolotny]

I got a sunburn from not having tint on my 540i this past summer... You definitely don't want to roll without tint here in Arizona. 35% is the legal limit here, but nobody follows that because cops don't care that much.

[Dking078]

Very nice wagon!

The gunmetal trim doesn't look half bad from the pics though

[Mach540]

First up was to fix the rubbing, so I pulled out my PSM Roller and rolled both rear fenders as much as I could:.

Sure, no prob. I got on of them too..... What? You don't??.... Lol!!!

You'll fit in great here.

[Mpowered02]

Thanks for the tip on the V-Kool. I had no idea something like that was available for cars. With a black interior that can fade to 'purple' I think that would be a great idea in the summer, even in cold climes. Maybe even good if it was adaptable for headlights - especially the blocking of UV radiation.

Yeah, if I remember correctly, the clear one is V-Kool's VK-70. The V-Kool display we had in the shop in Manila was basically 2 bright halogen lights mounted inside of a rotatable glass cube. Each side of the cube was tinted with different grades of tint, with one side having nothing at all. The difference in felt heat through the glass between the no-tint and VK-70 was astonishing. Great selling tool and made me want it for my E36. Problem is...V-Kool dealers here are pretty hard to find...

Yes Dec 5. Hoping to get final tuning done at TTFS.

Ah, nice. Yeah, bummed i'll be outta town that weekend otherwise I totally woulda been down. Oh well...next time...

Great looking car with some nice tasteful changes. I really like the blue. Looking forward to your updates.

Thanks!

I got a sunburn from not having tint on my 540i this past summer... You definitely don't want to roll without tint here in Arizona. 35% is the legal limit here, but nobody follows that because cops don't care that much.

Here in MD they're relatively strict. Have actually gotten pulled over JUST for tint so they could check it in the E36. Luckily, mine was all legal 35% at the time...

Very nice wagon!

The gunmetal trim doesn't look half bad from the pics though

Thanks! Yeah, it's not too bad...they did a decent job, but it definitely has it's fair share of imperfections across all of the trim in the car...

Sure, no prob. I got on of them too..... What? You don't??.... Lol!!!

You'll fit in great here.

Heh. I actually bought the roller for the shop. It was a business investment. Yeah, that's my story and i'm sticking to it. Heh. In some ways...opening up a shop is just an excuse to have more tools (toys) and have a reason (for the wife at least) to finish my own projects (rolling calling card).

[Mpowered02]

Ok, on to the stuff that needs work. One of the first things I noticed during the first night drive is that the headlight (facelifted Xenons) output was total crap:



Looks like the headlights are pointed downward, and it only lights up the road immediately in front of the car. Not a big deal on lit highways, but could be downright dangerous on some fast, twisty backroads. I tried adjusting the beams upwards, but it looks like the adjusters on both headlights are toast. Why BMW used crap plastic on the headlight adjusters that are prone to breakage is beyond me. This crappy light output is in stark contrast to the light from my E36:



I did a Bosch Bi-xenon retrofit with modded projectors and clear lenses into the ZKW headlights on the E36 (build thread can be seen HERE) and was planning on doing a retrofit to this car as well. Looks like that will have to be bumped up in terms of priority. My retrofit plans include RX330 bi-xenon projectors and I plan to build another set of relay switched, boosted (35W/60W) Bosch/AL ballasts like I built in Round 2 of the E36's retrofit. Of course, will replace the adjusters with some aluminum ones, and will probably replace the stock angel eyes with something brighter...maybe the Orion V4's.

After driving the car for about a week, I also noticed that the bendix drive on the starter seems to have taken a crap. It doesn't retract properly at startup so I'm now intermittently getting a noise from it. According to the service history, the starter was replaced maybe about 20,000 miles ago...wonder what brand part they used...

Driver's seat also has the dreaded seat twist on both the seatback recline mechanism and the seat height adjustment. Will pull it out one of these days and shorten the cable housings for the drive cables of both.

During the first rain he car saw I noticed that both rear footwell carpets were pretty wet. Felt the bottom of the rear door panels and both were wet, so i'll be pulling the rear door panels and checking the vapor barriers of both doors. Will probably just buy new barriers and replace them because i'm betting that they're probably torn from an overzealous previous technician.
There also was one night where the car was parked outside (it's usually garage parked) and it rained super heavy all night. In the morning, not only were the rear footwells soaked, but I had water that had collected in the front dome light. When I accelerated, it dripped out onto the center console. It only happened once though...when the car sat out all night in VERY heavy rain. Have not seen any other signs of water ingress in the same place since, and i've driven it through some regular rain storms. I suspect that maybe the water came in through the sunroof cartridge. Perhaps the water drains might be a little clogged and they just couldn't handle the sheer amount of water that was getting past the sunroof opening gasket. I'll need to drop the headliner just to inspect it though.

Audio cuts out intermittently, and I assume that it's the BM53 radio unit. It probably just needs to be replaced, but i'm torn. Eventually i'd like to go the NBT retrofit route, so it seems kinda pointless to replace the BM53 now and then later replace it all with the NBT hardware. That is...unless I can find a working BM53 for really cheap. Anyone have one for sale?

Another issue that popped up every once in a while was that the alarm would trigger really intermittently. So, I hooked up my ISID/ICOM A2 to the car so I could access the alarm counter with ISTA/D.





The 2 most common causes of false alarms are the hood switch and the interior sensor, but I had my money on the hood switch. According to the alarm counter, the hood switch had triggered the alarm over 30 times. Bingo. Needs a hood switch.

The last thing is that just the other day...like maybe last week, the driver's side window regulator decides to give up the ghost right when I pull up to a drive-up ATM. I had JUST used that window about 10 minutes earlier and it worked completely fine with no noise or signs of impending failure, but now that i'm sitting in the lane at the drive-up ATM it has to break. With a few cars behind me I had to open my car and practically get out so I could use the ATM. Fun. Guess it's time to pick up a new driver's side window regulator.

So I think that just about covers it. Nothing major and all the "issues" are typical for an e39. Am also planning on replacing the timing chain guides sometime soon. GoBlue said that the PO said that they were done at some point, but I couldn't find any receipts of service history stating that they were replaced so i'd rather err on the side of caution and just go ahead and replace them.

Anyway, that's it for now...next up, some minor changes or "mods" and my future mod plans for the car...

[gmak]

Where do you go in ISTA/D (Rheingold) to see what alarms have been triggered? Is that under faults for one of the modules in the 'module tree'?

[Mpowered02]

Where do you go in ISTA/D (Rheingold) to see what alarms have been triggered? Is that under faults for one of the modules in the 'module tree'?

I don't have Rheingold (latest version of ISTA/D) yet, but I assume that it's the same as the older ISTA/D (in terms of navigating around the software). For the E39 (as well as the E35 X5) in order to access the alarm counter you have to go into the older (DIS) system that's incorporated into ISTA/D. In order to get to it for the alarm, do the following:

After you've connected the ICOM, identified the vehicle, and run a short test, continue to the next page.
From there, select "activities" at the top. The select "Function Structure", "body", and scroll down the list to "locking and security functions" and select it. Select "Burglar alarm system (ZKE)" then click on "Start Search" at the lower right of the screen.

This will bring up a list of available options on the hit list. In the list there should be an ABL for the ZKE. Select it and hit "Display". This takes you into the older system.
Hit "next" until you get to the selection screen. From the list, select "Burglar alarm system (DWA)" and "confirm".
Then select "Expert Mode" and "Confirm".
Then select "Test Modules" and "Confirm".
In the Test Modules list the alarm Counter should be #1 on the list. If not scroll down and look for it. Select it and hit "Confirm" again then "next" on the following explanation screen.
It should then show all sensors that triggered the alarm and how many times, etc. Note though, that this alarm counter resets every time that the fault memory is cleared. If you're having false alarms and want to look at the alarm counter, make sure you look at it FIRST before going and clearing faults on the car, otherwise it will show up as no alarm triggers stored. Anyway, I hope that helps...let me know if you run into any trouble finding it and i'll try to help. Again, this is assuming that Rheingold is the same as the older ISTA/D that i'm using currently. I still need to upgrade the SSD HD on my laptop to fit the full, un-cloned copy of Rheingold on my diagnostic laptop so I haven't gotten to play with Rheingold just yet...

Also, in general for the E39 and E53, other modules can be accessed like this through the older system. For example, if you search for the ABL for the DME, you can access the older system for the engine electronics and get to Expert Mode and Test Modules that you might not be able to get to through the regular part of ISTA/D in Service Functions, etc....

[gmak]

Thank you very much.

[Mpowered02]

Thank you very much.

No problem...

On to some of the "mods" and future plans for the car. As I mentioned previously, I have a set of E39 fitment 18" AC Schnitzer Type II Rennsports:


Originally I picked them up to put them onto this car:


That was the '95 E34 525i I was driving for the 3 years we were in Manila. Was gonna ship the wheels out to Manila, but we ended deciding to move back to the US before I did. So, when I started looking for an E39, I was planning on having them rebuilt and refinished with custom offsets, and putting them onto whatever E39 I ended up with. I used to think 19's were too big, and hat 18's were the biggest diameter i'd run. However, after actually getting this StahlBlau Metallic touring with 19's on it, the 19's have grown on me. Now, I quite like the 19's. So i'll probably use the ACS Type II's as a secondary set of wheels for the E36. For the Touring, i'll probably eventually look for another set of legit 19's...would love a set of staggered BBS LM's...

For now i'll satiate myself by making the current 19" BBS reps look a little more to my liking. But first, I had a complete wheel stud conversion from my friends over at Motorsport Hardware that was leftover from my E34 as well, so figured i'd install it on the E39:






Now that the wheel studs were in place, it was time to change the look of the wheels more to my liking. I know a lot of people these days feel like black wheels are played out, but I don't care. I've always loved the look of black wheels so I figured since the 19's are reps i'd paint them to see how a StahlBlau Metallic Touring looks on black. If I hated it, it wasn't a big deal because they're reps.

First step was to wet sand the inside and outside of the wheels so the paint would stick better:


Once the wheels were sanded, cleaned and dried, I found a great use for those free pharmaceutical note pads:


2 thinner coats followed by a medium-heavy coat on both sides and they were done:




And some pics with the wheels back on the car:






I quite like it. Exactly the look I was going for. Anyway, that's it for now...more later. Have to take my daughter out to dinner...