Schwarz?

[blktoptrvl]

Ok, it is obvious, the suv has a toledo blue metallic...

But does anyone know what the schwarz (black) is in reference to?

My interior is black and truffle.
The engine bay is black. Are all engine bays black?

[Ricky Bobby]

i always thought that would be the interior leather, you said you had truffle brown leather though?

[TerminatorX5]

run your VIN through bmwvin.com, to see what was fitted at the factory...

[Qsilver7]

Originally Posted by blktoptrvl

Ok, it is obvious, the suv has a toledo blue metallic...

But does anyone know what the schwarz (black) is in reference to?

My interior is black and truffle.
The engine bay is black. Are all engine bays black?

The color in all CAPS is the exterior finish...the xxx/x (on the far left) is the color code...and the "schwarz" (in small letters) is your undercoat color (which you mention is also the color painted in your engine bay.

The undercoat color is not always schwarz (black)...it depends on if the final coat is one of the metallic colors that has an undertone...some do and some don't. And if your car does have an undertone/undercoat color...the engine bay will 99% of the time be the non-metallic color you see listed in small letters on the color label.

Here's some examples below:

My 99 540iT was Orient Blue...and you can see the color label has OrientBlau as the final exterior coat and dunkelblau (the non-metallic undercoat color)

Here's a color label from an e38 that is ImolaRot (Imolo Red)...the undercoat & engine bay is non-metallic ziegel (brick) red:

And here's another e38 color label that shows the exterior color as Anthracite Mettalic...and the undercoat (and engine bay) is painted in the same color but non-metallic anthracite:

[epdarks]

Qsilver... you have all the answers! Great info, never knew that, despite 10 years of being a so-called BMW enthusiast.

[90turbo1]

That is great info.

I was going to ask if he had Shiney black trim on the windows and mirrors. We were thinking that was stating it had the shiney trim. but your info was spot on after a bit of research on our end. also

[tmv]

Originally Posted by epdarks

Qsilver... you have all the answers! Great info, never knew that, despite 10 years of being a so-called BMW enthusiast.

I'm glad he's onboard since I have seen his contributions on other boards.

[blktoptrvl]

Originally Posted by Qsilver7

The color in all CAPS is the exterior finish...the xxx/x (on the far left) is the color code...and the "schwarz" (in small letters) is your undercoat color (which you mention is also the color painted in your engine bay.

The undercoat color is not always schwarz (black)...it depends on if the final coat is one of the metallic colors that has an undertone...some do and some don't. And if your car does have an undertone/undercoat color...the engine bay will 99% of the time be the non-metallic color you see listed in small letters on the color label.

Here's some examples below:

My 99 540iT was Orient Blue...and you can see the color label has OrientBlau as the final exterior coat and dunkelblau (the non-metallic undercoat color)

Here's a color label from an e38 that is ImolaRot (Imolo Red)...the undercoat & engine bay is non-metallic ziegel (brick) red:

And here's another e38 color label that shows the exterior color as Anthracite Mettalic...and the undercoat (and engine bay) is painted in the same color but non-metallic anthracite:

Thanks, great information there.

[X5SND]

You know that whole "with age comes wisdom" saying? ...That must make Qsilver7 pretty much ancient considering the amount he spits out on a regular basis!

Qsilver, always enjoy the informative posts, keep up the good work!!

[Qsilver7]

Glad I could share this tidbit. What led me down this path of discovery was the fascination with the subtle differences in a few shades of gray, blue, and silver that occured in the mid to late 90s. Like when BMW used Aspen & Arctic Silver on the early e38s then dropped them and went to Titanium Silver. I noticed that the Arctic Silver had a bluish undertone, and the Aspen Silver had a lavender undertone...then the Titanium was whiter as if it had a light silver or white undertone. While looking at the color labels, I noticed the other color in lower case letters...which really sparked my curiosity as to what it meant.

The undercoat revelation opened my eyes to the depth & sublte difference BMW could get in having several shades of silver, blue, green, gray, red, and browns/tans. Especially the colors like Stratus Gray that are kind of camelion-like and can look totally different based on the type of light it's seen in.