2010 BMW Touch Up Paint (57 OEM Colors)

The 2010 BMW Vibe

Welcome to 2010, the year BMW decided that if a color didn't come in three different shades of "Silver" or "Metallic Gray," it probably wasn't worth spraying. Whether you were rocking a 3 Series (E90), a 5 Series (E60/F10), or the chunky X5, the palette was all about that "liquid metal" look. With 57 colors in our database for this year alone, it's clear the Bavarians were obsessed with variety-even if half those colors, like Space Gray Metallic and Titan Silver, look nearly identical to the untrained eye. If you were lucky enough to snag an M3 or M5 in Interlagos Blue or Melbourne Red, you were the outlier in a sea of monochrome executive sedans.

Paint Health Check

Since we're firmly in the Thin Paint Era, you've got to understand one thing: efficiency was the name of the game in 2010. The factory robots in Munich were calibrated for speed and "just enough" coverage. This means your clear coat is likely on the brittle side. The most common complaint from this era? Rock chips that look like someone went at your hood with a buckshot. Because the coats are thin, they don't "flex" when a pebble hits; they just pop off. You'll also notice that famous "orange peel" texture-a slight dimpling in the reflection that proves a machine, not a human, held the spray gun.

Restoration Tip

When you're fixing those ubiquitous rock chips on a 2010 Bimmer, do not try to "blob" the paint in one go. Because the factory finish is so thin and tight, a big glob of touch-up will sit on top of the surface like a sore thumb and won't level out. Instead, build your layers slowly. Dab a tiny amount into the crater, let it dry, and repeat until it's just a hair below the surrounding clear coat. If you try to sand it flat like the old lacquer days, you'll burn through that thin factory clear faster than an M5 burns through a set of rear tires. Slow and steady wins the race here.