OP, I'm glad your 550i has great paint quality... I tend to be rather critical on fit and finish, likely because I also do my own washing and detailing. I'm not a car wash kinda guy. My perspective of 8 different luxury vehicles I've owned in metallic paint over the last 20 years:
- My former 2009 BMW 335i which I special ordered in metallic monaco blue was definitely the worst I have ever owned paint-wise. It's when I learned what orange peel was as it was clearly an issue on all panels. When I brought it up to my dealer upon delivery, I was told "they're all like that", and yes, IIRC most of the metallics on the lot were as I wandered around the lot before signing on the dotted line. Even with my performing some major paint correction upon delivery, I never got aggressive enough to see if I could really resolve the problem before I sold the 335i a couple years later. Hopefully metallic paint quality has improved since then.
- My former special-ordered MBZ SLK250 in diamond white metallic (multi-coat) was a little better than the BMW, but still had some orange peel visible in most lighting conditions. The larger problem with the MBZ was it had significant mis-matched coloration between the metal panels compared to the factory-installed sports bumpers and trim that were off by a tone or two. That drove me nuts, almost as much as the BMW orange peel did.
- The best paint I've had were on 5 different Lexus over the past 20 years -- all metallic paint -- variations of white, silver, lighter grey/green, dark grey, and very deep blue -- almost black. In my experience, Lexus had consistent high quality paint all around with none of the issues I had with either of my two German rides. I've always felt it's hard to top what Lexus provides either from Japan or their Canadian plant.
- My Tesla MS in Pearl White Multi-coat paint finish is not quite as good as any of my former Lexus, but it's way ahead of my former BMW and MBZ. The Tesla has no significant orange peel, and required only very minimal paint correction when I took delivery. (If you're into detailing, I only used very fine finishing Menzerna SF4500 -- nothing more aggressive was needed.) All panels and side mirrors match as they should. There are however, two flaws, a small nick under the clearcoat, and the other about the diamater of a pencil eraser where it looks like dirt or dust got into the process and wasn't caught by QC. Their locations are out-of-the-way where only I would probably ever see them, so I elected not to bring it to Tesla's attention, as what would be involved with resolution would likely be worse than the little annoyance each time I wash or detail my ride.
...so, based on what I've owned, IMHO the net is: Lexus is #1 with paint, fit & finish. Tesla #2. MBZ #3. BMW #4. ...and I do not plan to put any XPEL/Suntek wrap on my MS. Other threads you'll find around here with more pros/cons on all that. Having white makes my life a little easier if and when there is a stone chip to do a bit of touch-up.
