[Sophisto]

I want to apply Lumilor Paint (an electroluminescent paint, see here https://www.lumilor.com/) to the i8s front kidney respectively to the accentuated part of it.

Has anyone experience with that or done it to another car?

Any information welcome!

[JasH]

Could work well on all the blue accents.

[Louv]

Did you watch the training videos? It's a very interesting and complex paint process. I think I counted 10 different coats of paint, lots of careful masking for each different layer, power cables, jb-weld, etc.

Can be done. Probably only by professional paint shops. Probably pretty expensive... but I guess expensive is relative.

Would be very cool though.

[Sophisto]

Meanwhile I ordered both kidney halves. There is just one(!) shop/painter in Germany who is licensed in doing this kind of painting. I talked to this guy, he seems to be pretty experienced in it. I. e. he did the Formula E Safety Car already and worked for AC Schnitzer. I will send the parts to him now for painting. His price is 1 Euro per square cm for the painting which is quite expensive. Imagine the costs of painting a whole chassis...
In addition to this there will be costs for changing the kidney plus connecting them to the cars electrical system. Lumi-Lights will be controlled by app! Flashing, pulsing, on/off.... All in all we are talking about 1500 Euro.

Of course I will show the result here.

[Amgeater2]

Why do such of thing ? when you can wrap any part of the car with reflective vinyl of ANY color... same outcome

[Sophisto]

Originally Posted by Amgeater2

Why do such of thing ? when you can wrap any part of the car with reflective vinyl of ANY color... same outcome

Easy answer: There is no luminescence in wrapping. A wrap is not flashing or pulsing and it is not visible in the dark.
And as the i8 is already pretty much different to other cars, I like to have my i8 different to other i8s.

Update:
Meanwhile I sent the kidney parts to the paint shop. I will have to wait for 3-4 weeks now as the guys are very busy at the moment.
As the LumiLor paint itself is more outshining grey than the original "frozen grey" it finally will be coated with a very thin layer of BMWs original "frozen grey" for giving the car an 100% original look whenever LumiLor-luminescence is switched off.

[Amgeater2]

Originally Posted by Sophisto

Easy answer: There is no luminescence in wrapping. A wrap is not flashing or pulsing and it is not visible in the dark.
And as the i8 is already pretty much different to other cars, I like to have my i8 different to other i8s.

Update:
Meanwhile I sent the kidney parts to the paint shop. I will have to wait for 3-4 weeks now as the guys are very busy at the moment.
As the LumiLor paint itself is more outshining grey than the original "frozen grey" it finally will be coated with a very thin layer of BMWs original "frozen grey" for giving the car an 100% original look whenever LumiLor-luminescence is switched off.

I get what you are saying but did you read my post "Reflective Vinyl" it's not the same as regular vinyl.. see the picture below.

[Sophisto]

Are you sure that the picture really shows "reflective vinyl"? It looks more luminescensing than reflecting - exactly like a LumiLor painting.

I had reflecting foils/wraps before, but they never lit that strong. And as the name says they need to be hit by another light source to reflect it.

But maybe I missed some years of vinyl development... Do you know any manufacturers or dealers of this stuff?
Thank you!

[Sophisto]

Update: Kidneys are painted now.
The pic is showing one of them connected during a test run - awesome effect, I really like it.
Kidneys will be mounted and connected next Friday. More pics to come then.

[Amgeater2]

Originally Posted by Sophisto

Update: Kidneys are painted now.
The pic is showing one of them connected during a test run - awesome effect, I really like it.
Kidneys will be mounted and connected next Friday. More pics to come then.

I like it but its not something I will do... also the person doing the taping/prep before paiting or applying the luminor can do a better job, those lines look no bueno.

[Sophisto]

Originally Posted by Amgeater2

...also the person doing the taping/prep before paiting or applying the luminor can do a better job, those lines look no bueno.

Yeah, I noted the poor taping job as well. The picture has been taken two weeks ago. After my complaint about the quality of their painting job they did it a second time. Will see the result next Friday.
(They will not get paid before I am 100% satisfied! )

[Aye-eight]

Looks like a pretty cool thing. Do you have to run this by the authorities ("TÜV"), as you're technically adding light sources to the car?

[Sophisto]

Originally Posted by Aye-eight

Looks like a pretty cool thing. Do you have to run this by the authorities ("TÜV"), as you're technically adding light sources to the car?

Yes, you are right:
There is no way to get it passed through a German TÜV check... But they also will never find it when switched off...

It is only legal as long as you drive on private ground or the car is parked.

I don't want to have it switched on all the time anyway. Therefore I take a bit of a risk. (Worst case would be getting a ticket about 20-30 Euro...)

[Nachbar]

Originally Posted by Sophisto

Yes, you are right:
There is no way to get it passed through a German TÜV check... But they also will never find it when switched off...

It is only legal as long as you drive on private ground or the car is parked.

I don't want to have it switched on all the time anyway. Therefore I take a bit of a risk. (Worst case would be getting a ticket about 20-30 Euro...)

I'm pretty sure, in Switzerland you'd loose your drvers licence, or a real high fine. So if you plan to come over sometime, you better never switch it on.

[Sophisto]

Originally Posted by Nachbar

I'm pretty sure, in Switzerland you'd loose your drvers licence, or a real high fine. So if you plan to come over sometime, you better never switch it on.

I got some buddies in Bern and in the Zürich region. Therefore I know about the fines in switzerland...
The swiss police is also allowed to confiscate and selling(!) the car if they catch you speeding because they interprete speeding as a use of weapon.

Same in Italy and Denmark. But not for speeding, "only" for driving drunk.

My license would not be touched by that. I m just wouldn't be allowed to drive in Switzerland anymore...
(Swiss authorities do report this to German authorities, but they don't forward it to German courts.)

Maybe this could be the reason that you see quite a number of Aston Martins, Lambos, Ferraris and Co. with swiss number plates hitting german Autobahns on weekends.

Anyway: I want to keep my i8 and promise always to be a good boy as soon as I pass the borderline.

[Nachbar]

Originally Posted by Sophisto

I got some buddies in Bern and in the Zürich region. Therefore I know about the fines in switzerland...
The swiss police is also allowed to confiscate and selling(!) the car if they catch you speeding because they interprete speeding as a use of weapon.

Same in Italy and Denmark. But not for speeding, "only" for driving drunk.

My license would not be touched by that. I m just wouldn't be allowed to drive in Switzerland anymore...
(Swiss authorities do report this to German authorities, but they don't forward it to German courts.)

Maybe this could be the reason that you see quite a number of Aston Martins, Lambos, Ferraris and Co. with swiss number plates hitting german Autobahns on weekends.

Anyway: I want to keep my i8 and promise always to be a good boy as soon as I pass the borderline.

If I would loose my drivers licence in Germany, I would loose it also in Switzerlad, because of ?Schengen". Are you sure it's not the same the other way round?

[Sophisto]

Originally Posted by Nachbar

If I would loose my drivers licence in Germany, I would loose it also in Switzerlad, because of ?Schengen". Are you sure it's not the same the other way round?

Yes, see here: https://www.fahrverbot.com/schweiz/ (in German language)
Maybe that depends on details of the "Schengen Durchführungsabkommen"? I am not a lawyer and my license has never been confiscated (knock on wood).

Back to topic:
The kidneys are installed and connected meanwhile. There are 10 different programs available now. The remote control also allows increase/decrease of flashing intervals. If switched off you can't spot any difference to the original kidneys as the Lumilor paint has as thin overlay of frozen grey.
All in all nine(!) layers of paint.

Some pics of wiring and installing

I will record and upload a video these days as this will tell more than words.

[Sophisto]

One more detail:
Pic no. 3 shows the installing location of the AC inverter (black box, right behind the tank)
If your car is equipped with "Acoustic pedestrian protection (S4U9A)" you have to look for another place as the vehicle sound generator is already mounted there.

Video of the different effect programs @ slow speed:
[Origininal Link not available anymore - Link to youtube posted in further reply]

[fishpond]

Originally Posted by Sophisto

One more detail:
Pic no. 3 shows the installing location of the AC inverter (black box, right behind the tank)
If your car is equipped with "Acoustic pedestrian protection (S4U9A)" you have to look for another place as the vehicle sound generator is already mounted there.

Video of the different effect programs @ slow speed:

http://www.andreas-schnarr.de/LumiLor_i8_kurz.wmv

Looks cool

Can you upload the video to Youtube?

[icegbear19]

Turn off the LIGHTS!!!

[Sophisto]

Originally Posted by fishpond

Looks cool

Can you upload the video to Youtube?

Sure:

https://youtu.be/NDP4RK177gc