[hyde]

Can you tell?
My finding is when you are not looking at them side by side or right after they ware washed, it is impossible to tell which one is which.
Feel free to submit your guess, I am including multiple angles and brightness shots.




Left: BSM, Right: JB

Left: BSM, Right: JB

Left: BSM, Right: JB

[Red Bread]

Hard to tell in pics, but in person, it's very noticeable as SB has metal flake and JB is solid. I've owned JB and love it. I passed on a SB M Coupe because I just don't like SB, I really wish they'd offer JB as a choice on all cars.

[hyde]

Originally Posted by Red Bread

Hard to tell in pics, but in person, it's very noticeable as SB has metal flake and JB is solid. I've owned JB and love it. I passed on a SB M Coupe because I just don't like SB, I really wish they'd offer JB as a choice on all cars.

Glad I am not the only one who thinks Jet Black is actually a nice color, not that it's better than sapphire black but it is just as nice as any other paints. I sort of like it without the glitter that is present on SB. Like I said, it's very difficult to tell in person on a cloudy day (or partly cloudy like today) unless they have just been washed, otherwise any kind of dust particles on either one, they look a like with a slight variation to how dark they look, jet black looks like the true black while other is more sparkly black.
I am getting ready to place my X5 order, and if I can't decide in next couple of days I will end up going with jet black.
My next choice is dark graphite which looks like a royal gray, super dark gray, then space gray.

[GranSkyline]

My dad got a black sapphire 7 this last winter. Definitely has a beautiful dark blue hue in the sunlight. Otherwise, a very black paint job, haha

[PINeely]

BSM looks more like a dark dark grey in the sunlight. Jet black is just black, no flake

[mahlerbeatdown]

Originally Posted by Golden Horn

Glad I am not the only one who thinks Jet Black is actually a nice color, not that it's better than sapphire black but it is just as nice as any other paints. I sort of like it without the glitter that is present on SB. Like I said, it's very difficult to tell in person on a cloudy day (or partly cloudy like today) unless they have just been washed, otherwise any kind of dust particles on either one, they look a like with a slight variation to how dark they look, jet black looks like the true black while other is more sparkly black.
I am getting ready to place my X5 order, and if I can't decide in next couple of days I will end up going with jet black.
My next choice is dark graphite which looks like a royal gray, super dark gray, then space gray.

Mine is Jet Black, and when it's clean it probably stands out more than anything out there. Well maybe mine at least, because it's blacked out, shadowline, grills, tint, blacklines, etc. Anyways, the biggest problem.... cleaning it. Try not to touch the paint w/ towels. Seriously. Swirls everywhere. I will wash the car down with a power washer. I then foam it with a foam lance (look it up, it's awesome). I let it sit so the suds can breakup any stuck on dirt. I then rinse it again. If I see it's not clean enough, I'll foam it up again and slightly agitate the surface with a foam microfiber mitt. Spray it down once more and I then dry it with a master blaster blower, but some people use leaf blowers.

[SmallTownBoy]

This is purely anecdotal but... My buddy has a JB 128i. The moment he saw my BSM, he wished he'd ordered the metallic.

JB is a very nice colour, but does show swirls/microscratches easily. The metal flake in BSM helps mask that a bit.

[hyde]

Originally Posted by SmallTownBoy

This is purely anecdotal but... My buddy has a JB 128i. The moment he saw my BSM, he wished he'd ordered the metallic.

JB is a very nice colour, but does show swirls/microscratches easily. The metal flake in BSM helps mask that a bit.

Thanks for the info, when I looked at them with a tiny coat of dust, it's impossible to tell, like you said swirl marks will be visible IF you keep it super clean after a year or so, so if you don't then they are the same. But who keeps their bimmer dirty for long, right?

At the dealer, SA had to go and wipe both cars before he could tell which was which. Dust made the jet black look like sapphire. So sapphire is just a dusty jet black with dust in from of glitter embedded, and it looks absolutely gorgeous in the showroom with all those lights and they probably dust that baby every day and wipe off fingerprints. I can't imagine it how great it would look on a sunny day.

I guess next best thing is dark graphite. Like an old black.

[hyde]

Originally Posted by guemmerzeng

I really wish they'd offer JB as a choice on all cars.

The more I see it, I like jet black more, it's really dark black (how dark can black get? well jet black) Also sapphire black is extremely common now, but I may have said it, with Jet Black those tires better be black as much as possible because the faded rubber looks like sh*t against jet black body.

[kctim]

If you're willing to go the extra mile with careful and frequent car washing, go JB. Otherwise, Black Sapphire is for you.

[chumley]

I have BSM and if I were to do black again and had a choice, I'd do JB. BSM looks great too, so there's no wrong choice but the metallic flakes make the car look slightly dusty? or just not true black if the car is anything but spotless. No matter what it never looks as inky black as JB does.

Plus - despite what anyone says, all of the metallic colors are SO hard to paint match or touch up. Even painting a whole bumper doesn't mean it's going to match the rest of the car depending on the lighting.

[hyde]

Originally Posted by chumley

I have BSM and if I were to do black again and had a choice, I'd do JB. BSM looks great too, so there's no wrong choice but the metallic flakes make the car look slightly dusty? or just not true black if the car is anything but spotless. No matter what it never looks as inky black as JB does.

Plus - despite what anyone says, all of the metallic colors are SO hard to paint match or touch up. Even painting a whole bumper doesn't mean it's going to match the rest of the car depending on the lighting.

Exactly my thoughts.
What do you guys use to keep the tires super black (not just shiny)? My only complaint is that with F15 xLine we have unpainted wheel arches, so those wheel arches look like what they are, just plastic, I don't mind those, maybe I can use back to black on them, but do you recommend anything else to keep the tires as black as possible?

I think I might still go with JetBlack but I am going back and forth between Imperial Blue & Space Gray
I just saw an imperial blue at dealer, it does look pretty cool, I posted a few pictures here: http://f15.bimmerpost.com/forums/sho...4&postcount=26 but sadly that one has painted arches.

[Red Bread]

303 works great on tires and unpainted trim. It's not very durable, but it's also not greasy so it doesn't get slung all over the place.

[JeM9]

Hard to tell in picture, but I'd go with jet black! Actually, that's what I have! It does get dusty fast though.

[hyde]

Originally Posted by JeM9

Hard to tell in picture, but I'd go with jet black! Actually, that's what I have! It does get dusty fast though.

I have a California Duster in the back seat floor and I grabbed that A LOT more frequently when I had a black ride compared to my Deep Sea Blue now. When clean Black looks just amazing, actually not as amazing with xLine wheels but too bad I can't use 20's in NYC with the amount of snow and pot holes we got up here.

[JeM9]

Originally Posted by Golden Horn

I have a California Duster in the back seat floor and I grabbed that A LOT more frequently when I had a black ride compared to my Deep Sea Blue now. When clean Black looks just amazing, actually not as amazing with xLine wheels but too bad I can't use 20's in NYC with the amount of snow and pot holes we got up here.

I should look into a California Duster! I agree, it looks amazing.

[CaliE90]

if you want m-sport, you can only do jet black. black sapphire is not an option on the F10 m-sport. This is opposite of other BMW models but that's just how it is.

[hyde]

Originally Posted by Jz

if you want m-sport, you can only do jet black. black sapphire is not an option on the F10 m-sport. This is opposite of other BMW models but that's just how it is.

Thanks, I think this gets posted in every sub forum, I am originally in F15 and F15 M Sport comes with Black Sapphire, while I would actually like Jet Black. So I might go with xLine instead.

[jiggz]

Paint color choice is obviously subjective, even with 2 colors that are so close in color like BSM and JB. In person, even if it's cloudy, you can defintely tell the difference as long as you're up close.

I had a BSM 3 series years ago and it's still one of my favorite colors. I like JB too, but I just prefer a metallic paint.

Someone above said BSM has a dark blue hue - I never noticed this in all my years of having a BSM car. When clean, in direct sunlight, you could say it looks like a very dark graphite color - very dark.

[hyde]

To update everyone, Left: BSM, Right: JB in the pictures I attached in the first post.

[m_thompson]

Originally Posted by Jz

if you want m-sport, you can only do jet black. black sapphire is not an option on the F10 m-sport. This is opposite of other BMW models but that's just how it is.

When I ordered my M-Sport 128i a few years ago I had to get BSM, jet black was not available.

[z4ps]

JET BLACK