BMW->ke178 offers 230 different color options to its clients. You would think that having that many choices would be enough variety for every one of its discerning customers. But in case buyers really want a special paint finish for their Bimmers, the German automaker has one just for them. It’s called the Pure Metal Silver paint and according to BMW, it’s the most exclusive paint color the company has ever produced.

Beyond the musings of its exclusivity lies an application process that’s probably the most meticulous I’ve ever seen on any vehicle. The paint process takes place in BMW’s paint shop in Ingelfingen where the chassis must be removed from the normal production process.

Once the paint preparation is done, the chassis is sent to a “finishing box” where every inch of the body is carefully examined to see if there are any uneven surfaces on the panels. Once that step is finished, the body is then coated with a Glacier Silver Metallic finish before another inspection takes place to ensure that the surface of the body is completely perfect. Any flaw, no matter how minuscule, is taken care of before the car goes through its final painting process.

If everything checks out, the body is sent to the paint line for special vehicles where it’s first cleaned with compressed air before the application of the Pure Metal Silver coat happens. To do that, an electrostatic system paints the first 70 percent of the color before the remaining 30 percent is painted by a pneumatic system, neither of which I know anything about. Careful attention is paid in this process because it’s important that every metallic flake is painted in the same direction, otherwise the whole effect of the paint will be ruined. When the painting is done, a final round of polishing and inspection is done before the chassis leaves the paint shop and heads back to the production line.

The intricate details and the complicated process behind the creation of the Pure Metal Silver color certainly qualifies it as BMW’s most exclusive paint color. But it’s far more than just being the most exclusive paint finish in BMW's myriad of color options; it’s also the most expensive paint color the company has in its portfolio with a price of €8,000 (almost $10,000 as of 12/3/14).

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