• Welcome to the BMW Scooter Forums. Member registration disables ads and allows you to post and share. Register Here.

Battery cover replacement - "blank" color?

L

lipusal

New member
Joined
Jun 13, 2026
Messages
3
Location
California
Visit site
Hi all, so happy to have found this forum! I'm looking to get a second battery cover for my '19 C400X, Alpine White. I'm going to be drilling holes for holding stuff and I want to have a backup for when I inevitably screw things up. Looks like the part number for this is 46638388899. However, most places where I find this part have the word "blank" in it or talk about a motorcycle color other than Alpine White. From a little searching it looks like all motorcycle colors have the same color battery cover - grey - but the "blank" is tripping me up. I then ran into this vendor from the Netherlands which shows a truly white, unpainted part, so my question is: Does that part come painted in grey to match my existing battery cover? If not, what's the correct part number? I'm attaching a picture as reference.

This will be my first part purchase so I appreciate your help with this beginner's question. Lastly, if you have vendor recommendations for purchasing parts in the US, they will be more than welcome. Thank you!
 

Attachments

  • PXL_20260613_162612816.webp
    PXL_20260613_162612816.webp
    1.3 MB · Views: 7
1) Welcome to the forum.

2) Regarding the link you cited for the vendor in the Netherlands -- www.cmsnl.com/bmw-c-400-x-0c09-0c19-2019_model58775/battery-cover-blank_46638388899/ -- it shows up in my desktop browsers (Firefox, with a lot of security add-ons, and Safari, with no add-blockers, etc.) not as white, but just another needs-to-be-painted "Rohteil/Blank" piece (which, as you can see, they call BATTERY COVER BLANK).

Here's my screen grab of that page:

CleanShot 2026-06-13 at 14.04.52@2x.webp

3) Doing a search for bmw c400x battery cover alpine white, Google's AI response (which, like all AI responses, may or may not be correct) asserts the following:

CleanShot 2026-06-13 at 14.06.49@2x.webp

This really surprised me, but after some minutes researching Beemer parts places seems to be the case.

I mean, not only did I look for your Alpine White cover (with or without that U751 paint code -- see, for instance, www.bike-parts-bmw.com/bmw-motorcycle/C%20400/2018/C_400_X_-0C09_0C19_/Body-equipment/Trimpanel-components-U751-alpine-white-3/9/51_A132/51/607340C09) just revealed a boatload of those "Rohteil/Blank" parts.

And then I went looking for body parts for my "Callisto Gray Metallic" C 400 GT, at a typical parts fiche site, e.g., https://shop.maxbmw.com/fiche/partsfiche.aspx.

Some individual body parts that are actually painted in a bike's advertised color, such as the right or left "rear trim panel," show up as "Rohteil/Blank,," with no other info.

However, those same originally painted parts are also grouped together, for color purposes, e.g.:

CleanShot 2026-06-13 at 14.46.34@2x.webp

But since they have identical part numbers to the "Rohteil/Blank" parts, I'm left to surmise that those paint codes mean, "you want it, you buy it, you paint it yourself, using the paint that corresponds to those codes."

3) As I say, this surprises me. At different times, I owned two Burgman 650 scooters, for a total of 11 years, and so occasionally needed to buy some body parts. Suzuki, however, offered those replacement parts painted from the factory, with each part that differed only in color having a different part number, e.g.:

CleanShot 2026-06-13 at 15.25.28@2x.webp

I had assumed that BMW bodywork replacement parts would work the same way, but now I think otherwise.

Perhaps someone who's actually purchased specifically colored bodywork parts for our scooters could chime in here, and settle the matter.

4) I've actually drilled a few holes through bodywork myself, in both my former '22 C 400 GT and in my current '23 C 400 GT. It just takes the best planning you can do, and nerves of steel. From my C 400 GT gallery: https://billanddot.com/C400GT/#S-28, https://billanddot.com/C400GT/#S-59, and https://billanddot.com/C400GT/#S-137.

If you're worried, one possibility might be for you to buy the replacement battery cover, in its apparently stock gray color, for $65 or so. And then do the "first take" of your mod on that replacement part. Once you're satisfied that it came out okay, duplicate your work on your original white part, perhaps using your first-take-cover as a template.

That's all I got.

In any event, good luck on your quest, and on your mod.
 
So cool to get a response from you sir, thank you! Actually your posts about modifying your own 400GT inspired me to start tinkering with mine =)

Thanks for the detailed response. Until we hear from someone else, I will try calling a nearby dealer to see if they have any info to add, and we'll see where we go from there.
 
lipusal said:
So cool to get a response from you sir, thank you! Actually your posts about modifying your own 400GT inspired me to start tinkering with mine =)

Thanks for the detailed response. Until we hear from someone else, I will try calling a nearby dealer to see if they have any info to add, and we'll see where we go from there.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the kind words.

Probably the most nerve-wracking mod I made through bodywork was on my '12 Victory Cross Country Tour. I added a Powerlet socket (as I do to all my bikes), and the placement of the hole for the socket was pretty critical -- I wound up using mayonnaise to help me out. Check out the first ten or so pics:

 
@wspollack so I called my local dealer and they confirmed that the part is most likely unpainted. I will probably end up getting the part just for test and fitting, and then repeat in my original part as suggested. Out of curiosity though, do you know how could go about painting the part myself if I wanted? The U751 paint code is Alpine White - but the cover itself is grey, as per the picture in my original post. Should I look for Granite Grey? What's the code for that, and where can I obtain matching paint? Most parts websites don't seem to contain paint, seems like that's a whole other wheelhouse. Most search results show touch-up kits for cars - the colors may match, but I'm doing more than a little touch-up.

In any case, thanks for your help =)
 
lipusal said:
@wspollack so I called my local dealer and they confirmed that the part is most likely unpainted. I will probably end up getting the part just for test and fitting, and then repeat in my original part as suggested. Out of curiosity though, do you know how could go about painting the part myself if I wanted? The U751 paint code is Alpine White - but the cover itself is grey, as per the picture in my original post. Should I look for Granite Grey? What's the code for that, and where can I obtain matching paint? Most parts websites don't seem to contain paint, seems like that's a whole other wheelhouse. Most search results show touch-up kits for cars - the colors may match, but I'm doing more than a little touch-up.

In any case, thanks for your help =)
Click to expand...
Sorry, nope, I know nothing about paint and painting.

The most I’ve ever done was a dab from those tiny touch-up bottles, to cover a rock chip, and I even screwed that up.

I’ve read that some body shops have paint-matching scanners, and so can work from that. Surely there are some experts in this realm on the forum …
 
lipusal said:
Hi all, so happy to have found this forum! I'm looking to get a second battery cover for my '19 C400X, Alpine White. I'm going to be drilling holes for holding stuff and I want to have a backup for when I inevitably screw things up. Looks like the part number for this is 46638388899. However, most places where I find this part have the word "blank" in it or talk about a motorcycle color other than Alpine White. From a little searching it looks like all motorcycle colors have the same color battery cover - grey - but the "blank" is tripping me up. I then ran into this vendor from the Netherlands which shows a truly white, unpainted part, so my question is: Does that part come painted in grey to match my existing battery cover? If not, what's the correct part number? I'm attaching a picture as reference.

This will be my first part purchase so I appreciate your help with this beginner's question. Lastly, if you have vendor recommendations for purchasing parts in the US, they will be more than welcome. Thank you!
Click to expand...
lipusal said:
@wspollack so I called my local dealer and they confirmed that the part is most likely unpainted. I will probably end up getting the part just for test and fitting, and then repeat in my original part as suggested. Out of curiosity though, do you know how could go about painting the part myself if I wanted? The U751 paint code is Alpine White - but the cover itself is grey, as per the picture in my original post. Should I look for Granite Grey? What's the code for that, and where can I obtain matching paint? Most parts websites don't seem to contain paint, seems like that's a whole other wheelhouse. Most search results show touch-up kits for cars - the colors may match, but I'm doing more than a little touch-up.

In any case, thanks for your help =)
Click to expand...
 
henitsl said:
Click to expand...

wspollack said:
The word BLANK in that listing you cited implies gray, not white, as discussed earlier in this thread.

(This presumably unpainted part seems to be available at most BMW dealers, as well as many resellers worldwide.)
Click to expand...
Should not be difficul to paint it white yourself, or bring it to a body shop for painting. Main thing is you can get the part. Painting it is the easy part once you have the part you want.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top