Orange peel???

[garcmol]

? I know what it looks like, and on this forum I've seen some of the nicest looking paint with what I'm sure has been corrected and pampered.

 

My question is, where does this "orange peel" effect take place? Is it in the base coat paint? The clear? Further down with the primer? If it's in the clear, will the PC eventually smooth it down for a mirror finish?

 

I drive a '10 Camaro and I've worked on the hood religiously to get the "dealer prep", scratches/swirls, out of the hood and I think I did well. But it seems other areas of the car have this peel effect.

 

I think you can see what I mean on the attached picture. Looks like rippling water.

 

Am I just being paranoid or is this something I can rectify? Thanks!

[DIAZ 87]

Thats insane,a new car with orange peel???? So i shouldn't feel that bad about my GN that has some orange peel on the front clip of the car:(

[Superdutytd]

Not to threadjack here but I will be ordering one of the kits soon and happen to have a Mercedes. When you say aggressive exactly how aggressive are we talking? Should I be ordering the yellow pad right off the bat? The car isn't that old (about 3 months around 1500 miles) and mostly has swirls I assume from the dealership washing it while on the lot. Thanks in advance!!

 

 

It depends. I don't beleive that all mercedes use it.

[Michael415]

Ceramic clear coat is something Mercedes has done for a while now, its harder than hell and takes some pretty aggressive stuff to correct, but its also more resistant to scratches/swirling.

 

Think of it as a blend of clear coat and ceramic coating (like for headers) basically makes the outer layer harder... that 599 from the video shoot most definitely was not ceramic clear, or if it was it was very soft ceramiclear.

 

Not to threadjack here but I will be ordering one of the kits soon and happen to have a Mercedes. When you say aggressive exactly how aggressive are we talking? Should I be ordering the yellow pad right off the bat? The car isn't that old (about 3 months around 1500 miles) and mostly has swirls I assume from the dealership washing it while on the lot. Thanks in advance!!

[Dr Jkel]

So what do you do if you have to have your car painted?

[ss-truck]

Shane , you could get plenty of practice before starting on one of your projects.

[Superdutytd]

As fun as that sounds I was thinking more along the lines of something that I owned, lol

[ss-truck]

Shane if you want to spend some time water sanding and buffing, spend some time with me on my show paint work. It's really tough and hard work but oh so satisfying when I finish. I wet sand in between layers and it really pays off in the finished product. The factories can not afford to spend this much time on production paint work and the average customer will not pay for that quality paint work.

[Superdutytd]

Thats insane,a new car with orange peel???? So i shouldn't feel that bad about my GN that has some orange peel on the front clip of the car:(

 

All new cars come with it.

 

One day I will build some sort of project car or have some show car painted with tons of clear I can wetsand the hell outta and buff to perfection

[Bill-V8V]

Correct, they do use a cerami-clear but just like anything else no two are exactly the same, I've never polished the Ferrari version of the cerami-clear but I do know the MB stuff is extremely hard :help:

[Chewy]

Not sure Dylan. Check out the video and move up to 28:30 which will take you to the top coat portion.

 

The primer on the car is actually powder coat and backed on...

 

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-297437164506227134#

[garcmol]

I just had always heard the term and knew what it was. Could point it out, but didn't know which layer it was on. That's a factory option that was hidden in the fine print I guess. Got a kick out of that!

[Team Adam's]

They use what they call a "ceramic" clear coat. Not sure what that means but I watched the show Amazing Factories (or something like that) and they were building a 599 which IMO is F'ing amazing...

 

Ceramic clear coat is something Mercedes has done for a while now, its harder than hell and takes some pretty aggressive stuff to correct, but its also more resistant to scratches/swirling.

 

Think of it as a blend of clear coat and ceramic coating (like for headers) basically makes the outer layer harder... that 599 from the video shoot most definitely was not ceramic clear, or if it was it was very soft ceramiclear.

[Chewy]

All cars come with factory installed orange peel... its part of the deal... and don't think GM's is any worse than some of the most expensive paint out there. The Ferrari 599GTB that was the subject of the instructional DVD had TERRIBLE orange peel, I'd venture to say worse than whats on most average cars or trucks.

 

They use what they call a "ceramic" clear coat. Not sure what that means but I watched the show Amazing Factories (or something like that) and they were building a 599 which IMO is F'ing amazing...

[Chris@Adams]

Orange Peel is pretty much going to happen any time it gets painted. It's just that good paint jobs include MANY hours of wet sanding the color coat as well as the clear coat to make a flawless job.

 

Chris

 

All cars come with factory installed orange peel... its part of the deal... and don't think GM's is any worse than some of the most expensive paint out there. The Ferrari 599GTB that was the subject of the instructional DVD had TERRIBLE orange peel, I'd venture to say worse than whats on most average cars or trucks.

 

:iagree:

[Team Adam's]

All cars come with factory installed orange peel... its part of the deal... and don't think GM's is any worse than some of the most expensive paint out there. The Ferrari 599GTB that was the subject of the instructional DVD had TERRIBLE orange peel, I'd venture to say worse than whats on most average cars or trucks.

[Chewy]

Orange Peel is pretty much going to happen any time it gets painted. It's just that good paint jobs include MANY hours of wet sanding the color coat as well as the clear coat to make a flawless job.

 

Chris

[garcmol]

Thank you! I think I can live with it vs. breaking out sandpaper. Now, 10 years down the road.... who knows. Appreciate your help.

[DCRANER]

Orange peel is the clear coat. Just the real world of factory paint work. Probably not much you can do as there would have to be enough mils thickness of clear to wet sand it down flat and buff out with compound.

 

You could have a local body shop check the mils of the clear, but again probably not a whole lot there from the factory. There might be enough to sand with 3000 to help a little, but 3000 takes off so little the peel will not all go away.

 

On quality restorations you would sand the clear coat with 1500, then 2000, then 3000, then buff out, result is flat and clear as glass.