Orange peel?

[Yosheego]

Been reading around a lot and discovered what orange peel was...
Somebody tell me this is NOT orange peel!!!

Here it is...

[SVT Lightning]

Re: Orange peel?

Sorry man.....it is. Is that factory or a re-paint?

[Murr1525]

Re: Orange peel?

Yeah... not that bad, no point worrying much about it.

[Yosheego]

Re: Orange peel?

Sorry man.....it is. Is that factory or a re-paint?

It's factory.

The only way would probably be wet sanding it right?

[Murr1525]

Re: Orange peel?

Yeah... but factory paint isnt usually thick enough to recomend sanding.

[SVT Lightning]

Re: Orange peel?

Yup...just gotta live with it. From a distance, it's usually not noticeable. My truck has it but you really don't notice it except at certain angles.

[Yosheego]

Re: Orange peel?

oh man. It's an eye sore, now that I know what it is and like to have high shiny car. From a distant, it's not noticeable I agree. But we all on this forum for a reason, to get our cars looking as sharp as we can. hehe.

What would it typically cost, to have a professional wet sand it?

[tomsteve]

Re: Orange peel?

i'm just a greenhorn but know enough to get me in trouble and learnng when that is. factory clear is really thin. after talking with some folks that detail, some that paint for a living(and have been doing it for a long time are are very good at it), and going against the grain and trying to sand factory OP out ( and going through the clear and having to reshoot a fender), i found the best solution is to either buff it up nice and shiney or sand with 400 and shoot 3 coats of clear. a few have wanted it buffed up as is and a few have had me shoot more clear. with adding more clear, i can get it flat without the concern of sanding through.
the cost can vary. i persoanlly decided i wont wet sand factory clear. to risky and any mistakes come out of my pocket to fix. for a reclear, it depends. if i have to do all of the prepwork, and all materials included, sand and buff after, price starts at $700. if the car is brought over prepped, all materials are purchased by owner of car and all i have to do is shoot clear and buff after, price starts at $300. many variables involved to change the price.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Orange peel?

It's orange peel. It's a factory paint job. The two go hand in hand. If you paid somewhere between $10,000 and $100,000 for your car it's going to have orange peel. If you paid more than $100,000 for your car, it probably still has it. Now, if you've fully restored a car, or built a custom ride, and you paid $10,000 or more just for the paint job, then orange peel should be almost non existent.

In theory could you wet sand it? Sure, but if you did so to factory paint and removed the orange peel completely you would have such an incredibly thin clear coat left behind that you could never really do a full correction on it again - there just won't be enough clear left to do it safely. Get a scratch and you're done - there isn't enough clear left to remove it safely. Park the car outside for most of it's life and you'll likely get early clear coat failure - there isn't enough clear left to protect the color coat below it, and the majority of your UV screeners have been sanded away.

We're all for doing everything we can to keep even our daily drivers looking their absolute best, but sometimes you need to know where to draw the line, even if just for your own sanity!