Help with orange peel!

[Guest]

Hi all,

so a few months ago i set out to paint my Jet Ski. I did all the proper prep work (body filler, sanding, grease remover, primer, ect). Last weekend I finally got to painting, I did a glossy black auto paint and I used a cheap gun I bought from harbor freight. throughout the job I noticed orange peel was developing as soon as the paint hit the surface. I believe this could have been because of the wrong gun settings or that i had the pressure to low.

well now my entire surface is covered in orange peel and I would like to try and remove it. I'm not too concered about messing up the paint because I still have more than enough to redo it and it really couldnt get much worse.

I plan on wet sanding with 1500 grit then going to 2000 grit and then buffing it, does this seem like the right thing to do?
I have not sprayed clearcoat yet and I was thinking about just waxing it if it comes out nice, any thoughts on that?
I also own a rotary buffer but the jet ski does not really have large enough flat surfaces so I would have to buff it by hand, can that be do? i know it will take time.

Thanks for any input,
CJ

[Markus Kleis]

Re: Help with orange peel!

Hi CJ, welcome to MOL.

A few things come to mind. First and foremost, be prepared for a pretty hefty amount of work to level the paint - especially if the orange peel is as severe as you suggest. Unfortunately, no amount of wax will even begin to hige orange peel... it just isn't made for that.

As for the sanding, especially if you have to buff it by hand, you will want to work your way up from the 1,500 in increments of 500, and you should consider finishing out at 3,000 - or at least 2,500 at a minimum. You could use M105 by hand, and I would suggest trying out the Meguiar's Professional 3'' Hand Pad to really leverage your pressure and evenly distribute it to avoid uneven compounding. The M105 should finish out fairly well, and should remove the sanding marks completely.

A high quality wet sand paper is also key as lower quality alternatives will be more prone to uneven sanding and possible deep scratches left behind. After the M105, you have many options based on what is available, but M205 is the intended follow-up product for M105.

[CJA]

Re: Help with orange peel!

thanks for the response,

My dad went out to the store today to pick up the sand paper. the guy at the store told him to use 1500 and then buff. From what i've read this is incorrect, like you said, whe should start with 1500 and work our way up. would only using 1500 just make more work for us when we go to buff?

as for the wax, I had planned on sanding and buffing and then when the orange peel is out I was going to wax instead of clearcoat. Im just worried i'll end up getting more orange peel when i spray the clearcoat. anyone have any experience with waxing instead of clearcoat?

thanks,
CJ

[thepanchmx]

No need to remove orange peel from base coat if you are planing to clear coat it, other case if you are leaving on single stage ypu need to sand buff polish and 2 months later wax it, in order to let the paint breath and full cure it, the last process is used too uf you have orange perl on clear coat.

[CJA]

Re: Help with orange peel!

ok this all sounds good. do I need to wait 2 months to wax? what are the cons of not waiting?

Thanks

[hypergolica]

Re: Help with orange peel!

To begin with we would need to know the type of paint "System" you used. Was it single, two or three-stage paint? Is it urethane or enamel paint? Is there metal flake or pearl in the paint? I'm tending to believe that you used a single stage paint. There are many good, knowledgeable and experienced painters out there that would argue for and against wet sanding single stage paint. I myself would not wet sand single-stage paint for a variety of reasons but again........many would argue the point. The finest of painters out there will always get some amount of orange peel in the paint. It's just a fact of life. The real issue is how much orange peel do you have? It will be near impossible to answer that question because I (and other readers) can't see and feel the paint. If the answers to these questions leaves you wanting then I would suggest that you remove the paint and start from ground zero. Start off by knowing and understanding the type of primer and paint system that you will be using. There is far too much information to impart to you about the subject in this forum. Considering that it's a jet ski I myself would go with a two-stage paint (paint and clear coat). This will allow you to lay down some graphics or multicolored paint schemes that can be buried under the clear coat. Once you have clear coated and allowed for curing times then start wet sanding. Use high quality tools and paint. Cheap spray guns will only make over spray worse. Know the settings on you're gun, understand you're paint and the techniques needed for a premium paint job.