Factory paint orange peel problem

[CrummyArchitect]

just curious if anybody else had a lot of orange peel - I've heard from a friend that it's a problem in the 2015s - of course I never really noticed it until I got it clean on a sunny day and there haven't been too many of those since I got it.
Anyway, besides the complex wet sanding procedure, has anyone had any luck minimizing it and what did you do that worked? I'm wanting to hit it with a good DA polisher & compound but I don't know if it will help at all.

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[Todd15Fastback]

I think the only true solution is going to be wet sanding it and really nothing else.

 

[ShuttersPeet]

Unfortunately...... wet sanding is the only solution.

 

[CrummyArchitect]

OK that's what I figured. Just hoping...

 

[Hogie]

Orange peel is a problem with Almost all paint these days. Wet sanding will get rid of it and some of your clear coat. It probaly isn't worth worrying about.

 

[stanglife]

I know this is an old thread - but I was doing a search to see if there was enough clear on the OE paint to safely color sand. I wanted to add - that the OPs car is magnetic. I looked at some magnetic GTs the other day to help me decide what color I wanted for a GT350 - the magnetic looked to have the highest amount of orange peel. It could be that the color showed it off better but even black didn't seem to have as much to me.

 

[SVTFreak]

I know this is an old thread - but I was doing a search to see if there was enough clear on the OE paint to safely color sand. I wanted to add - that the OPs car is magnetic. I looked at some magnetic GTs the other day to help me decide what color I wanted for a GT350 - the magnetic looked to have the highest amount of orange peel. It could be that the color showed it off better but even black didn't seem to have as much to me.

Generally speaking, there is not enough clear to effectively color sand with new technology used at the factory.

Unfortunate, clear is a trade off. Either you spray it thin and dry, and it comes out rough and hazy or you spray it wet and it orange peels. Wetter and it'll minimize orange peel but will cure cloudy and probably have drips and sags. The super slick jobs you see are sprayed by very talented and experienced painters and then wet sanded the orange peel or sags and drips out.

It's nearly impossible to do it effectively on new cars. Granted, I have had success doing spots on non metallic light colored cars, but on something like magnetic, you get both things that make it harder. Metallic and dark. It must be done correctly, thoroughly and the whole car else you'll have very smooth spots and bad spots.

Short story, don't try it. Every magnetic I've seen had some, but no worse than any other color or manufacturer out there.


All that said, you can minimize the appearance of it by doing a good polish job. I would use a DA machine (a good one like porter cable 7424) and mcguires medium cut cleaner. (Clay bar before starting anything). After that cut, wash the car. Next, use mcguires swirl remover, follower by another wash with fresh water and new rag. Then lastly with mcguires machine glaze, and another wash. Then a good wax of your choice. It is imperative that you not reuse any rags, wash water, etc. get three wheels for your buffer and do not use the same one from one step to next. (4 if you want to machine wax, I generally hand wax). This will minimize the orange peel by smoothing the edges out.

Here is my magnetic painted FFR that I wet sanded with 3000 grit. I had plenty clear on it though.



This is after the medium cut. The shine is starting to return. This is where you'll start.


This is after the swirl remover (which will leave hologram style marks in the sunlight. It'll look perfect under florescent lights) and the machine glaze. Make sure you glaze it! Again, under florescent lights it'll look awesome until you see it in the sun. There is no wax or filler or filling glaze here to hide swirl marks. This is straight up polished and letting the paint cure before I seal it with anything. It takes time and work but the end result is worth it


Search here for "heavy cut". Use the " to narrow it down. There is a guy who did just about this to his magnetic mustang and it came out awesome. I do not recommend using a rotary buffer for a novice as it will remove a lot of material very fast. Especially on edges. You almost can't do that with the DA. Just takes more time.

Here is the finished product, but keep in mind I wet sanded first. So it's slicker than a factory polished will look. But the smoothing from a polish will still make the magnetic pop nicely.

 

[stanglife]

Car looks good!

I've done some blocking before and it turned out great...but that was on a painted car and I know the painter - plenty of clear applied. The factory stuff, like you said, should make anyone nervous.

There is another thread on here where a guy polished his up pretty well - it was magnetic, too. He used a denim pad and megs.

 

[SVTFreak]

Car looks good!

I've done some blocking before and it turned out great...but that was on a painted car and I know the painter - plenty of clear applied. The factory stuff, like you said, should make anyone nervous.

There is another thread on here where a guy polished his up pretty well - it was magnetic, too. He used a denim pad and megs.

Thanks! I was targeting "liquid graphite" look and I think I nailed it. That's the thread I was referencing. Search "heavy cut" with the quotations and it will pop up. He also admitted to creative photography but the idea is there.

 

[ConspicuousConsumption]

For what it's worth, I walked by a very clean looking, new, black Mercedes yesterday. I had some time to kill so I wanted to see about orange peel. I swear that car had the worst peel I've ever seen, and it was a $100k vehicle. So.... whatever.

 

[CrummyArchitect]

For what it's worth, I walked by a very clean looking, new, black Mercedes yesterday. I had some time to kill so I wanted to see about orange peel. I swear that car had the worst peel I've ever seen, and it was a $100k vehicle. So.... whatever.

Yeah, I've learned to deal with it more or less. It's not as bad as some other new cars I've seen. And it's not as bad as I made it out to be. After the good detail I did to it this weekend it's hardly noticeable. Nobody else notices it or points it our, so I didn't think it was worth all the worrying.

 

[Delta1Seven]

What does a glaze do?

 

[SVTFreak]

What does a glaze do?

Depends. There's two things called glaze. Machine glaze is a super super fine cut (usually using chemical cut instead of abrasive) polish that takes out the "hologramming" left behind by swirl removers. When done with this, you have no protection but a very slick finish.

The other type is something like mcguires show car glaze. That's a wax that has high filler content in it that'll fill imperfections and smooth the finish. The downside is that after a few washes, those imperfections start to return. From hologramming to light swirls. Many people use this type of wax/filler to hide a bad polish. Looks incredible for a short time then degrades.

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