Originally Posted by talon90

They have to balance lay down with a condition known as color flop. Basically an angular offset of the particles in the paint effects how they reflect light. The risk in painting everything in a particular orientation without respect to how the panel mounts to the car is color variation depending upon what angle the panel(s) are viewed at. This would present a more serious issue for owners to have their car or individual panels changing shades depending upon where you stood or viewed the car. It would make photographs of the car a mess in terms of color fastness.

Of course further complicating all of this is orange peel can present as a result of surface finish, electrostatic primer finish, primer finish, color coat finish and or primer coat finish. Any or all of the above can have an affect on the final surface of the paint. Further, in order to ensure bonding of the clear coat to the color coat the final paint applications are effectively a wet on wet where the paint is only flashed before the clear is applied. The subsequent curing allows for the two coats to interact and cross link allowing for a better bond. You don't want to go back to the factory paints of the 70's where the clear can just chip and peel off the surface.

Originally Posted by skank

Paul (talon90), are there colors that require more layers of product ? Do certain colors require a different mil thickness (Black vs Silver,etc.) And which colors visually hide orange peel best?

Originally Posted by talon90

If you look at the C6 you will get a good indication of the process for the C7. All of the production colors are applied the same way. The panels arrive from the vendor precoated with an electrostatic primer. this is a surface that allows the panels to be grounded and used in an electrostatic paint process. All colors then receive a primer coat which is colored individually (either white or gray) depending upon the final color coat, then the color coat and last the clear coat. All are a three stage process. You also have what are called tint coat paints, these are the same three stage paint process but use a tinted clear coat in place of conventional clear coat. These clears are tinted with a translucent pigmentation that will affect the final color shade without having to add any additional steps.

Mil thickness of paint will vary a little by color. Some due to particle size of the particular pigments, some due to opacity of the color but most range between 1.5 and 2.0 mils for the clear (.0015" - .002") and the color coats are between .7 and 1.2 mils (.0007" - .0012").

As far as some colors doing a better job with orange peel, yes, some colors will flow better and some will actually just do a better job of hiding it, metallics for example. You can however find evidence of it in all colors. Some days some colors are better than others just due to individual lots of paint and even environmental conditions.

Originally Posted by Big Dan 427

My 2013 white 427 has very good paint on it! I mentioned this in the other thread regarding the C7 that the paint at 1:27 in the video looks horrible. Of course no one responded for we can't criticize the C7 w/out getting lambasted on here! Check it out, looks like lots of orange peel to me!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKrQrAn_hNA

Originally Posted by DREAMERAK

Didn't bowling green update the paint process around 07-08 to address the early orange peel concerns?

Originally Posted by talon90

There are improvements and modifications being made to the paint shop here in Bowling Green. With that said, there will likely be orange peel present. Short of the very high end model cars such as Ferrari where significant post processing (by hand) of the panels is conducted you will find orange peel everywhere else.

The bottom line is that with today's paints and composite materials to be painted virtually EVERY manufacturer (including Porsche) has it.

The paints are required to meet considerable environmental laws which drive up the solids content and makes flow more of a challenge. The panels will continue to be painted as they are on the C6 in the orientation that they will assemble on to the car.

The panels are composite, the paint process is an electrostatic process and you must concern yourself with grounding, gravity and paint viscosity. The paint technician must find the right balance of a thick enough paint that won't run off the panel vs a paint that will flow out smooth as it is dried. The panels are painted in the orientation that they hang on the car, horizontal panels painted horizontally and vertical panels painted vertically. Horizontal panels minimize orange peel because they have gravity acting in their favor. Vertical panels show more because as soon as you lay down the paint, gravity is acting to pull it down and off the surface so it doesn't have time to self level and flow.

The paint shop must do all of this fast enough to keep the assembly line moving while slow enough to get the best finish they can. The painted panels take 10 hours in the paint shop on the current model. They also have to balance all of this for a primer coat, a color coat and a clear coat. Same process for all colors.

Where some colors can help is the size and level of pigmentation or solids content vs. the amount of liquid (surfactants, cleaners and water)

The process has some variation in it. At the end of the day if you look long enough and close enough you will find the orange peel condition in every Corvette (and current production vehicle from GM or other marques) that you see.

Originally Posted by talon90

The process has some variation in it. At the end of the day if you look long enough and close enough you will find the orange peel condition in every Corvette (and current production vehicle from GM or other marques) that you see.

Originally Posted by Big Dan 427

My 2013 white 427 has very good paint on it! I mentioned this in the other thread regarding the C7 that the paint at 1:27 in the video looks horrible. Of course no one responded for we can't criticize the C7 w/out getting lambasted on here! Check it out, looks like lots of orange peel to me!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKrQrAn_hNA

Originally Posted by C6FirstVette

C7's seen at the shows.... are they not being built at Bowling Green and if so the painting is done is the same shop/equipment as the C6. Could be wrong of course

Originally Posted by Big Dan 427

My 2013 white 427 has very good paint on it! I mentioned this in the other thread regarding the C7 that the paint at 1:27 in the video looks horrible. Of course no one responded for we can't criticize the C7 w/out getting lambasted on here! Check it out, looks like lots of orange peel to me!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKrQrAn_hNA

Originally Posted by jimmyb

Paul,
One correction....Ferrari is notorious for bad paint jobs (even now), go to Ferrarichat.com and check out threads about folks who have taken delivery of new 458's and then spent THOUSANDS getting the paint cleaned up. The local Ferrari/Maserati/Aston Martin dealer is very close to my office and I stop in often to check out cars I can't afford. The level of scratches (from over zealous polishing at Ferrari) and orange peel on a new Ferrari is SHOCKING. Maserati is similar to Ferrari, Aston is quite good but in the show room, you can still see orange peel.

I think we all should get used to some level of orange peel, with today's paint/clear coat compositions, literally every car has at least some orange peel. Folks that claim they have NO orange peel have never seen their cars under flourescent lights (like a showroom) or they don't know what orange peel is.

Jimmy

Originally Posted by b4i4getit

I have not seen a perfect paint job on a C6 and I have seen many. I am sure the same will be true of the C7. If you believe you have a flawless paint job you are not looking hard enough.

Originally Posted by ZeeOSix

I'd bet the C7 at the shows have also had some extra hand buffing, etc done to the paint. Doubt it is in the same shape it was coming out of the spray booth.

Originally Posted by talon90

Thanks. I tend to gravitate towards Ferrari for my "high end example" because I recall from the Factory show about Ferrari that they talked about paint post processing.



Truer words never spoken.

Certain lighting conditions will bring out obvious orange peel but nothing will do it like flourescent lights. I generally challenge anyone to go in to any dealership for any marque and find a perfect paint finish on all panels of any car. Porsche, BMW, Audi, Lamborghini can all be found in the wild with varying degrees of orange peel on their surfaces.

There is only so much that can be done in a manufacturing process to offset the complications that today's paints and today's materials bring in to the equation. Less solvents, more water, different pigments and different cleaning materials all conspire against the perfect paint finish in standardized manufacturing.

Originally Posted by ZeeOSix

That doesn't look bad to me ... about as good as paint gets on a production line vehicle. you might be seeing some body panel "waviness" (not paint "orange peel") going on at 1:27.

Originally Posted by jimmyb

Hmmm....paint looks "horrible" on a compressed video shown on a computer moniter. There's a shocker.

I am glad you like your 427, but jeez, can you give it a rest? WE GET IT, you don't like the C7. You have made that AMAZINGLY clear in every post. Frankly, now you are just sounding jealous that you didn't wait.

BTW, white is a very good color to conceal orange peel, go fill your car up at night (them gas station lights REVEAL ALL IMPERFECTIONS!), and you will see that it (OP) is there.

Jimmy

Originally Posted by Big Dan 427

I would love to see that exact car in person, it just appears very cloudy to me but I could be wrong! You are right about the production line apsect although you'd like to think that the launch car would be flawless! Maybe I'm too much of a perfectionist, I've had the fortune of owning some real high end build muscle cars and street rods and they were always darn close to perfect. Quick pics of my Camaro with a 572/720 motor, see I am a GM guy!!! Hopefully you car guys will appreciate this!

Originally Posted by talon90

...The panels are composite, the paint process is an electrostatic process and you must concern yourself with grounding, gravity and paint viscosity. The paint technician must find the right balance of a thick enough paint that won't run off the panel vs a paint that will flow out smooth as it is dried...