CriticalmassGT

Everything is more noticeable in black. EVERYTHING. Including the orange peel on my co-workers black Mercedes.

b4i4getit

Just explain to me why a new Dodge minvan in black has no orange peel. I really want to know as do the rest of us. There has to be a reason.

dork

The perception of 'orange peel' texturing is a combination of color, light, and (poor) clearcoat application. I'm sure all the 7's are finished to the same thickness of clear; there's absolutely no reason to vary clearcoat thickness. It's the color chosen that highlights (or reduces the appearance) of heavy orange peeling.

Lighter colors reflect light; darker colors absorb it. As when looking through a window into a dark room behind it, you can see your reflection much easier because the dark background absorbs "all" light, allowing the clear glass to show your reflection easily. Turn a light on in the room or allow the sun to cast into the room and there's no darkness behind the glass to let it reflect your image.

Heavy clearcoat or paint texturing is a problem amongst factory workers because they aren't professional painters. Yes, I know, everything is painted by robots now--but the engineers/workers who program the sprayers aren't professional painters. From the look of it, most probably don't even know what the factors are that can influence the application of a smooth coating. Poorly sprayed finishes are compounded by improper heavily applied clearcoat applications. This could be because the time between spraying coats of clear is not correct, the liquid application of the clear is not mixed correctly (too thick), or because too much clear is repeatedly applied too dryly (not allowing the clear "paint" to flow in its' liquid form until it smooths out [marginally] and takes a set). Even ambient temperature can have a BIG influence if the human doesn't know how to make adjustments for fluctuating temperatures during an 8-hour shift.

In any case, I wouldn't sand the clearcoat, even with 2000-W/D--wet sanding a clear coat enough to smooth the surface to a "high" gloss can remove thousands of an inch (a. k. a., "mils") off the top layer, and most clear coats are only 2-3 mils thick-- rarely thicker than that--no thicker than a human hair. Even as ugly as the 'orange peel' picture is in post #14, there can't be much more than 4 mils of clear there, even on a 'Friday' car. That's not much to play with. The thickness of the clearcoat is what protects your paint from the elements--bird droppings (which are acidic), chemical pesticide overspray, acid rain, wind-driven dirt and sand, etc., UV light, etc. (Sand it too much, and the UV will KILL a red [or orange] paint job over time.)

If/when the clearcoat ever requires heavy polishing (or light sanding) to remove acidic scarring, any previous "leveling" might have removed enough mils of clear to allow any heavy polishing to break through the clearcoat layer into the color. Then the panel will need a paint job.

rmorin1249

If other GM plants turn out cars with better paint jobs, it must be the equipment at BG. Is it not state of the art? It should be. Surely the employees at BG are similarly trained as employees at other plants or are they?

jedblanks

And we all know that the corvette clear coats are "harder" than other cars so maybe it is something different in this formula that causes it?

Incorrect. The sun shines 24 hours a day during summer solstice in some places. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midnight_sun

You obviously have no idea about the sun and should not be posting.

Being nit picky is fun huh?

vettman96

I think there is a mandatory factory option on some colors (op13x) for the excessive orange peel application.

blazeone

My C5 and C6 had it, so does my AW C7. I don't worry about it, I just enjoy the car as is. My Viper paint was smooth as a "well you know" .

They hand sand between each coat but of course you paid for it.

Rich Farr

I was very impressed with the quality of the Crystal Red on my 2014 Impala. With all the orange peel threads, I have looked the paint over very carefully. I have parked beside new expensive cars and immediately noticed the orange peel. I wonder if the problem is not related to some of the types of plastic body panels.

I am a fan of Crystal Red and had no problem with the paint on my 2010 vette or on my former 2008 CTS.

Cobraboy

I apologize to all those Vette owners "in places north of the Arctic Circle or south of the Antarctic Circle" Wonder what tires they use?

CriticalmassGT

I believe the Bentley's are hand painted and it takes something like 86 hours to do one. I could be wrong about that, perhaps they have changed over the process, but they used to all be hand-built.

Dan12

How about imperfections under the paint? Are the "divits" or slight ripples or flat spots still noticeable down the sides of the cars. I saw this with many 14s an15s. Unacceptable.

I know you have a perfect one but I'm wondering if any are still produced that way.

CriticalmassGT

Luck of the draw. Robots don't know the difference and QA allows for a certain amount of orange peel, just like they allow for a certain amount of panel gaps, etc.

The only way to consistently have no orange peel is to hand paint the vehicles and even then one or two will slip through when you have quotas to meet.

These are still mass-produced vehicles. So it's all luck of the draw and whether or not QA is on the ball that day or not. Despite it being a clear-coat issue, I find Silver hides a lot of imperfections that aren't just limited to dirt and rock chips, but silver is boring. My SGM Mustang might as well be black. It shows just about everything.

Corvettes are also another animal all together, as they are not covered in sheet metal. If I had to guess though, it sounds like GM is using more clear coat than on other models. They probably have a reason for it. What that reason is, I have no clue.

I'd rather have orange peel than corrosion forming under the aluminum body panels (IE: Fords) because of iron contamination in the stamping process. The new all-aluminum F-150 has the dealers freaked out because they are afraid it's going to happen to those too, on EVERY panel. A single aluminum paint booth that Ford is subsidizing for each dealership that wants it (they are offering 10k per dealership to do this, but the booth costs 30k to set up so the dealerships have to eat 20k for a single booth, and the full cost to have any more set up).

QA issues are going to pop up. Orange peel is one of them. I have been lucky with my last two fords. My little econobox 2009 Focus had no rattles after 5 years. I had it in for warranty repairs on the suspension once, once because the black buttons on the steering wheel lost the black (it just came off in flakes) and once for a throttle body replacement under a TSB. I've had my Mustang GT now for 9 months with no issues so far. It doesn't even eat oil like some 5.0's tend to do and I check it regularly. Meanwhile others have had constant issues.

So again, luck of the draw. If you want to win shows, wet sanding is a viable option. Yes, you'll lose some clear coat, but sometimes that's what it takes. People don't bring fully stock cars to shows expecting to win. The people who win have spent a lot of time, sweat, and money on their show cars. For corvette owners, dealing with the orange peel is just going to be one of those things.

It's still a Corvette. It is the premier American Sports Car, just like the Mustang is the premier Pony car. Drive it and enjoy it. And you get it for 70k-120k or so, and what you get for that price borders on Supercar status where it can compete with cars costing twice as much and are much harder to get ahold of.

You can only hope that one day GM will actually spin off the Corvette into it's own division and things will be done differently. They are moving in that direction.

I appreciate all of these cars because one day they will go away or become so transformed that you won't even recognize them anymore (IE: The 2015 Mustang). We are currently enjoying a Renaissance of sorts, but it's not going to last, it never does.

Sierramadre

My Torch Red vette has some orange peel-it's not awful but its readily apparent. My 911 finish is flawless. I'm not sure what the difference is in paint process, materials or quality, but I would certainly pay an up charge if I could have the Porsche paint on my Vette.

Sierramadre

Here's the vette.

Corgidog1

If you were forced to pick one for a nice drive, which one would you choose?

Dan12

I was faced with that decision. I went with a 911 Turbo. To me it had the refinment of a regular 911 and the Turbo part added the performance of a Z06.

At this point if I added a Corvette it would be a C2.

John Micheal Henry

I agree that there is o/p on most of the C7S' that I've seen. It may just be me but, I believe I have the one of the prettiest LRG with o/p on earth. There are so many things that can go wrong on a paint job while being mass produced. I'm sure the plant manager and his QC team are continuously working to find a solution to their paint problems. By the way did I mention that I like my Vette and I would gladly buy it again..

BIC

I was looking at all the different Chevy's in the showroom, I'd say the OP on all of them was comparable to the C7s.

jagamajajaran

Since the paint on the carbon fiber pieces is usually exceptionally clear of orange peel, the solution seems to be to use carbon fiber for all body panels.

Greg00Coupe

In searching for an orange peel topic I ran across this thread. Seems from the responses it a pure luck of the draw.

I've had 4 colors and all 4 were fine when it came to orange peel. My C5 was torch and the worse but it was my first corvette and I was over the moon.

I have a black Z and about ready to trade for a admiral blue GS. Today I went to the dealer to look closely at an AB Z he had on the showroom. I'm sorry but the peel was unacceptable. The car was inside on the showroom floor but I cant imagine it much better outside. Frankly I would not have that car. So disappointing. I was having a hard time convincing myself to go from a Z to a GS but this risk may have made up my mind.

Come on GM.