motninorc

I'm a new C6 owner (2006 LMB coupe). Is it me or does the paint on the vettes have a lot of orange peel effect ? I looked at about 7 different vettes when I was shopping, both 2006 and 2007, in several colors, LMB, VR, Black, VY, Silver, and noticed it on all. Definitely more pronounced on the darker colors. Am I seeing things or have others noticed the same ??

double eagle

Been discussed here many times - common to almost all C6s to some degree.

Zymurgy

Orange peel comes as standard equipment.

motninorc

You would think that GM would rectify that ... unless it has something to do with painting the fiberglass/composite panels ???

talon90

Greetings,

Yes it is a very common observation. It has been being discussed on this forum since the C5's came out. When you combine the environmental requirements of the process with our plastic body panels it is a very difficult panel to paint and paint well. As I recall, the best paint will come from an electrostatic paint process and we cannot get a good ground from our panels for obvious reasons.

fts

I guess I am one of the lucky ones. My silver bullet is peel-free since its delivery on 3/4/05.

CQRT

Talon:
I think you and I have the same beautiful Precision Red and although we've been relegated to a footnote on the `05 model coupe, I see no evidence of orange peel, thin areas or checking on mine.

Is it more common to the metallic finishes and clear coats - - or are we just lucky ?

Regards-

shopdog

It isn't limited to just Corvettes, look at metal bodied vehicles, they have it too. Fiberglass does have its own surface defect issues, but that's not the primary reason the cars have orange peel.

It is partially the low VOC paint the EPA makes them use today, partially the very thin coats of paint, and partially an aversion to hand labor. In the old days, it was standard procedure to hand rub (wet sand) and buff the paint to give it a smooth high gloss appearance. But today they want the body panels to come out of the robotic spray booth ready to install. Well, they can't do that without orange peel.

talon90

Certain colors are more prone than others. I have some orange peel on mine all though minor compared to my torch red C5. The darker colors seem to show it more.

Rickmd

IMO, all that GM has to do to correct their disgustingly poor paint jobs is to apply two extra clear coats. Charge me for it. Now you have enough clear to wet sand out the orange peel. I did this on my black 01. It looks like a sheet of glass. This is how a sports car should look. It took about 150 man hours to do this but that was because I had to be very careful not to break thru. The extra coats would make this much easier and safer to do.

Tom/99

The orange peel was almost non existant on my 99 Nassau Blue coupe. There is very little on my 04 Torch Red coupe. I looked at a 04, Z06/Z16, when I picked up my 04, and it looked like it was painted with a roller, the orange peel was so bad. I would never have accepted a new car with the paint looking like that.

Marina Blue

The horizontal surfaces on my Monterey Red are nearly if not completely orange-peel free. The sides do show peel, but are not bad. I have seen much worse. After reading all of the complaints about poor paint jobs on Corvettes, I find myself looking at paint finishes on many cars and feel my Corvette is better than most. The other day I was looking at the custom paint jobs on a friends 55 Chevy, 61 Corvette and a '65 Mustang. All of those had beautiful, deep, perfectly finished paint jobs. The paint on my Corvette cannot quite match those cars, but the horizontal surface (hood and trunk) are fairly close. Maybe Bowling Green was extra careful the day they did my car. However, the roof on my Coupe is a different story. I wouldn't call it orange peel though, it is just not a very smooth finish. Maybe that is because it is not SMC.

GN1270

I do not think there is a mass produced car around that has no orange peel. you get a standard GM paint job with a Corvestte. That is why you can buy a new Corvette for $45k.

Jim_H

I guess I lucked out, I'd rate the paint job on my Monterey Red as very good. I can't find any orange peel or checking on it anywhere.

gtrman100

My new '06 has no orange peel to speak of. I guess I'm one of the lucky ones.

shopdog

Which is pretty sad considering that back when you could buy a Corvette for $4500, it wouldn't have any orange peel. In fact, an $1800 Corvair wouldn't have any orange peel either. Prices have increased 10X while quality has declined, what a deal.

VET4LES

My Mag RED looks good with no orange peel.

RedHotC6

Sorry, but .....I believe that all post like this are Dreaming...

Its there, you just have not had it in the right light. look close under high powered florescent lighting...

You will see all kinds of things.. this is my 4th corvette and have over 100 cars in my club and all have it to some degree.

liberty

If I'm reading this correctly the orange peel is on the clear coat but not caused by the base coat or tint coat. Why would the clear coat have this effect but not the base coat or the tint coat on those that have it. Thanks.

cthusker

... I had a 68 vette that had an almost perfect finish from the factory! My 06 is just under the wire for acceptable but that's about it. It depends on how closely people look at their paint and use the 2 ft rule. I'm very critical on finish and mine is at best ok IMO. I strongly suspect those that think they have a good factory paint job don't have a lot of experience with custom paint jobs........