shopdog

Orange peel is a surface defect. The clearcoat is the surface coat, so that's where the defect lies. Since the clear is clear by definition, the defect may *appear* to be in the color coat, but it isn't. It is the varying depth of the clear which causes the light refraction which produces this illusion. (Similar in concept to why a pencil put into a glass of water appears to be broken.)

The primary cause of orange peel is uneven drying of the surface coat. In other words, the solvent evaporates more rapidly at some points than at others, leaving an uneven surface. This is determined by surface chemistry, temperature, the way the paint is applied, etc. It is a complex problem, made more complex by the EPA requirement to reduce VOC emissions in the painting process.

In the old days, the paints used (laquers) had to be rubbed out to produce a finished shine. That inherently removed orange peel. But the automakers shifted to a different paint chemistry to eliminate that hand labor step (and to produce a more robust finish). Then OP became an issue. In the not quite so old days, the paint manufacturers altered the paint chemistry by increasing the VOCs to virtually eliminate OP, so everyone was happy, everyone except the EPA. The VOC emissions rules have brought back OP with a vengence.

The tradional hand rubbing method still eliminates OP, but as others have noted, that's an expensive labor intensive process which the manufacturers want to avoid. So they keep dicking around with chemistry, temperatures, and application techniques to try to avoid producing OP in the first place. They aren't always successful.

Fred S

The results look very good. Guess I'll have to get it done as well. Problem is finding someone to do the work with enough skill and who you can trust to do it right.

Corvette Junkie

The pics look awesome.

2Cool

Beautiful paint, you appear to be an excellent log splitter/stacker too

archtop

Wet sand and buff will remove orange peel and leave a glass like finish.You have to be extremely carefull not to go through the clear coat though or you're opening a massive "can of worms".
If you have the patience of Mother Theresa and a lot of free time you could Micro-Mesh the whole car.This is a process of using graduating degrees of a precision type of sanding cloth.Its used to take scratches out of airplane canopies among many other things.Starts with a 1500grit(note:there are different numerical standards for sandpaper grits this would be equal to 600 grit 3M sandpaper)then 1800,2400 (I would probably start with 2400 )3200,3600,4000,6000,8000,12000 then hand polish (ORBITAL OR BY HAND) with a super fine grit polishing compound like Menzerna..When you reach 12k its like a polishing cloth and you'll already have a mirror finish.I build guitars and when I do a show guitar this is what I do.Each grit gets progressively faster but its rough on your arms.I had a very deep scratch on my 04 s2000 brake light.Since the dealer was gonna replace it anyway I thought I would try Micro-Mesh .Started with 2400 when I got to 12k it was perfect.[IMG]http://[/IMG] http://www.cometobuy.com/elitefin/Mi....asp?number=30

need-for-speed

It's been answered, but putting it in simple terms, sanding removes the high spots to the point that you have a smooth, uniform surface. The Results on the posters LMB C6 look great. One would have to have "big 'uns" to do this on a O.E.M. paint job with it's very thin layer of clear. But in this case, it was done by a professional.

Boozman

That's what it's about

S2K

Is there any reason that GM shouldn't fix this? It seems absurd to have to pay to have this done yourself on a brand new car. This is true be it a $10k car or a $50k car. Why is this not a manufacturers defect?

archtop

There is not a production car on the market that wet-sands and buffs finishes.I had just as much OP on my 04' s2000 although the pattern was finer.Only coachworks cars or high end body shops will do that.
The OP on the c6 is acceptable by industry standards.

S2K

I have not seen the OP on the C6 so I am speaking from others comments. If the amount of OP on the C6 is as much as on my '00 S2000 (which means pretty much non-existent) than I have no issues. However, from the posts here this seems to be very much not the case.
I guess I'll see for myself when my C6 vert finally shows-up.

archtop

Orange peel is seen only by looking at the finish at an angle and the light must catch it just the right way.I owned a red 2000 and silverstone 2004 s2000 and they definitely had OP on them.You're not seeing it,which is good so don't worry about it , the vette will be fine.You'll be so blown away by the power,"Orange peel,we don't got no stinking orange peel here".

Z064life

Orange Peel will not be covered under warranty. Now what you could do, BEFORE buying it, is point out the orange peel and let them know what it will cost to fix. Deduct that from your MSRP or whatever price you agreed upon.

Michael A

BJB,

Now that the orange peel is gone, how does the finish look for swirl marks? What kind of compounds did the body guy use to rub out the finish?

Michael

alexWS6

Gorgeous car..

z06monster

There is no reason the dealer shouldn't cover this under warranty. Any reputable dealer would have fixed it for no charge.

stanleyp

What orange peel???????

jschindler

As has been pointed out, virtually every car made has orange peel. So are you saying that theoretically, every dealer should be willing on doing this to every car they sell?

bd041556

In the sun, you can see some directional swirls where it was buffed. I believe a few coats of Zaino will elminate that, but I haven't tried that yet. I don't really know what buffing compound he used.

BJB

z06monster

But not every car. And not every person who drives a Malibu examines his paint job under a microscope.

Bad paint is covered under the GM Manufacturers Warranty.

If you don't ask, then they will never fix it.

Michrider

$1000 bucks and he left swirl marks in it? I'd go back for a chat.
And don't settle on filling them in with a glaze. 3M swirl mark remover and massive amounts of elbow grease. Any products that fill, like a glaze, will only last a few washes. Hold a shop light close to the paint in a dark garage. If you see a million fine scratches, he has a lot of work ahead of him.