There are 3 C7's on in the Chevrolet display at the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. The prototype Z06 had very good paint as expected but the black convertible and NB coupe are not worthy of showing. My paint is not good but these current cars show that Chevrolet is not addressing the problem.
Anyone going to the race can check them out.

 

Question about orange peel:

I'm thinking the orange peel is in the paint, but then it has a clear coat on top. So you can't sand out the orange peel without removing the clear coat first. Am I right?

If so, I guess someone could sand it out and then spray with clear coat. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong. I have a C6 and the orange peel is pretty bad, but this is more of a general question.

 

Orange peel is in the topcoat. If you color sand then machine polish you can get rid of it. That's not a job for a novice.

 

The majority of the peel is in the clear coat, many of us have wetsanded the clear and reduced the OP substantially. Do a search.....this is wetsanded, polished and CquartzUK 'd

 

WOW Glen e, can we please see more pics?
Thanks!

 

Here's another car done:

 

My car's paint is really nice, no orange peel, no dirt, exception? (vin #22487) Orange peel seems to be an industry problem, Saw a new Nissan GT-R recently ($116,000 MSRP), horrible paint job with a sticker price in the stratosphere. The EPA has protected us to the point where manufactures can't produce award winning paint jobs without extra labor intensive procedures.

 

The clear coat is where the majority of orange peel is located. The way the clear coat dries has a good bit to do with how much orange peel is on the surface... Clear coat is a very sensitive product. Two exact same model cars painted on two different days can have two different levels of orange peel in the clear coat.

Most mass produced cars will have some degree of orange peel. Its not really a paint defect, it has more to do with the car being a mass produced car... Most mass produced paint jobs may not get the expensive time and labor spent on them that most show car and high end luxury cars get when it comes to polishing the paints finish.

Its kinda like a jeweler cuts and polishes a diamond or a beautiful gem. The stone starts out rough and ends up being a beautiful shining gem... The clear coat on a cars paint is the clear glossy reflective coat that gives the beautiful shine. The clear coat when sprayed can have minor levels of uneven surface when drying (known as orange peel).

Cars with a lot of orange peel may need a extra step to get to that mirror like finish. The top layer (clear coat) will have to be wet sanded and polished by a pro. in order to reduce the amount of orange peel in the clear coat.

IMPORTANT: If you decide to get your paint wet sanded and polished. Only let someone that "knows what they are doing" sand and polish your paint... A paints finish can be damaged if the person doing the work does not know what they are doing. Your clear coat will be thinner after the sanding and polishing and that's an important reason to only use a person that has experience and "knows what they are doing" to avoid damage to your finish.

Not everyone can sand and polish paint jobs. It takes experience, time, and labor. And all that costs $$$... Mass produced cars have a limited amount of time that each car spends at each station when being built. Some mass produced cars may not have the time to spend on every car to reach a perfect mirror like finish.

 

These donuts look like the have a better coating process than some of the c7's:

 

mmmm donuts

 

GM's paint proving grounds!!

 

Is that the new Sunrise Orange for 2015 ???

 

LOL jr3. I think they are naming it Citrus Orange Peel.

 

Personally, I think orange has quite a bit of appeal.....

 

LOL.

Truth is, in the case of the C7, it appears that a majority of the OP is in the clear coat which is good news for us and the detailers. There are other paint jobs that the OP is in the base coats. My buddy's BMW X5M, for instance, went to the same detailer that I took my C7 to and they were unable to make any dent in the OP in his paint job. The wet sanded and polished area looked identical to the rest of the SUV.

Here is what my TR looks like after a little wet sanding and polishing.