Corgidog1

I was at a local dealer killing time looking at the 2 C7s in stock. The black one had orange peel so bad that even I, who normally can handle orange peel, was appalled. The shark grey one had orange peel but it appeared much less obvious.

I have a crystal red C7 on order and am getting a little nervous about orange peel after seeing the black car. Does orange peel appear more obvious on certain colors and less on others? My real question is how obvious is orange peel on crystal red??? Does this color show orange peel more easily than say shark grey or another color?

C7-Beast

They all have some degree of orange peel. It seems to be more noticeable on black cars. Mine was not horrible but still required a wet sand to get rid of most of it.

grandpawmoses

I don't think the color has anything to do with it. I've seen it or lack of it on all colors.

DEEDEEZ

The orange peel on my Laguna Blue Z51is terrible. I have neither the experience or patience to wet sand away the problem and fix GM's sloppy quality control. After dropping $70K, I am not going to pay a body shop to do this and thin out the clear and make it vulnerable. I had 4 C6s including a Night Race Blue and Black convertible, they had excellent paint. No corrections needed. I went to Mecum's Florida auction in January and the Chevy tent had a new Z06 $125K. The paint on that car ( in a show no less) was even worse than mine. I guess if you bought a C7 with a nice paint job you must have picked the right color painted on the right day...consider yourself lucky. Me, I may be done with Corvettes if this can't be addressed.

lgodom

I toured the factory a couple of weeks ago and looked closely at all the colors looking for orange peel. It was apparent in all colors, even white but looked better than what I noticed on a few 2014s. I was only able to get close to one black C7, and it looked pretty good. I guess it you want to drive a C7 its a chance you'll have to take or be willing to have a professional do some correction if you're unhappy after you take delivery.

ZL-1

I was in the plant a few weeks ago. I wasn't really looking for orange peel but in the bright lights at the end of the line the level of orange peel surprised me. It seemed more obvious than on my VY car built in September 2013 which isn't bad at all. Actual orange peel is probably consistent regardless of color but it will be less noticable on light bright colors and most obvious on black or dark colors.

First Z06

I have a '15 CRM coupe. Last week, I attacked the vertical surfaces with #1500 grit wet paper followed by a light rubbing compound, and DuPont polishing compound. Finished the job with #26 carnauba wax. It looks great.

I have a bit of buffing to do on the left rear fender. The fender is not perfect, but close enough for now.

I have been doing this for about 50 years and I still sweat bullets, especially on my new Vetts. The 3 coat systems are very sensitive and easy to buff through.

Good luck with your new one. I am sure you will like the color.

If the paint isn't perfect, take it to a professional in the area and have them do the job right. Yes, we just dropped $70 grand on the car but what is a couple of hundred more to have it the way you want it?

John Ulrich

Me too! I did the rear areas of the front fenders, in front of the mirrors on the door tops & the bottom of the doors where they "flare out". I'm walking away from doing the door centers....the car does look great from 5 ft. 2 ft to the general public.

DEEDEEZ

One of our gurus on this forum, Glen e has posted comments in these orange peel posts. He spent 20 hours or so to get his car to an acceptable finish. Based on his contributions to this site, I'd consider him an expert. He did state in one of his posts that a pro would charge $700 plus. I doubt any of them would want to guarantee the clear would not be compromised. So, if some of you guys want to tackle that job...you are a better man than I. The good thing is when I drive it (not very often in crummy, snowy, potholed NJ) I can't see it. Ok, rant complete.

JRYELLOWCORVETTE

who the heck would leave a C7 outside baking in the sun 24/7 ??? No Corvette will orange peal if it is taken care of.

jagamajajaran

The orange peel is in the clear coat, so the color of the car only determines the degree that the orange peel is visible.

ArcticC7

I have white and I have very slight orange peel what I would consider normal for a modern car. I have also seen some cars with atrocious amounts of O/P that left me wondering how that mess ever left Bowling Green that way.

anders1118

What is orange peel? Someone explain please, thanks

Glen e

Lousy paint surface, like an orange:

dcowles

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange_peel_(effect)

anders1118

Thanks for elaborating!

DALE#3

rmorin1249

Is it true that the move to the more environmentally friendly water based paints has exacerbated the "orange peel" issue?

Glen e

not totally.......why?

Because other GM cars are sprayed perfectly! including cheaper models... I put pics of a new Malibu here a few weeks ago that was made in Detroit and had perfect paint ( perfect when compared to any vette)

no it's something in BG that's wrong, either its the type of plastic, or a failed paint step/operation at BG...

and GM OP is worse that many others that have to able by the new rules...My guess is the real fix is too expensive to implement.

Babaron

It is caused by, among other things, excessive clearcoat application.