A little history is in order. I recently purchased a 2011 GS in Inferno Orange with 9500 miles. After driving 2100 miles home, I cleaned it up a bit to get a really good look at what I had paint wise. It has just a few very small rock chips in the usual places. But what has shocked me is that it has virtually no small scratches, you’ve got to look really hard with a light to find one. To me it looks like it just came off the showroom floor. In fact, while at the DMV someone asked me if it was the “New Corvette”!

Given the condition, I decided against my plan of using it as a daily driver and will continue to drive the old BMW instead. So it will be a garage queen and head out once, occasionally twice a week, and only in good weather, which in SoCal is most of the time.

So, what’s the issue? It is the same thing dozens of threads discuss. Coating vs sealants/ waxes, and my lack of understanding as I come from the Zaino period. I have read for hours but am still left with one issue that plagues me. That is the factory orange peel. My question is, is that something I would coat over? In my youth, I painted several cars (lacquer, shows you how old I am) and I would wet sand and polish till the surface was as smooth as glass before applying wax. Do I need to cut the orange peel down? I’m reluctant to do that and would probably just go with a sealant if thats the case. I’m assuming I would get a poor result (reflection wise) if I coated over what looks like the ocean to me. Thanks in advance for any advice. Steve
PS I'll try and attach a picture with a light.

 

Well, your question is one that only you can answer. Can you live with orange peel or not? I mean, you can obviously seal or wax over orange peeled clear coat, but if you want the best appearance, then you will need to wet sand. Personally, I would wet sand, especially if my car was going to be the weekend toy only.

 

FYRARMS is the man when it comes to car paint care but I have to say, while wet sanding does solve your orange peel, it also reduces the thickness of your clear unless of course you respray which may or may not add orange peel. As he said, only you can decide but I rather live with a little orange peel than know I am removing clear coat to get rid of it. My new 2019 is red and looks good but has lots of orange peel and I am okay with that. My C5 and C6 were garage queens with orange peel. My C7 is not a daily driver but I do try to drive it every day the weather permits only because its too much fun not to drive everyday.

 

Thank you for your responses, and CV your service as well. CV did you ceramic coat over your orange peel and if so how did it turn out? I'm starting to think I should start with the most conservative and if I'm not happy I could move on to cutting the orange peel down.

 

Oh, goodness no. I am just a detailing hobbyist. We have some pros in here who are MUCH more qualified to answer these types of questions. I am still very much a newbie myself!

 

Not a lot of clear on these cars from the factory. I would never try to wet sand a modern day Corvette.

 

This. Can it be done succesfully...yes but in the end, likely not the best course of action over the long haul.

 

The only way to truly have any peace of mind is to fully know the car. It's comes from the factory with factory with between 1.5 and 2 mils ( not mm). It is never good to remove more than .5 mils thru out the life of the paint. UV inhibitors migrate to the top of the clear as it cure. You can remove this protectant layer while still leaving clear. This will lead to CC failure. Using a PTG will give you the paint thickness but not the clear alone( it would be primer + base+ clear). When I respray I apply approx 1.5 mils per coat! 3 with one to sand. Normally why a respray is much better than a factory. When spraying out a repair or part- we try yo emulate the factory peel to help better blend.
Heavy cut polishing can lessen the peel but in general will not remove it depending upon severity. Even lessening it will help more light reflect back to you.
I'd give it a good 2 step and call it a day to be safe

 

Interesting article regarding orange peel, texture and working towards the best, safest finish: http://esotericdetail.com/education/...6-by-esoteric/

 

I would ignore orange peel. I've mulled over the same thought pretty extensively lol. Wet sanding is very technique oriented and is going to take a lot of the clear off.

I agree with yama. I'd give it a two step to help with it but would leave it at that.

 

My 20K mile 2012 Inferno Orange didnt have much Orange Peel on it when I bought it in 2018.

I can still see peel around rear license recess area.

I did do ALOT of Polishing with Meg's 100 and then JESCAR Compound on Meg's Microfiber Pads
My car had MORE than a few clear coat chips and scratches..................

Chuck
Auburn,WA

 

Chuck, I love those forged wheels, I can't stop looking at them. Maybe if I got a set of those I'd stop looking at the orange peel!
Steve

 

Thanks Steve, I wanted to separate my Grand Sport for all the others that just used misc different factory CAST Wheels.

I ordered my SIGNATUREWheel.com SV701's during the 2018 "Black Friday" sales period.........and upsized Tires from
DiscountTireDirect.com with Big Rebates

Chuck