Orange Peel...Should I Worry?

I

imported_MP525i

New member
hey guys,



ok, so at first i didn't think anything of this. my car has never been in an accident nor has it been resprayed. i always do most i can to keep this paint looking it's best. i get a good reflection 100% of the time i wash/detail her and i'm pleased with the results.



however, more and more people have been asking about the orange peel effect on my paint. i always thought this was normal. if it's not, would somebody give me an explaination? also, how do you get rid of it?



i use a dual cyclo head buffer with meg's compounds and polishes and always top with klasse a.i.o and s100 paste wax.



what's wrong with this picture (i sure don't know)..

4-10a.jpg


4-10g.jpg




-mike
 
Factory orange peel. i have it on my camry too. You can wet sand to get rid of it but its a process that takes skill and a lot of effort. A lot of people pretty much just live with it.



PS. BMWs seem to have excessive OP for some reason. Sad, bc they are such nice cars.
 
To get rid of it you would have to wetsand. Problem is wetsanding removes quite a bit of paint and could be bad in the long run.



My suggestion, don't worry about it.
 
Very, very few cars do not have orange peel so I suppose you can say it is "normal." It can be caused by several factors during the paint process, mostly dealing with technique. Wet sanding reduces or eliminates it (assuming the orange peel is only in the clear coat) but it seems wet sanding is kept to a bare minimum with most manufacturers.
 
You will find OP on most cars, some more than others. It's just the way things are with the new paints being used. Short of wet sanding or a very, very expensive new paint job their really isn't very much you can do about. If your happy with the way your car looks after a detail then I wouldn't worry about it much.
 
Learn to deal with it if it's not a show car. I wetsanded my hood for practice and it came out pretty nice.



However, with soft Honda clear, over the winter some pitting formed and now it's no longer perfect.



Yours is really not that bad at all.
 
thanks for the information guys. i kinda had a feeling everyone was gonna say "wetsand it."



i do have experience in wet-sanding but i do not have the tools at my convenience to complete. plus, i think the paint looks fine as it is, so i really wouldn't want to wet sand it, if it wasn't needed.



just ticks me off sometimes that people say, "whoh! that's a lot of orange peel for being professionally detailed." :angry



thanks again guys!



-mike
 
Just wanted to say Nice M3. Love that color. I have a 95 M3 also, Alpine White. My wife's 323i (e46) has orange peel and noticeable in Schwarz black.
 
hi...sorry i don't mean to hijack this thread but i see the same orange peel effect on my paint. my car was in an accident and was repainted last year. i see a orange peel on where it was repainted. should i take it back to the body shop? they have a lifetime warranty on their work.



i can also see lines from where they mask off the paint with a tape...the paint they used seems to be a little darker. is that acceptable? i don't know why it didn't really bother me before, but it's bothering me a lot now. should i still take it back and ask them to fix it?
 
Orange peel is on EVERY BMW that I have ever seen, and I am pretty confident to state on every BMW painted by BMW. The process BMW use to paint their cars is the reason there is OP, this same process is also the reason that BMW paint is difficult to chip, and looks good for many years.



The fact is, you have OP on your BMW, I have it on mine, and pretty much every other factory painted BMW has it too, so we learn to live with it, or have it re-sprayed etc. To me, your car looks superb, the colour is awesome, it looks like you take great care of the paint, it is reflective wet and glossy looking, whats the problem ? :)



So the answer to your question, is no you shouldn't worry.



EDIT : ALthough I did notice some marking on that trim in the first pic, is that product ? If it is you could try 1z KristallKlar (basically 1z window wash, works superbly well at removing stained in product from trim I have found) ;)
 
Orange peel has nothing to do with a vehicle being professionally detailed (or detailed by a freak like many of us). Sometimes the orange peel is actually in the base coat and that cannot be fixed without a brand new, expensive paint job.



Very few of us on this forum have orange peel free vehicles. It really does not matter what other people think as long as you are happy.
 
MP525i said:
...just ticks me off sometimes that people say, "whoh! that's a lot of orange peel for being professionally detailed." :angry ...
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They're just demonstrating their ignorance. When all is said and done your car will be shiny and protected. They'll still be idiots.



iRebound said:
... my car was in an accident and was repainted last year. i see a orange peel on where it was repainted. should i take it back to the body shop? they have a lifetime warranty on their work....
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An ace painter can actually match the level of orange peel in the repair to the rest of the car (or at least blend it with the adjacent panels). I don't know how realistic it is to expect it for a typical repair job.



iRebound said:
...i can also see lines from where they mask off the paint with a tape...the paint they used seems to be a little darker. is that acceptable? i don't know why it didn't really bother me before, but it's bothering me a lot now. should i still take it back and ask them to fix it?
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That's poor workmanship. They're supposed to blend it or at least carry it to a natural boundary. You can talk to the shop manager about it and see what they have to say. If they're willing to fix it it's up to you whether to trust them to touch it again.



TW85 HHI said:
Orange peel has nothing to do with a vehicle being professionally detailed (or detailed by a freak like many of us). Sometimes the orange peel is actually in the base coat and that cannot be fixed without a brand new, expensive paint job....
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:bigups Damn straight!





PC.
 
Axe said:
Orange peel is on EVERY BMW that I have ever seen, and I am pretty confident to state on every BMW painted by BMW. The process BMW use to paint their cars is the reason there is OP, this same process is also the reason that BMW paint is difficult to chip, and looks good for many years.
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That is not entirely true, my 530i is chipped on practically every panel. everywhere i look there are chips, it makes me very frustrated....... but at least the drive is good.
 
Is it fair to assume that both the color and clear coat could be susceptible to orange peel?



In which case, you could only really 'fix' the clear coat by sanding...
 
andrewcbho said:
That is not entirely true, my 530i is chipped on practically every panel. everywhere i look there are chips, it makes me very frustrated....... but at least the drive is good.
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I didn't claim BMW paint is impossible to chip.
 
EVERY BMW in my train station parking lot has serious OP. (As I walk to the train I can't help but notice the swirls, scratches and holograms in the very expensive cars) An Autopian finish is a Catch-22 for these cars... Beautiful shine, but that same shine exaserbates the OP.



My wife's Passat has almost NO OP, and I've noticed that Porsches and Audis don't have much either.



Jason
 
The higher the reflectance the more the visibility of OP. People who say "whoa, thats really bad OP" probably havent polished their ride .... Next Bill Gates is the guy who invents something that eliminates OP cheaply in the factory !
 
Axe said:
this same process is also the reason that BMW paint is difficult to chip, and looks good for many years.
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I'm not sure about other cars, but my E36 has a couple of rock chips (noticable from more than just a few feet away) right by the roundel on the front hood. I don't know if it's just the color or what, but I seem to pick up a lot more little chips than other cars I've had.
 
That's a beautiful color. I wouldn't worry about the OP. Seems that most factory paintjobs have some orange peel.



My car's factory paint job was a lot like that. I've since had the entire car repainted and the orange peel is virtually gone. It's the first thing I noticed when I picked up the car.



So if you ever get the car repainted it's something to keep in the back of your mind. Until then I wouldn't worry about it. I certainly wouldn't wet sand it. Detail it, drive and enjoy. :)
 
On virtually all mass-produced vehicles there is some OP. It differs among manufacturers. Think of it like this. How long would it take to wet sand and polish a car? 5-6 hours by an experienced pro is my best guess. Most likely longer. Then look at something like a Honda Accord. How many of those does Honda build during any given week? 3-5000 maybe? It's simply not cost effective to wet sand and polish every car. So most manufacturers don't. Remind the naysayers that you're driving a BMW, that should keep their mouths shut.
 
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