Orange peeling...a theory. (sort of long)

T

tisteve

My back hurts...
I knew that my GM paint was orange peeled, I've never seen GM car without it. But after polishing my hood, it seemed like it was super-orangepeeled. I first thought that this was just because the paint was clean and clear, causing the OP to be more pronounced, but then an idea popped into my head...could the PC be causing the OP to get worse? Let me explain:

I'm into high quality knives, production, custom, etc. Titanium is widely used in that industry for its strength and ability to accept anodization and to be colored by heat. One popular method of making titanium 'pretty' is by highly polishing it, then producing the orange peel finish, and then anodizing.

The orange peel is achieved on titanium by using a scotch-brite material belt on a belt grinder. The motor is turned way, WAY up, and the titanium is touched lightly to the belt, creating surface vibration, and away comes a nice piece of orange peel titanium. What I was thinking was,

Would the vibration of a PC create the same effect on paint? It makes sense to me that it would. Of course this effect would have to be subtle if not non-existent when the PC was run on a smooth paint surface, or someone would have noticed by now, but maybe an already-orangepeeled surface encourages the effect?

So what do you guys think?
 
I'm not sure what kind of power your PC puts out but belt grinders have a lot more kick in them, I don't think the PC has enough HP to instill a resonance in a panel.
 
If your paint was not leveled before the clear coat was put on the car...there is nothing short of removing the clear that can change the OP on the paint....Once you get the clear coat clean, the reflective quality of it will make the OP stand out that much more....On todays cars you are not working on the paint such as single stage paint...you are working on the clear that is on top of the paint.
 
tubafeak said:
I'm not sure what kind of power your PC puts out but belt grinders have a lot more kick in them, I don't think the PC has enough HP to instill a resonance in a panel.
Click to expand...

That's kind of what I was thinking this morning (during class...heh :innocent: ) The belt grinders run about 15,000 rpm at top speed and usually have between 3/4 and 2 HP

Beemerboy: I believe I've got single stage paint. when I use the SSRs my pad comes away dark blue, and the touch-up booklet at autozone says "no clearcoat required for color match" for my year/color of paint. If I'm wrong please let me know :)

On a side note, I can't believe all the info on this forum...all I ever got from the tunnel wash detailers were sales pitches when I asked about things...this site rocks :punk:

Steve
 
If you are on single stage paint then rotary with a cutting product like light cut compound, high temp levelers...This will take the OP down and level the surface smooth.
 
What vehicle do you have? I highly doubt the PC has anything to do with the orange peel at all. It may actually help it go away. The PC isn't going to generate enough power to increase OP and it using a foam pad can't alter the paint finish that dramatically. Depending on where the OP is depends on if it can come out or not.
 
Orange peel is a coating defect that occurs when the coating that emerges from the spray gun is not properly atomized. the air pressure is to high or the fluid flow is to high. A by product of mass production and is excepted as an industry standard. "Not ours"

This can be done at 3 different levels, Primer, Color coat and clear coat. If the OP is done at the Primer level there's not much you can do to eliminate it, Wet sanding will make the reflection look better but upon closer inspection you will still see the OP

If the Op occurs at the Color coat level, still wet sanding will make the reflection look better but you will still see the OP

if the Op occurs at the clear coat level it can be corrected by wet sanding, wet sanding will make the reflection look better from a distance and close up.

As of yet I have not found a method to remove OP with out wet sanding or repainting.

Note:
The better you get your finish looking the more the imperfections will stand out.
 
budman3 said:
What vehicle do you have? (...)
Click to expand...

It's a 91 Chevy S10...orange peel came from the factory. This was just basically a random thought that I had. I figure that it's down to the primer, but I'm going to eventually try something more aggressive than SSR2.5 and see if it becomes less...if it does I'll go for a wetsand.

Rich: thanks for the super info...it'll come in handy definitely :yes:

Thanks and Regards,
Steve
 
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