Whats orange peel?

It's when you look into the paint, and instead of seeing a very clear reflection, the paint actually looks like the outside of an orange peel. Its hard to explain but alot of stock paints come this way. I woudl say the best way to descrive it is that it looks almost like a mosaic pattern.
 
This is orange peel. Just about every car has it. Its just when the reflections aren't clear because of variations in the paint prior to clear coating. Really expensive paint jobs are devoid of orange peel because they are properly wetsanded between each layer of paint and other such preperations. Most people don't notice or care about it though. Its not something that can be polished away, so we all just live with it. You could wetsand it away, but its not that big of a deal.

This is my bumper after I got it back from the paint shop. I took it back and told them that the job was unacceptable. This is slop work. I told them that I wanted it to look good as new and this is not good as new. I could see the orange peel from across the parking lot and that's not easy to do on a white car. They sorted it out and repainted it. Now it pretty much matches the rest of the car as far as the level of orange peel goes. Its not as visible on white, but it really stands out on those reflective colors like black.
 
Here is another good example:

After2.jpg
 
OIC. now it makes a lot more sense. when people said they had orange peel, i thought htat they meant that something the color of orange was actually coming out of their paint or something. now that you guys were curtious enough to explain it to me, and even include pics, i can tell you that my mom's car has orange peel, but it isnt nearly as bad.


so, Jngrbrdman, just out of curiosity, how many times did you have to get that bumper repainted? i heard that a couple of times it was sloppy, and once there was hair in the clearcoat, etc. i woudl have been pretty pissed if i was the owner :), but they gauntreed you a quality job. also, how long did it take till they finally got it right?
 
Nickc0844 said:
The manufacturer's Robots that paint the car are notorious for having orange peel
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IMO, and maybe some of those here with painting experience might elaborate -- It's not as much the "Robots" doing the paint job as it is the HVLP (High Volume Low Pressure) painting systems used in compliance with todays strict EPA regulations.
 
Personally in my own auto painting experience, orange peel is more likely to occur when the paint is applied just a bit too heavy for a pass with the gun.

Same with clear coat.


Sure, the part you are painting takes to the color a bit faster, and orange peel isn't actually all that bad in the big picture; but it can be eliminated by just slowing down and using multiple passes with the HVLP gun, and multiple thin coats of the paint.
 
zesty-man said:

so, Jngrbrdman, just out of curiosity, how many times did you have to get that bumper repainted? i heard that a couple of times it was sloppy, and once there was hair in the clearcoat, etc. i woudl have been pretty pissed if i was the owner :), but they gauntreed you a quality job. also, how long did it take till they finally got it right?
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As far as I'm concerned, they never got it right. I took it in three times total. Now I have to take it in again because I was an idiot and backed into a chain link fence and messed it all up again. DOH!! Maybe this time they will get it right the first time. I can't take any more aggrevation from them. I'm going to get quotes from lots of other shops before I go back to them anyway.... That hair thing was just wrong.... If Billy Rae Cyrus would have put his greasy mullet up under his hat like he should have, then that hair would have never gotten there. :angry
 
Jngrbrdman said:
That hair thing was just wrong.... If Billy Rae Cyrus would have put his greasy mullet up under his hat like he should have, then that hair would have never gotten there. :angry
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'greasy mullet???' I'm just not sure how to feel about this comment. One half of me wants to drop the axe and the other half wants to find this defiler of the mighty mullet and have his head cut off. Decisions decisions..... I choose the second. He should not have allowed his mullet to mingle with the sacred duty of painting your car. It is a disgrace to mullets everywhere. However, your car has now been infused with the power of the Mullet. Your ETs should be dropping dramatically because your car is now smoooooth. :naughty Watch out for the ladies now. You may find that your are more attractive than the average cookie man while driving your car after that event. :headbang
 
dr_detail said:
IMO, It's not as much the "Robots" doing the paint job as it is the HVLP (High Volume Low Pressure) painting systems used in compliance with todays strict EPA regulations.
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Some of it also has to do with the paint materials being used especially in body shop repaints. With the stricter film thicknesses and finer atomization required, the paint doesn't always flow as well as it used to years ago.
Also my opinion is that car manufacturers do not want a perfectly smooth paint finish.
A finish with orange peel will hide many minor imperfections in the metal, fiberglass or material being painted.
If you were to wetsand your paint and polish it till it was smooth, you would notice every wave, bump and scratch in the surface below the paint.
Just my opinion ...
 
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