Uneven Paint Surface

[larry_bar56]

Hi,



After a long winter here in New England I finally had a chance to clean up the car. I did a good wash and wax, no polishing to speak of. The car is a 1995 BMW M3, Alpine White. I have only owned the car for 7 months, so I`m unaware of the previous owners` habits, but all in all the car is in very good shape.



The car looks o.k. but not great. I have seen the photos here of cars with incredible shines and reflections that look like mirrors. I`m wondering if I can get that kind of finish.



This is a picture of the reflection from the side of my car. (That`s the back of my wife`s van and a view out the garage door) You`ll notice the reflection looks more like an impressionist painting than a mirror. The paint seems to have a stippled effect to it. Can I make this better myself or should I take it to a body shop? What are the steps needed to make this better? I don`t have a PC but I am considering that purchase. Is that the right machine to correct this?



http://home.attbi.com/~lbarbieri/files/reflection.jpg



Thanks.

:nixweiss

[shaf]

Hi Larry, unfortunately your paint is afflicted with a condition known as "orange peel" where, because of poor factory paint application, the paint looks like the peel of an orange. There`s not much you can do for this unless you want to take drastic measures. Run a search for this to see more detailed discussions about your options.



Hope this helps, good luck.

[chris0626]

4DSC, I`m still learning how to diagnose paintwork problems. What did you see in this picture that said "orange peel" to you? I`m not seeing it.

[shaf]

Well Larry was nicely descriptive about how it looked (like the "impressionist painting" comment :lol) and you can see how bumpy and rippled the paint is and how the orange peel breaks up the reflection`s image so that lines are no longer crisp. Most cars have some of this effect to some degree from the factory, but some lucky or well prepared (wet sanded) cars are dead flat and they simply look awesome because the reflections are so perfect. :)

[chris0626]

I trust your diagnosis, 4DSC. I just can`s see it in the photo. And I have something on one of my vehicles that I think may be orange peel, so was particularly interested in what you were seeing.



Color me clueless :(

Lynn

[larry_bar56]

Thanks everyone, sounds like I will have to live with it....until I can afford a brand new M3:D



Lynn, let me see if I can help you see the problem...



Near the upper left of the picture is a dark square (sort of) shape surrounded by a lighter color. That is a the reflection of the window on my tool shed. Obviously, in a perfectly finished car you could tell this was a window, but because of the orange peel effect it is blurred, mottled, stippled, pick a word. Hence the impressionist artist comment, take a look at a Renoir or a Van Gogh and you`ll see what I mean.



Cheers!

[chris0626]

OK. I see it! Thanks, larry_bar56!

[shaf]

:xyxthumbs