Orange peel on new paint

[454Casull]

To eliminate orange peel you need to sand the paint until it`s flat. However, at what stage does the paint need to be sanded? After both the base coat and the clear coat, or just after the clear coat? I`m curious as to whether a flat clear coat layer over a "peely" base would look like it had orange peel.

[gigondaz]

To eliminate orange peel you need to sand the paint until it`s flat. However, at what stage does the paint need to be sanded? After both the base coat and the clear coat, or just after the clear coat? I`m curious as to whether a flat clear coat layer over a "peely" base would look like it had orange peel.

Generally, most OP are on the clearcoat, not the basecoat.

If your factory-clearcoat is sufficiently thick to allow any wet-sanding, you still have to be aware of the PROS and CONS.



The clearcoat`s UV protection depends on its thickness.

All car manufacturers have a specific standard of how thick the clearcoat must be (total film build thickness) in order for that clearcoat to give sufficient UV protection.



On a daily driven car, constantly exposed to the sun, I hv seen many examples of sanded hoods and trunk lids that suffered from premature deterioration of the clearcoat, that eventually needed to be re-sprayed. The overly thinned out clearcoat just could not do its job anymore, and the underlaying colour/basecoat just faded as time went by.



Removing OP and all that are great for SHOW CARS that`re indoors.

After you sand your factory clear, you hv thinned it. So, in the future, if you need to buff/compound it to remove swirls etc, you`ll face a huge risk `cos you are buffing a clearocat that YOU HV MADE very thin, and you might just buff through it.



Sanding off OP is normally done on showcars with AFTERMARKET respray paint jobs and also expensive custom paint.

These re-spray jobs wd hv a much thicker clearcoat, and it would be OK to sand it once, while leaving behind sufficient clearcoat thickness for any future buffing/compounding.



Most websites clamour about sanding....but very few talk about the CONS of sanding....especially on factory clearcoats. So, pls be careful buddy.

[454Casull]

Hmm... sorry for the misunderstanding. When I typed "orange peel on new paint" I literally meant painting bare panels. The context should also have indicated that, as I asked whether the base coat needed to be sanded...



Also, I still don`t know your answer on what should be done if the base coat has OP.

[defiantcustom]

typicaly you would not sand the base coat. If the texture of the base is rough, then your clear will already be rough and get worse with each coat of clear. You can sand base, but only after letting it fully cure, and then you would have to apply more base before puttin gon your clear. Clear is designed to be sprayed on top of uncured base coat. Usually you want to give your base 30 min to dry and not more than 12 hours othwise your clear my not stick to the base. If you know that your clear is going to be too rough for your liking, just make sure you put 3 even coats of clear. You may then wetsand the next day with 1000 and spray two more coats of clear. This way you have enough film build to sand out any amount of orange peel.

[454Casull]

So base coat with OP, depending on its severity, can still show its OP through a glass-smooth clear coat?