recently worked on a white tundra for a friend and he was happy with the results so he asked me some things about his black 92 (i think) toyota supra. he had water etching and orange peel all over the vehicle. he told me the original color was black, next owner painted it blue, after that next owner painted it back to black. the previous owner told him it had 3 layers of clear on it when they painted it back to black.

i used the trunk lid as my test spot to see what steps were needed. i compounded a small section first just to see. water etching came out easily but orange peel was not removed. i did not have a paint gauge but felt safe enough to proceed with wet sanding. here were my steps.

3000 grit abralon 3" on GG3 at speed 2 or 3, damp/wet sanded.

wiped area dry and blew it dry to inspect. saw it still had minor texture.

moved to 2000 grit abralon" on GG3 at speed 2 or 3, damp/wet sanded.

wiped and blew area dry. inspected and saw a flat matte/no texture surface, i was happy with it.

moved back to 3000 grit then 4000 grit.

compounded and polished the area.

when i got done polishing... it still had orange peel. very disappointed. what could i have done differently to remove the orange peel? or did the person who painted it, just did a real crap job?

sorry no pictures, it was too hot outside to take photos and do the work.