A pic for anyone that doesn't know what orange peel is

Ford is famous for Orange Peel....Zaino'd via Orange Peel





reflection.jpg








This was my old 99 GT, old *** camera too, lol. My 04 is about the same is the bad part......
 
Bence said:
Orange peel is getting more and more common since car manufacturers have switched to water-based paint.
Click to expand...
Wow. :bow That is the most informative review I've ever seen on auto paint. Of all the brands, you didn't mention Saturn. It used to be advertised that their paint was "the best". What say you?



Charles
 
Well, best? Saturn pioneered the first modern dent free plastic panels, along its paint technology. They had to control not only the flexing/sticking issue, but also thermal expansion as well. Earlier Saturn had canyonlike panel gaps, because those plastics expanded quite a lot. That's why it is impossible to make plastic-bodied cars with razor-thin gaps. Extreme thermal fluctuation could cause cracking and as the gaps of the expanded panels close, they could create chipping at the edges.

Now more manufacturers adopted the (basically same) tech. However, improvemets in the material specifications led to more uniform, stable panels. The paint on them is roughly the same, but with more softeners. True, Saturn paint is more chip-resistant, because it is soft, expandable, BUT the plastic underneath is helping a lot! That is the advertised "best". And when you have a limited budget to hold the price down, you can not afford basic technology spiced up with premium paint, can you?



It is cheap to paint an all-plastic body, but with a material-mix-body, it gets more expensive (such as typical French compacts: Peugeot 307, Renault Mégane, Clio, etc). They only have plastic front fenders. It is tricky to polish. It flexes, it is soft, thin and the edges are super sensitive.



So, as Saturn will move upwards, will be more upscale, and will use the normal Epsilon (Malibu Maxx, Saab 9-3, Opel Vectra, Pontiac G6) platform, and the Delta platform (Chevy Cobalt, Opel Astra) more extensively as well. Plastic cars will be present but at a lesser extent. The new Sky roadster, resting on the Bob Lutz-preferred RWD Kappa platform (Pontiac Solstice), will be such a plastic bomber.



Absolutely unique however, is smart. Its ForTwo (the tiny car formely known as the City Coupé) has colored plastic panels. When it gets swirled up, or something like that, you could theoretically take PlastX and polish it out. No paint thickness issues or worries. Those panels are basically click-on, so when you fed up with your Mellow Yellow, just switch to True Blue or whatever. Although the car is awful, the concept is great. The new, Mitsubishi Colt-based ForFour is way better, but this uses normal painted plastics.
 
Bence said:
Orange peel is getting more and more common since car manufacturers have switched to water-based paint.
Click to expand...



I saw really massive orange peel on a yellow 2004 Corvette last Saturday while at a shop that installs Viper alarms. If it was my car I would be quite PO'd.
 
mochamanz said:
Can orange peel be corrected without massive loss of pain depth ?
Click to expand...



If the orange peel is in the top of the clearcoat as opposed to in the base coat, you can reduce it by polishing the clearcoat down. If it is bad orange peel, then you would have to take off too much clear to remove the orange peel.
 
Guys,



Herewith I present to you the picture of the Ferrari 612 Scaglietti (left door) and the hatch of an Opel Meriva, as promised.



:down :sosad :shocked



showphoto.php




showphoto.php






errr... enjoy! (?)
 
At the risk of again being villified for having an opinion, as I recall the theoretical "reason" for the auto makers using orange peel to hide body panel imperfections would be due to the expanded use of galvanized steel panels, which have a rough finish (think about the finish of your galvanized steel heating ducts in your house).



However, I think the orange peel is really due to the VOC laws, which has been mentioned earlier. In the old days, an orange-peeled finish was because you didn't thin the paint enough...I guess now it's EPA law that you can't thin the paint enuf.
 
Thin and s#itty paint has another flaw, too. It does not have the ability to cover every surface with the same uniform layer. That leads to the effect of "showing-through"; a kind of translucency. Although it os basically the same color, but on different materials it shows a different shade. On plastics it gets darker or yellowish, on normal sheetmetal it shows the true shade.

Old Ferrari painters used a cream-colored basecoat for the famous Ferrari red, because it made the red more vibrant, more lively. A gray base dulled the red. This is exactly the same situation today, the only difference is is the prep; I mean the lack of it. Thin paint with different surfaces (aluminum, plastics, magnesium, steel, galvanized steel) on the same body shows happy color-variations, originally intended to be one.

I hate these paints!



Look at this Golf V! Every plastic panel has a darker tone... (bumpers & fuel cap)
 

Attachments

  • 1.jpg
    1.jpg
    55.9 KB · Views: 305
I disagree on the Nissan. My BF owns a 2003 and mom my has a 2005 and the paint is very nice and clear. Our only complaint is that the clear coat is thin and prone to chips. Never saw a Nissan on that lot that had factory installed orange peel.
 
Ditto on the cheap car - decent paintjob, expensive - terrible. We have a '99 Camry with absolutely zero orange peel (would be a flawless paintjob if it werent for the different shade of gold on the bumpers :angry). My aunt has an '04 Avalon, worst orange peel I've ever seen. No depth, either. I've offered to wetsand and buff it for her, but you know how most people get when they heard the words "sandpaper" and "40000 dollar car" in the same sentence. Its a shame too, because its a real nice car other than the POS paintjob.
 
I saw a brand new BMW X5 last week that looked like it was painted in my backyard with the garden hose. The orange peel was brutal... especially for a marque that I have allows praised for great paint.
 
heres the factory peel on my car, i had the camera to the surface but it doesnt really look that bad. this is of the top of the back hatch which has a curve to it.



orangepeel.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top