what is orange peel ?

[zerolam]

What is orange peel actually, how can I remove it. Is it the same cause of swirl?

[brickyardz]

Re: what is orange peel ?

What is orange peel actually, how can I remove it. Is it the same cause of swirl?

If you take a look at the clear coat finish of your vehicle and catch it at the right angle you will see it's not completely smooth and looks like the skin of an orange hence the name "orange peel".

The paint comes from the factory that way. You can remove this by polishing the finish and making it all the same level but in doing so you will be removing clear coat from the paint giving you a thinner layer of protection. The clear coat is so thin on a factory finish I would not suggest trying to remove the "orange peel" by polishing the finish.

This is more typically done on a custom paint job where extra layers of clear coat are applied to the paint with the intention of polishing it out so essentially when your done there is still a thick enough clear coat left on the finish to protect it.

I hope that makes sense.

[94BMW325CIS]

Re: what is orange peel ?

The fastest way to remove it is by wet sanding, but it's no easy task and you need to be almost a professional in paint care to do it.

[Murr1525]

Re: what is orange peel ?

Orange peel and swirls are unrelated.

Swirls can be removed by anyone, orange peel, as mentioned above, really needs a pro, and even then if it is a factory paint job, it will already be too thin to remove the orange peel.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: what is orange peel ?

Orange peel happens as the paint is sprayed onto the body panels so it only happens during the painting process, not by anything you do to the paint in the process of washing or detailing like, which is when swirl marks can appear. The amount of orange peel is dependent on how thick or thin the paint coat is applied, how fast or slow it dries, how the paint is mixed, how clean the paint gun is, how fine the paint gun shoots the paint, etc. There are a lot of variables in the painting process and orange peel, at least to some extent, is simply a by product of the process.

As far as I know you can't really eliminate orange peel by polishing the paint; you need to wet sand the clear to remove the high spots and then polish out the sanding marks to bring the gloss back up. I just spent a few days working on a project with Kevin Brown (Joe from Superior Shine, Paul - AKA the other PC, Jason Rose and others were also involved) where we did a ton of wet sanding on fresh paint and then polishing with a wool pad on a rotary to restore the shine. It's an amazing process if you've never seen it, and it's just about the only way to eliminate orange peel. But this was custom paint with a lot of clear sprayed on. Factory paint jobs usually give you this luxury.

[zerolam]

Re: what is orange peel ?

If i found orange peel on one door of a 2nd car, that's means the door must be repainted?

[VonLego]

Re: what is orange peel ?

If i found orange peel on one door of a 2nd car, that's means the door must be repainted?

most all cars now days have orange peel on them...

[Mike Phillips]

Re: what is orange peel ?

If i found orange peel on one door of a 2nd car, that's means the door must be repainted?

Maybe.

Is it dramatically different in amount of peel as compared to paint around the door?

Look around the edges real carefully, especially trim and look for signs of a repaint, it will show up as paint on things like trim or gaskets if these areas were not removed or taped off perfectly.

Even if it has been repainted, keep in mind that the majority of all wet-sanding is done on fresh paint, as in a day or two old, and up to a week or two, after a month the paint in most cases has reached full hardness and while it's always easy to sand paint, (In a crude way this means putting scratches in the paint), it becomes more and more difficult to buff out your sanding marks as the paint hardens. Thus most wet-sanding is done when the paint is fresh.

We had a member join the forum recently and ask for help buffing out his new paint job, we asked him how fresh the paint was and he said it had been painted 5 years ago. The car was a project and as such not driven, or at least driven much since it was painted and in the member's mind it was a brand new paint job and while this is true, it's not a "freshly sprayed paint job".

Big difference.

If you want to remove orange peel you will need to sand the affected area and then remove your sanding marks using a rotary buffer.

[Blue67]

Re: what is orange peel ?

This is the best photo I could get on short notice of some orange peel - this is on a new 2007 F**D F550 in our shop. You will also notice the DISO on the fender. Hope this helps you to visualize what to look for.

[brickyardz]

Re: what is orange peel ?

This is the best photo I could get on short notice of some orange peel - this is on a new 2007 F**D F550 in our shop. You will also notice the DISO on the fender. Hope this helps you to visualize what to look for.
http://meguiarsonline.com/forums/pho...e_peel_001.jpg

Ok, unless I am doing something wrong that image is way to small to see any detail on the actual paint. Its like avatar size.

[94BMW325CIS]

Re: what is orange peel ?

^Yea me too but here

[Mike Phillips]

Re: what is orange peel ?

Ok, unless I am doing something wrong that image is way to small to see any detail on the actual paint. Its like avatar size.

Fixed now.

[brickyardz]

Re: what is orange peel ?

Fixed now.

Thanks Mike. Now you can see the orange peel and swirls.