Still unhappy with results

[spikepaga]

Hello guys,



I have a 25 Jaguar XJ-S that I had re-painted last year that I still can not get up to my expectations. The car is finished in British Racing Green and was stripped and re-finished at the local Jaguar dealership.

Orange peel, Orange peel.

My problem is that even after paying lots of money to have the car wet-sanded somewhere else after the re-paint, It still does not look 100% from different angles. I was there almost everyday the car was stripped and repainted and also closely watched the wet-sanding process. I am confident that both where done by seasoned professionals who take great pride in their work (although it was quite disturbing to see the way the freshly painted car looked after the first step of the wet-sanding).

While the paint job was not of the 10k sort, it did cost me half of that and I would like achieve my goal...Especially when my grandfather's E-type finished in BRG also was repainted for 2k only and shows much, much better than my car (have not gotten around to inheriting that one just yet).

I do have a PCXP that I have used to remove swirls and detail the car with great results in those areas, I do not know what else I can do to flatten the paint.

Perhaps the wet-sander was not agressive enough with the wet sanding? Is it likely that another round of wet sanding would be in order?
Perhaps I can try a product with my PC that could do the trick?


Thanks for all your help

[Fly Bye]

Re: Still unhappy with results

I am confident that both where done by seasoned professionals who take great pride in their work.

the paint job was not of the 10k sort, it did cost me half of that

You may just have to live with it. There may not be enough paint to level out all the orange peel. If the whole car was consistant, I would be happy with it.

[J. A. Michaels]

Re: Still unhappy with results

I agree with Fly Bye. Sometimes you have to accept this is the best it can be.

[Mary S]

Re: Still unhappy with results

I would try to gather data from both the body shop that painted your car and the person who wet sanded it for you, and see if they can tell you what the thickness of the paint was and how much was removed. I don't know for sure the body shop would have taken these measurements, but for sure the person wet sanding it should have. They should be able to tell you how much paint was removed by their wet sanding.

Whether you have enough clear to wet sand again will depend on how much is there. If it were factory clear you could be pretty sure 1 wet sanding is all it could take and the orange peel couldn't be completely removed. Since it was repainted, it depends entirely on how much clear the painters used and how much is left.

Perhaps if you took it to the person who wet sanded it, they could use the meter to help you determine if it can take any more. It may be he already took off all he could, but I wouldn't automatically assume that until you get more data.

If you could get hold of a paint thickness gauge, you might be able to get a ballpark idea yourself if there are any places where they applied just paint and no clear coat, such as under the hood. Then compare that average thickness with the average thickness on your car body, and the difference would be the thickness of the clear coat.

One other consideration is, did the body shop even use a clear coat that has UV protection in it like they do with factory clear? That would be another thing you could ask.

[Tim Lingor]

Re: Still unhappy with results

Hey,

Can you post some pics especially with a side reflection shot with vertical and horizontal elements in the reflection?

Thanks
Tim