[PAT3L]

Hey,

I'm new to this forum and don't quite know if i'm posting this in the right place or not.

So I currently got a new paint job on my BMW (full body) by a professional body shop, I had a few jobs done by him on my other vehicles but never a full body paint job. Anyhow when I got my car back I noticed the whole body had orange peel, from the research i've done so far, gathered that this is normal when doing paint jobs. Anyhow I was wondering is there any way other than wet sanding the car to get rid of orange peel perfectly? I don't want to risk damaging my clear coat by wet sanding since i've got no experience what so ever, and I don't want to spend $500-$1000 more getting it professionally done. If you know any products that work please let me know.

[335speed]

Having dealt with probably thousands of orange peel paint jobs, color sanding is the only way I know of but shouldnt be too expensive to get done? But seeing very visible orange peel means the paint job was subpar so id take it back and have them redo it or colorsand it themselves

[mythek]

Originally Posted by 335speed

Having dealt with probably thousands of orange peel paint jobs, color sanding is the only way I know of but shouldnt be too expensive to get done? But seeing very visible orange peel means the paint job was subpar so id take it back and have them redo it or colorsand it themselves

He is correct. The orange peel effect is caused by cheap paint jobs where the painter skip some sanding steps. When it comes to paint, you really get what you pay for.

I don't know how much you paid, but if you paid a lot....i will definitely complain to the owner.

[Miller335]

It probably matches the factory paint well if there's orange peel.

[Healey3000]

Originally Posted by PAT3L

Hey,

I'm new to this forum and don't quite know if i'm posting this in the right place or not.

So I currently got a new paint job on my BMW (full body) by a professional body shop, I had a few jobs done by him on my other vehicles but never a full body paint job. Anyhow when I got my car back I noticed the whole body had orange peel, from the research i've done so far, gathered that this is normal when doing paint jobs. Anyhow I was wondering is there any way other than wet sanding the car to get rid of orange peel perfectly? I don't want to risk damaging my clear coat by wet sanding since i've got no experience what so ever, and I don't want to spend $500-$1000 more getting it professionally done. If you know any products that work please let me know.

Orange peel is difficult to quantify. How much is there (lemon rind or avocado)? How does it compare to the OEM orange peel? It may be a normal amount, or it may not.

Today's water-borne paints almost guarantee orange peel and it may be very difficult to remove it entirely without risking burning through the clear coat in spots. I suggest you compare it side by side with an OEM paint job of the same color under the same lighting and see if it is similar.

While a properly applied base coat is unlikely to have orange peel, it can happen. If that's the case, you can't sand it out effectively.

[Bicax]

Originally Posted by mythek

He is correct. The orange peel effect is caused by cheap paint jobs where the painter skip some sanding steps. When it comes to paint, you really get what you pay for.

I partly disagree. All BMW come from factory with a sh#tload of orange peel, and I have yet to find a paint shop that does worse than that no matter how cheap they are.

Not to say that there isn't a connection between bad paint jobs and how much you pay for them, but maybe what the OP is seeing isn't worse than factory orange peel (we tend to pay more attention to non-OEM paint jobs, it happened to me). Impossible to tell without seeing it.

As far as I know, the only way to get rid of that is fully sanding the whole car and start from scratch. I think there is a post somewhere on the detailing forum about an M3 owner who did that (he owned a detailing business if I recall correctly), and it took him around one year to complete it. Not sure if there are better alternatives to fully remove orange peel.

What I do know is that there is a company in Italy who does perfect paint jobs (mainly for prototype cars if I understood correctly) starting from 10kEUR

[N8N]

What a painter would call orange peel has nothing to do with surface prep, it is all about spray gun technique. A little bit is unavoidable but good equipment and a good operator can minimize it. If bad surface prep is showing through, that is a problem, but I wouldn't call it orange peel.

And, yes, BMW's have a good amount of OP in the factory paint already... would love to know if there's enough clear there to safely color sand it out but I don't feel like being a guinea pig

[dm0ng]

You would want minimal orange peel because if you decide to sand it all the way down you're probably gonna deal with fading later on. Personally for me I would like Orange Peel Minimal to Middle only because it makes it look like OEM. #gofigure. I love BMW Orange Peel compared to other companies.


** advice you can probably mask ur headlight, handles and sand with 2000 Grits which gives it a minimal orange peel and factory look

[Bicax]

[335speed]

No ones doubting the factory paint has orange peel just shouldnt be nearly bad enough to warrant colorsanding but i have noticed in these later model cars the paint quality dropping. If u wanna see terrible factory paint, look at any nissan product. Looks like a kid with one of those blow pens slapped it on. Its gotten so bad im thinkin about investing in a paint measurer to see if a cars been repainted cause i can barely tell by look cause factory paint looks like a terrible repaint sometimes.

[N8N]

I think someone already mentioned it, but the OP you see on newer factory paint jobs is likely due to the newer water based paint formulations. If they could optimize their equipment/processes to the stuff they were spraying 20 years ago we'd probably see some really amazing looking factory paint jobs, but holy aromatic hydrocarbons batman.

Hopefully by the time I get around to looking for another car, the water based paints will be dialed in enough that we'll see reasonable looking finishes again.

[Gizm0]

Originally Posted by Bicax

Amazing video!

[Welcome to NBA Jam]

Originally Posted by Bicax

That was pretty darn impressive work!

[Chrisruf911]

Originally Posted by 335speed

No ones doubting the factory paint has orange peel just shouldnt be nearly bad enough to warrant colorsanding but i have noticed in these later model cars the paint quality dropping. If u wanna see terrible factory paint, look at any nissan product. Looks like a kid with one of those blow pens slapped it on. Its gotten so bad im thinkin about investing in a paint measurer to see if a cars been repainted cause i can barely tell by look cause factory paint looks like a terrible repaint sometimes.

+1 worst factory paint I have dealt with is Nissan. Dry and not enough mil thickness. Orange peel is caused by many factors. The painters ability, his equipment, the product used, poor preparation and even temperature. If there is enough mil thickness you should be able to wet sand and buff the car. I would consult a good painter on this because many experience guys can tell visibly if there is sufficient material to do so. If the paint is thin your only option is a respray. Bear in mind most super slick paint jobs do not resist chipping as well as a job with some peel in it. Fwiw my factory Monaco blue is pretty peely from the factory but seems to be really durable.

[PAT3L]

Originally Posted by Healey3000

Orange peel is difficult to quantify. How much is there (lemon rind or avocado)? How does it compare to the OEM orange peel? It may be a normal amount, or it may not.

Today's water-borne paints almost guarantee orange peel and it may be very difficult to remove it entirely without risking burning through the clear coat in spots. I suggest you compare it side by side with an OEM paint job of the same color under the same lighting and see if it is similar.

While a properly applied base coat is unlikely to have orange peel, it can happen. If that's the case, you can't sand it out effectively.

Not quite sure how bad this would be considered, if you zoom in the orange peel is more noticeable.

[mashimarho]

Originally Posted by Bicax

Holy cow that's epic.

[PAT3L]

Originally Posted by Bicax

Thanks!, Do you know where to buy wet sand, and the products they've used?
hopefully its somewhat easy to do...

[kunal_d]

Originally Posted by PAT3L

Not quite sure how bad this would be considered, if you zoom in the orange peel is more noticeable.

Looks like there is much more orange peel than what you get from the factory. This is my non-expert opinion.

[Healey3000]

Originally Posted by PAT3L

Thanks!, Do you know where to buy wet sand, and the products they've used?
hopefully its somewhat easy to do...

Hi,

The products needed can be purchased at any autobody paint shop. For sanding, you will need wet sandpaper in grits of 1000, 1500 and 2000. There are a variety of polishing compounds for use with a buffer.

A word of caution - if this is the first time you have done wet sanding, I would advise that you try your hand on an older car first. Today's clear coat film builds are very thin and it is easy to go right through on ridges and features. If that happens, you will have to re-spray the entire panel.

Like anything else that is an art, it takes a practiced eye to see what contour to follow, how much pressure to apply and how much to sand.

[roundle]

I had to have my hood re-painted after a 6 foot section of fence blew away from a construction site and on to my car (long story).

Anyway, the BMW Den Haag body shop told me that the dealer paint systems had to change a few years ago to MATCH the factory orange peel (given that they generally only repair/paint sections, it's got to be as crap as original). The guy told me that some of the old-timers in the shop have a hard time resisting the urge to wet-sand the old school way.

Anyway, now that my car's got 80K on it and makes regular trips to automated car washes, I could care less about a bit of orange peel.

[PAT3L]

Originally Posted by Healey3000

Hi,

The products needed can be purchased at any autobody paint shop. For sanding, you will need wet sandpaper in grits of 1000, 1500 and 2000. There are a variety of polishing compounds for use with a buffer.

A word of caution - if this is the first time you have done wet sanding, I would advise that you try your hand on an older car first. Today's clear coat film builds are very thin and it is easy to go right through on ridges and features. If that happens, you will have to re-spray the entire panel.

Like anything else that is an art, it takes a practiced eye to see what contour to follow, how much pressure to apply and how much to sand.

Thanks for the advice, i've been told its extremely hard and its best to get a professional to do it. I'll probably attempt it on my other car first and see how it turns out.

[smithf80]

Originally Posted by PAT3L

Thanks for the advice, i've been told its extremely hard and its best to get a professional to do it. I'll probably attempt it on my other car first and see how it turns out.

Last time I wet sanded I used 2000 grit only going over each section (of the bumper I was doing) with one pass light pressure. I compounded and polished and it looks perfect.