Orange peel on new cars

[dragvorl]

I've seen there is an old thread about removing orange peel from surfaces, but my question is different. I've noticed many cars, even new and from premium manufacturers, say MB, have orange peel all over the paint finish, and it's clearly visible. Now, that wasn't the case some 15-20 years ago, if I remember well. I'm curious what is the reason for this kind of paint finish, even with premium manufacturers? I guess it has to do something with water based paint, but what is the exact cause? Faster thinner evaporation, different paint applying techniques, or something else?

 

[dragvorl]

Just to illustrate. I'm sorry, I can't find the edit button in the first post.

 

[GregLocock]

Probably an unwanted side effect from some reduced emissions paint system. Or lower quality standards.

Cheers

Greg Locock


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[patprimmer]

I seem to remember a shift in paint types or process that started producing orange peel on many cars way back in the late 60s to early 70s maybe.

I think that shift was from lacquer to baked enamel. With lacquer it was relatively easy to polish blemishes out whereas with baked enamel it was not.

I think baked enamel was easy to apply automatically whereas lacquer was at that time hand sprayed, then rubbed and polished to a perfect finish.

Short story, I don't think it is a recent phenomenon, maybe you just recently noticed it.

If you mean only MB, maybe it is to do with where certain models are made.

Regards
Pat
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[dragvorl]

Sure orange peel existed before, but I'm not so sure it was a regular occurrence on new MBs BMWs and similar vehicles.

 

[CoryPad]

This is a complex phenomenon that is influenced by the surface texture underneath the paint as well as the paint layers themselves. It really is too difficult to distill into a simple answer.

 

[dragvorl]

That's OK, but isn't there an easy way to fix this, at least with premium cars?

 

[CoryPad]

No

 

[GregLocock]

If there was an easy way to fix it don't you think they'd have done it? After all a paint shop is a half a billion dollar facility (WAG).

Cheers

Greg Locock


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[dragvorl]

Well, I don't know, that's why I asked. It seems to me that they don't really care too much about it anyway.

 

[CoryPad]

Orange peel is a concern for automobile manufacturers and their materials suppliers.

Greg, your WAG is spot on.

 

[evelrod]

My oldest son owns a paint and restoration shop and deals with this problem on a regular basis. I just bought my wife a new BMW 328IT for our 50th and although the paint, Black Sapphire, is beautiful and "nearly" orange peel free...this particular car was built by German robots if that makes any difference. I asked him if he could color sand and buff the car for me and he said categorically, NO. The clear coats on the new cars are so thin that it is dangerous to try to color sand without going through to the base coat. However, he can do a complete respray of the clear and then color sand to a mirror, show finish...Let's just say "it ain't cheap" even for dear old dad ! I think it looks great. Our old '01 Lincoln LS was buffed out when it was new and I gave it to my son. Every time I see it I still think it was one of Fords best designs and even at near 200,000 miles it still looks new and uses no oil between 6000 mile changes. Kudos to Ford for that one and, of course, they were quite able to snatch defeat from victory with the current line of Lincolns---thus the BMW.

Rod