Paint Quality

T

The Moo

Senior member
 Warwickshire
I have noticed that if I look at my car in certain lights that there is a definite orange peel effect to the paintwork although it is smooth to the touch. Going back to my metal work days at school the appearance is similar to the planishing of copper. I look at other cars (including non BMW) and some seem to have it others don't. It seems more prevalent on black cars and indeed the brand new Z4 in the local dealers (which was black) had some evidence of it although the white 3 series next to it seemed Ok.

Ordinary polishing doesn't do anything. Is this something I could get rid of following a proper detailing regime?
 
There's a post in the detailing thread about a full wet sanding paint correction. I can't link to it now as i'm replying from my mobile. It was fairly recent though.
 
So it appears that the detailing industry doesn't rate BMW paint quality. Looking at the detailer's site in the link above it would appear a wet and dry sand should remove the orange peel effect, but prices start at £500 plus VAT. Presumably there would be other finishing treatment costs to add. So it's not going to be cheap. That said the treatment is said to be permament.

I wonder if a respray would be better value in the long term? I had some spray work done by a BMW approved body shop on my last car and there was no evidence of orange peel on their work. It would also address the latest rash of stone chips and other dings the car has picked up.

Any thoughts?
 
The Moo said:
Any thoughts?
Click to expand...

Yes, stop looking at the car trying to find something wrong with it and just enjoy it. Your paint will be no different to anyone elses. A respray would be mad and to flatten the paint down would be just as mad!!
 
no fit state said:
The Moo said:
Any thoughts?
Click to expand...

Yes, stop looking at the car trying to find something wrong with it and just enjoy it. Your paint will be no different to anyone elses. A respray would be mad and to flatten the paint down would be just as mad!!
Click to expand...

Yep! :thumbsup:


Those dramatic "corrections" always worry me-you're grinding off clear coat and maybe even paint. Mine's a daily driver, not a concourse show queen. I like her to look nice and wash and wax (and clay bar if I have to), sometimes even take her in for a "detail" but these marathon corrections seem over the top. They're gorgeous, no doubt, but once she's sat out in the weather, did it gain me anything?
 
Yes they have bad orange peel as do most modern cars no matter what you pay machine sprayed cars will never look better than one sprayed by hand machines have no senses cannot feel the surface but unless you want to spend around 5-6k to get a very good respray exept it and as said above enjoy the car.

They can still look stunning with a good detail. :thumbsup:
 
I was at BMWs open day at Oulton Park on Sunday and they had four new Z4s there. The paint quality on one of the cars in space grey was noticably worse than the others. The orange peel was really poor. I take it the orange peel is in the clearcoat if it can be sanded away?
 
The clearcoat is the problem and they take number of microns off it to flat it out. There should be no issues with doing this as the clearcoat will be measured to make sure its safe to do so, most cars have alot of clearcoat to play with so taking 10 microns off it will do no real harm.

If you are taking "paint off" then you have a serious problem called clearcoat failure!! :rofl:
 
Sound advice folks. Thank you. She is an enjoyable daily driver and not a show queen and as such will be afforded a sensible amount of attention!
 
I'm still of the mind that the base coat is what has at least some of the lumps, and that is transferred to the clear.

It doesn't mean that you can't flat it to remove the rough reflections. I've just done that on my powdercoated wheel (same orange peely clear), but it's still the base being lumpier that causes the clear to be lumpier than you might expect.

I'd love to see a BMW paint before the clear goes on. I rekon it's their intermediate coats that are as much the problem these days :)

Still, totally resolvable if it's such a huge issue, just not exactly cheap to do.

Dave
 
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