Orange Peel

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HughJarse

MB Enthusiast
Joined
Sep 13, 2006
Messages
1,035
Location
North East
Car
c250
Hi , Ive had to have a bit of paint doing due to a knock on rear wing.
When I have the car back the varnish as a very slight orange peel effect to it - Im told its the varnish and not the paint.

Can this be fixed - its ever so slight, if so what do I do?

Cheers in advance guys.
 
you could try to flat and polish the affected area, this often helps with darker colours as peel is harder to avoid..
 
I very light flat with 1200 paper, just take the highlights off the orange peel, do not remove it all as when you polish it with T cut the finish will look better that the rest.

You do not go near edges with flatting
 
I would not use 1200 grit paper its too course, go for a 2000 grit paper, also would not use T cut Either as T Cut will put more scratches in that you need, you want something like a 3m scratch remover, or some Farecla products.

When carrying this out, make sure you have the paper around somethnig that is ultra smooth like a sanding pad, using light to medium pressure, again making sure the surface stays wet, keep a bottle handy with a sprayer head so you can keep the surfce wet while working.

Make sure you clean down with plenty of water on a regular basis so you can see what your working with to ensure you dont go through the lacqure and in to the paint, if you do is back to the body shop!!!

Doing this by hand is going to need some elbow work for sure, if you have a PC or RM this is the quickest method of correcting the paint work here.

It is most likely in the lacqured surface, but can also be in the paint as well, as lacqure always finds a natural level and fills any holes this is the whole purpose of lacqurer, to seal the paint and to give a smooth looking finish, but as it sits in the orange peel you get a reflection from the small pockets that make up the orange peel affect.

Either way flattening back the top surface will help this a huge amount.

If you need any help please do ask.
 
I would not use 1200 grit paper its too course, go for a 2000 grit paper, also would not use T cut Either as T Cut will put more scratches in that you need, you want something like a 3m scratch remover, or some Farecla products.

When carrying this out, make sure you have the paper around somethnig that is ultra smooth like a sanding pad, using light to medium pressure, again making sure the surface stays wet, keep a bottle handy with a sprayer head so you can keep the surfce wet while working.

Make sure you clean down with plenty of water on a regular basis so you can see what your working with to ensure you dont go through the lacqure and in to the paint, if you do is back to the body shop!!!

Doing this by hand is going to need some elbow work for sure, if you have a PC or RM this is the quickest method of correcting the paint work here.

It is most likely in the lacqured surface, but can also be in the paint as well, as lacqure always finds a natural level and fills any holes this is the whole purpose of lacqurer, to seal the paint and to give a smooth looking finish, but as it sits in the orange peel you get a reflection from the small pockets that make up the orange peel affect.

Either way flattening back the top surface will help this a huge amount.

If you need any help please do ask.

Obviously any imperfections in the base/ undercoats will come through to the top surface as base coats are not normally flatted but under coats are. Its a matter of getting the foundation correct in the first place.

Even with water based top coat I light and go up to 1500 paper and T cut will not scratch, and with the use of any machine in inexperienced hands you stand more chance of going through than doing it by hand as the paint thickness is unknown
 
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Hi , Ive had to have a bit of paint doing due to a knock on rear wing.
When I have the car back the varnish as a very slight orange peel effect to it - Im told its the varnish and not the paint.

Can this be fixed - its ever so slight, if so what do I do?

Cheers in advance guys.

Might be worth speaking to the bodyshop and getting them to rectify it as may save you doing all the hard work?
 
I agree speak to the body shop, as this is only a job for pro's,

I would never ever use paper that is of 1200 grit to do this kind of work, T cut will also add more scratches to the paint.

Imperfections can be in the paint under the lacque and yes can come through to the top surface very quickly if you use grit paper that is 1200 grade,

But you only need to do this very lightly that is why 1200 grit is far to course, as you can only do this once to paint in its life time as its suprising how much you can take off.

I have done this for a living for 25 years and gained my experience in Harrahs Auto restoration centre in the USA, this was all part of the Harrahs Museum before it got sold off many years ago these guys were the best in the world and i owe them a great deal,

When i am using grit paper on a machine i use 5000 grit and some times 15,000 grit to do this kind of work.

Most importantly i would take it back to the body shop and ask them to sort this for you, if you have never done this before you can soon ruin what has just been done.

Richard
 
You are a new member Richard and I say , welcome to the forum,, this is one of the nicest to belong to in the world of motor cars.

I have done much respray work in my life, and I will bow down to your knowledge.

Welcome:)
 
Thanks for the welcome, i hope i did not offend you in any way, as it was not meant to offend at all.

It looks like a very nice forum and i hope i can enjoy the forum as much as i do with others, as i do enjoy my Mercedes.

Richard
 
CHeers guys. took the advice, popped back - he didnt argue and said it needed "flattenng" and "machine polishing" (whatever this is ) and it goes in Saturday morning.

Thanks again for advice.
 
CHeers guys. took the advice, popped back - he didnt argue and said it needed "flattenng" and "machine polishing" (whatever this is ) and it goes in Saturday morning.

Thanks again for advice.

Its a 600 RPM 5" foam head linisher/ polisher, a dob of compound and its all done
 
I agree speak to the body shop, as this is only a job for pro's,

I would never ever use paper that is of 1200 grit to do this kind of work, T cut will also add more scratches to the paint.

Imperfections can be in the paint under the lacquer and yes can come through to the top surface very quickly if you use grit paper that is 1200 grade,

But you only need to do this very lightly that is why 1200 grit is far to course, as you can only do this once to paint in its life time as its suprising how much you can take off.

I have done this for a living for 25 years and gained my experience in Harrahs Auto restoration centre in the USA, this was all part of the Harrahs Museum before it got sold off many years ago these guys were the best in the world and i owe them a great deal,

When i am using grit paper on a machine i use 5000 grit and some times 15,000 grit to do this kind of work.

Most importantly i would take it back to the body shop and ask them to sort this for you, if you have never done this before you can soon ruin what has just been done.

Richard

as you can only do this once to paint in its life time as its suprising how much you can take off.

Are you saying you can flatten your paint before you Lacquer
 
I agree speak to the body shop, as this is only a job for pro's,

I would never ever use paper that is of 1200 grit to do this kind of work, T cut will also add more scratches to the paint.

Imperfections can be in the paint under the lacque and yes can come through to the top surface very quickly if you use grit paper that is 1200 grade,

But you only need to do this very lightly that is why 1200 grit is far to course, as you can only do this once to paint in its life time as its suprising how much you can take off.

I have done this for a living for 25 years and gained my experience in Harrahs Auto restoration centre in the USA, this was all part of the Harrahs Museum before it got sold off many years ago these guys were the best in the world and i owe them a great deal,

When i am using grit paper on a machine i use 5000 grit and some times 15,000 grit to do this kind of work.

Most importantly i would take it back to the body shop and ask them to sort this for you, if you have never done this before you can soon ruin what has just been done.

Richard

you say you use 5000 grit and 15000 grit paper on your machine who makes this as the highest i have ever seen by 3m is 4000 disc i agree with you to take it back to the body shop as you could go through the paint and need a respray then
 

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