Sanding orange peel on a weekend truck?

[zachjackson18]

Well the truck don't get driven during the week but it's not stored indoors it is covered though.i polished it to perfection besides orange peel it has is it safe or will it fade

[allenk4]

Opinions will vary.

Does the car cover block 100% of UV rays? Contact the manufacturer

Do you have a paint thickness gauge?

Is it OEM paint?

Have you wet sanded OP before?

Given any consideration to the Carpro Denim Pads?

[Mike Phillips]

I'd highly recommend reading this article...

Wetsanding - Fresh Paint vs Factory Paint


A couple of comments that I'm pretty sure I cover in the above article...

Sanding paint is easy, in simple terms you're removing a top portion of the paint but the process leaves scratches in the paint. It's easy to sand paint.

The tricky part is getting 100% of the scratches out of the paint.

With 3M Trizact #3000 and #5000 it is now easier than ever to buff out your sanding marks but the fastest and most efficient way to do this is still via the use of a rotary buffer with a wool pad and a great cutting compound.

Factory paint is thin and compared to most repaints it's hard. I cover this in the above article too...

Customer paint is thicker, more film-build to work with and tends to be softer so it's easier to remove your sanding marks.

Look at the pictures in this thread too...


Clearcoats are Scratch-Sensitive


And something I've been posting for years now just to point it out....

• Sanding removes paint.
• Compounding removes paint.
• Polishing removes paint.

And then for what it's worth... the heart sinking feeling you get when you buff through the clearcoat and expose the basecoat cannot be described with words... you have to go through it yourself.


IF you decide to do it... we will of course be happy to walk you through the process but I'd highly recommend getting a Porter Cable DA Polisher as well as a Griot's 3" Polisher and then get both 3" and 6" Trizact sanding discs in both #3000 and #5000


Emphasis on the words highly recommned.

[Mike Phillips]

or will it fade

Sorry I missed this portion of your question, let me type it out how I think you mean it....


If I wet sand the paint to remove the orange peel will this cause the paint to fade?


Good question.

First, because the clearcoat or clear layer of paint has no pigment it cannot technically fade. It can become dull, swirled, scratched and fail that is clearcoat failure from the clear layer being to thin to hold up to exposure but the clear paint itself will not fade.

The underlying basecoat, that is the layer of paint under the clear that does have pigment, yes it could fade if you remove too much clear because the clear layer of paint has all the UV inhibitors to block the UV rays that would cause color fading.

If the truck is garage-kept then it's really not an issue.


If you want to reduce but possibly not 100% completely remove the orange peel, the I would suggest investing in a Porter Cable 7424XP, the Meguiar's 6" interface pad, the 3M #5000 grit Trizact finishing discs and then lightly sand all the major panels.

By only sanding with #5000 grit Trizact you will remove very little paint and leave behind a sanding mark pattern will be real easy to remove.

It's fastest to remove sanding marks with a rotary buffer but you could also do it with the Porter Cable and the right pad and compound.

If you want to undertake this process let us know and we'll be happy to walk you through it.

[Mike Phillips]

Video: Wow! 3M #5000 Grit Polishing I mean Sanding Discs!




Did some comparison testing between,

#1500 Grit Sanding Discs - Meguiar's
#1500 Foam Backed Finishing Discs - Meguiar's
#3000 Foam Backed Finishing Discs - Meguiar's
#5000 Foam Backed Finishing Discs - 3M

I'll let the pictures do the talking...

From left to right...

#1500 Grit Sanding Disc, #1500 Foam Backed Finishing Disc, #3000 Foam Backed Finishing Disc and #5000 Foam Backed Finishing Disc











At the #5000 mark you're really starting to restore reflectivity to the paint...

#3000 & #5000 Grit Wetsanding Marks Removed
with a DA Polisher

[Mike Phillips]

Given any consideration to the Carpro Denim Pads?

The CarPro Denim Pads are another good and very safe approach and I've demonstrated you can use them with a Porter Cable...


How to remove Orange Peel using a Porter Cable Dual Action Polisher