Audi paint and orange peel

[diarmuid]

So I bought a used, white Audi a couple months back. I decided to take my detailing game past the wash-n-wax level and up to a new plain.

To get rid of swirls and scratches I :

- Washed
- Used a scratch remover on difficult scratches
- Used an abrasive compound (local Korean brand)
- Used Meguiars Ultimate Compound with a machine and foam pad (grey)
- Used 3M machine polish with a machine and foam pad (orange)
- Re-washed
- Waxed with Meguiars Cleaner Wax, removing with a bonnet on the machine
- Waxed with Griot's best in show

I was so concerned with the scratches and swirls that I didn't think about the orange peel effect until now. The reflection is strong and bright, but by no means like a mirror.

How much orange peel effect is to be expected on a car? It seems that most other cars have at least some degree of peel effect.... but I want to know if I've done something wrong or need to do something else (hopefully not wet sanding).

I suppose I should take and post pics...

[hernandez.art13]

IMO

I wouldn't sand orange peel off, of a stock car. There is so little, why take it off?

I am not understanding? Your not happy with the orange peel look? If so then you'd have to repaint it. IMO

Has the car been repainted?

[95oRANGEcRUSH]

I'm not sure why somebody would recommend you to NOT wet sand and then recommend you to repaint the entire car. WORST. ADVICE. EVER.

OP, as you said all manufacturers have orange peel to some degree. What you should see is uniform orange peel from panel to panel. IE. If the orange peel is way worse on your hood compared to your fenders then your hood may have been repainted. A picture of what you're seeing would be beneficial to others on this forum to help you out.

Without seeing what you are up against I am inclined to recommend that you live with the orange peel as is. For a daily driver, I don't see the point in going to that length to wet sand the car. However, if it's obviously due to a repaint then that changes things and it may be necessary to wet sand.

[hernandez.art13]

Online communication is hard, was telling Diarmuid to NOT sand the orange peel off, if it is stock.

So not getting you 95orange? To sand or not to sand that is the question. Lol (Shakespeare)

If you have never sanded a car down, i would not recommend doing it on your own car. Even if he was comfortable sanding (wet/damp etc.)

He might not know who painted it, and would not know how many coats of CC it has, yeah you can invest in a Paint thickness gauge, but that's a whole other topic.

[dorkiedoode]

factory paint car will have certain degree of orange peels. i've seen a Benz that have almost 75% of the car orange peel. it looks horrible... when i point it out to people they think im nuts. just do what you can to get the best shine out of it and enjoy. my front bumper has orange peel that piss me off so bad cause it makes the front bumper look so off. i have now learned to ignore it.

[diarmuid]

Thanks guys.

The paint is stock except the front passenger side quarter, but the peel effect is fairly consistent across the whole car.

Just annoying as I want (obviously) a mirror-like finish.

I'll take some pics later and u/l

[hernandez.art13]

Yeah, orange peel is something that we should live with or like I said repaint the car. To add more CC to the car.

It is possible to sand off the orange peel off a stock car but if you only have so little, I don't see why.

I asked a buddy of mine how much CC a custom painted classic has (because it has the mirror finish) and he said 6 coats. I believe a stock car only has 3, i'm sure it all varies.

[sproketser]

You can yet sand it , no need to repaint the car .

[Mike Phillips]

You can sand and remove just the tops of the orange peel. Audi's are mostly known for having very hard paint, there are exceptions to this rule as I point out in this article,

Audi Soft Paint - Making Generalizations about Hardness and Softness (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/auto-detailing-101/31888-audi-soft-paint-making-generalizations-about-hardness-softness.html)


Here's the deal though if your Audi has exceptionally hard paint...


Sanding is the easy part, that's putting scratches into the paint... the tricky part is getting them 100% out...


You can quote me on that...


And to take it a step further... sanding is the easy part, that's putting scratches into the paint... the tricky part is getting them 100% out without burning through somewhere at some point of the buffing process.


There's some new orange peel removal pads on the market that you use with a compound and a rotary buffer and my buddy Todd Helme has a really good write-up on how he used these successfully. Here's the link...

Game Changing Performance: CarPro Denim Orange Peel Pad Review (http://www.autopiaforums.com/forums/paint-correction-gloss-enhancement/41226-game-changing-performance-carpro-denim-orange-peel-pad-review.html)


I have not tried these myself so I don't have an opinion based upon real world experience. After watching Todd buff out just a section of his door though I'm not sure I'd want to buff out an entire car using this system.

But then I know how to machine wetsand and use a rotary buffer so to date, this is my preferred method of removing orange peel. That said, for the most part I only sand on custom paint jobs where there's more paint to start with and less chance for error.


One thing I would point out though and that's the UV inhibitors in your car's clear layer of paint have a half life of 5 years. So after 5 years pass you now have half the UV protection for the clear and basecoat layer of paint then when the car was new.

Removing clear removes more of these UV inhibitors.


Once people join a forum like this and start to learn these kinds of details about their car's factory paint we all wish car manufacturers would put more paint on new cars but that's never going to happen. So it's up to you to take care of what you have and if you ever get a custom paint job, spend the money and have your painter spray an extra coat of two of clear especially if you're going to wetsand, cut and buff the paint.


:)

[jimjc]

Yes all cars have orange peel. I have now purchased 69 new cars starting in the 60`s, for myself and my wife and I can say not one single car was without OP. I`ve had Mercedes, BMW, Lexus, Caddys, Lincolns, Vettes etc.etc. I`ve learned to live with it.

I remember when clear coat paint started in the auto business years back, many at that time said It would soon get rid of orange peel haha what a laugh. The big difference now is there is a lot less paint on the car and the thickness isn`t there, so wet sanding is dangerous on newer cars.

[hernandez.art13]

^ haha I was right about going and getting it repainted! 😎

[95oRANGEcRUSH]

^ haha I was right about going and getting it repainted! 😎

No, you are not right.

The clear is thin but nobody said it was impossible to sand it. Most people will agree that it is dangerous/risky to wet sand factory clear, but, it's certainly not impossible and can be done if the person knows what their doing. Invest a couple hundred bucks in a PTG, practice on a junk panel and have at it.

Furthermore, if we have determined that painting a car will result in some level of orange peel then what is the point in repainting the car? Why would anybody go to the hassle of spending thousands of dollars, be out a car for 1-2+ weeks only to get a car back with orange peel AGAIN?

OP, you have 2 options: 1) live with the orange peel and be happy that you have a clean, glossy car or 2) wet sand it yourself or have someone with experience that you trust wet sand and then compound, polish, etc. If you go the route of #2, just be aware of the pit falls as Mike suggested.

Regardless, don't repaint the car no matter what someone here suggests. You would obviously have orange peel after a repaint too so there is no point in even going that route.

[hernandez.art13]

The point of repainting the car, would be to add more coats of CC, so when you do wet sand all the orange peel off, you still have plenty of CC left.

I was not advising him to go repaint it, I was just simply saying if you want to get rid of the orange peel look. I said repainting it would be necessary. IMO

Can it be done? Yes it can. However why risk it? If he does burn through the paint, then he'll have to repaint it.

Good day!!! Hahahaha 😂


Diarmuid: my advice is to just live with it, even if you paid a proffesional to do it for you. You'd be left even less CC. So IMO. Don't do it and just live with it, or invest thousands to repaint it.
Good luck

[hernandez.art13]

The point of repainting the car, would be to add more coats of CC, so when you do wet sand all the orange peel off, you still have plenty of CC left.

I was not advising him to go repaint it, I was just simply saying if you want to get rid of the orange peel look. I said repainting it would be necessary. IMO

Can it be done? Yes it can. However why risk it? If he does burn through the paint, then he'll have to repaint it.

Good day!!! Hahahaha 😂


Diarmuid: my advice is to just live with it, even if you paid a proffesional to do it for you. You'd be left even less CC. So IMO. Don't do it and just live with it, or invest thousands to repaint it.
Good luck

I wonder how much it would cost to sand the car down to prep it. Then just shoot clear coat on top of clear coat?

[theclock12]

This is right


No, you are not right.

The clear is thin but nobody said it was impossible to sand it. Most people will agree that it is dangerous/risky to wet sand factory clear, but, it's certainly not impossible and can be done if the person knows what their doing. Invest a couple hundred bucks in a PTG, practice on a junk panel and have at it.

Furthermore, if we have determined that painting a car will result in some level of orange peel then what is the point in repainting the car? Why would anybody go to the hassle of spending thousands of dollars, be out a car for 1-2+ weeks only to get a car back with orange peel AGAIN?

OP, you have 2 options: 1) live with the orange peel and be happy that you have a clean, glossy car or 2) wet sand it yourself or have someone with experience that you trust wet sand and then compound, polish, etc. If you go the route of #2, just be aware of the pit falls as Mike suggested.

Regardless, don't repaint the car no matter what someone here suggests. You would obviously have orange peel after a repaint too so there is no point in even going that route.