Orange peel removal or reduction?

[kaanage]

My recent foray into paint correction had made me appreciate just how much orange peel is present on my car, even on panels that have never been damaged (ie most of them)

Is wet sanding with a block the only means to get rid of this factory finish effect ?

Or is there a combination of polisher (preferably DA), pad and compound that can effectively remove or at least reduce the orange peel?

[Stanton]

Yes !
Lot of work to do the whole car.
Why not get the texture of your repair the same

[kaanage]

I recently found these pads by Carpro - CarPro 3000grit Velvet Orange Peel Pad 135mm and CarPro 2000grit Denim Orange Peel Pad 80/100mm

Has anyone had personal experience with these? Some reviews I've found are are positive.

[Wolfgang]

Total removal of orange peel is usually reserved for show cars because it leaves you with very little clear coat and shows every little blemish. Peel removal also limits the amount of polishing you can (and inevitably will need to) do. The most important thing is you need to know exactly how much clear coat you have to play with as you will be removing at least 5-10um of clear coat. The upside is, it looks utterly awesome.

The pads you mentioned are good but very aggressive. I would only reccomend them to be used by someone who has plenty of experience in polishing. It would be very easy to strike through with those pads.

To give you an idea on the steps involved in peel removal, they are:

Sand with 1500grit
Sand with 3000grit (follow with 5000 or 6000 if you can find it)
Full correction with compound (eg: Menz FG500) and cutting pad
Polish with medium grade polish (eg: Menz PF2500) and polishing pad
Polish with finishing polish (eg: Menz 4000) and finishing pad

To finish it off I would strongly reccomend a coating such as CQuartz, 22PLE, or even Opticote.

[Silver dub]

I recently found these pads by Carpro - CarPro 3000grit Velvet Orange Peel Pad 135mm and CarPro 2000grit Denim Orange Peel Pad 80/100mm

Has anyone had personal experience with these? Some reviews I've found are are positive.

I would highly recommend you invest in a paint thickness gauge before you think about wetsanding.

The last thing you want to do is strike through.

[kaanage]

I wouldn't expect to get my car dead flat like a show car but it would be nice to scrape down the peaks halfway to the valleys - I reckon that would make the paintwork look so much better (stupid dark paint )

All those steps are why I asked if there was an alternative as I'd be sure to stuff up the sanding at some point and scratch through the clearcoat. I was hoping that with a DA and the right pad, I could do it more safely - I may try to find a panel from a wreckers with orange peel and get one of the softer velvet pads to experiment with but the missus might think I've totally lost the plot

Thanks for the pro perspective - always best to hear from the guys who've been there, done that.

I would highly recommend you invest in a paint thickness gauge before you think about wetsanding.

The last thing you want to do is strike through.

If it had to be wet sanding, then I'd live with the peel

[tonyf]

Total removal of orange peel is usually reserved for show cars because it leaves you with very little clear coat and shows every little blemish. Peel removal also limits the amount of polishing you can (and inevitably will need to) do. The most important thing is you need to know exactly how much clear coat you have to play with as you will be removing at least 5-10um of clear coat. The upside is, it looks utterly awesome.

The pads you mentioned are good but very aggressive. I would only reccomend them to be used by someone who has plenty of experience in polishing. It would be very easy to strike through with those pads.

To give you an idea on the steps involved in peel removal, they are:

Sand with 1500grit
Sand with 3000grit (follow with 5000 or 6000 if you can find it)
Full correction with compound (eg: Menz FG500) and cutting pad
Polish with medium grade polish (eg: Menz PF2500) and polishing pad
Polish with finishing polish (eg: Menz 4000) and finishing pad

To finish it off I would strongly reccomend a coating such as CQuartz, 22PLE, or even Opticote.

What a great response!!
I will add, stress the point that it really is for show cars, as they have been resprayed with wetsanding in mind, and allow for it in adding extra clear.
Also bear in mind, that if it is a daily driver it will inevitably get marred again and like Wolfy said, you won't have much clear coat left to play with. i do agree that it looks amazing, but practically, unless the car only comes out for shows it's not worth it.
But then that is only my perspective.

[gerhard]

How would you get rid of the orange peel in the base coat by sanding the clear coat?

[QBDentFree]

What you are trying to do (which it sounds like you already know), is remove the textured top part of the clear. So yes, it is usually done by wet-sanding it smooth and then polishing back to a shine.
You say you want to avoid sanding? It is possible to flatten the paint with any abraisive polish alone, but you can expect to spend HOURS on each panel if you want to do it the slow way. Not that it is going to be a weekend job even if you wet-sand. I've never done a whole car, but I'd say 40+ hours of rubbing and polishing
I'm with everyone else on this though, save flat paint for the show cars. The slightest mark will show up on your car, and you will be spending every weekend polishing them out, which will very soon leave you with no clear left and needing a paint job. Then the process starts again.

[mb1907953]

What you are trying to do (which it sounds like you already know), is remove the textured top part of the clear. So yes, it is usually done by wet-sanding it smooth and then polishing back to a shine.
You say you want to avoid sanding? It is possible to flatten the paint with any abraisive polish alone, but you can expect to spend HOURS on each panel if you want to do it the slow way. Not that it is going to be a weekend job even if you wet-sand. I've never done a whole car, but I'd say 40+ hours of rubbing and polishing
I'm with everyone else on this though, save flat paint for the show cars. The slightest mark will show up on your car, and you will be spending every weekend polishing them out, which will very soon leave you with no clear left and needing a paint job. Then the process starts again.

Hey mate, out of interest, how much time would one have to put in just to flatten out some dodgy clearcoat work on a bonnet? I don't want a flat showcar finish but rather bringing it to factory finish at least. It's just like they didn't take care when spraying it so the texture of the clear is not only bumpy but almost rough....

[kaanage]

Hey mate, out of interest, how much time would one have to put in just to flatten out some dodgy clearcoat work on a bonnet? I don't want a flat showcar finish but rather bringing it to factory finish at least. It's just like they didn't take care when spraying it so the texture of the clear is not only bumpy but almost rough....

Yes, that's what I meant when I posted

I wouldn't expect to get my car dead flat like a show car but it would be nice to scrape down the peaks halfway to the valleys - I reckon that would make the paintwork look so much better (stupid dark paint )

after Wolfgang's post.

From what I've read, the CarPro pads that I linked to are made for this purpose, since they're much less flexible than a normal foam, wool or microfiber pad, but I'd want to practise on something other than my car, first.

[QBDentFree]

So after doing a quick dent for a detailer this morning, I'm revising my answer slightly. He had those denim buffing pads that he thinks are quicker than sanding then polishing.
You can still expect to be doing a few passes on each section, and needing at least 1 more lighter polish/pad combo to finish up. Probably 2, since you are fussy enough to even be thinking about this

MB, I'd be giving the car back to whoever painted it if possible and making them fix it. If the paint is that dry there might not be much on there

[mb1907953]

So after doing a quick dent for a detailer this morning, I'm revising my answer slightly. He had those denim buffing pads that he thinks are quicker than sanding then polishing.
You can still expect to be doing a few passes on each section, and needing at least 1 more lighter polish/pad combo to finish up. Probably 2, since you are fussy enough to even be thinking about this

MB, I'd be giving the car back to whoever painted it if possible and making them fix it. If the paint is that dry there might not be much on there

Cheers for the help mate but unfortunately the car had the work done before I got a hold of it. It's not horrible but just enough to annoy me haha.

[Ben J]

Re: Orange peel removal or reduction?

As others have said, trying to remove peel from a factory paint job isn't a great idea. Possible? Sure. Very hard work though, and a very long process. Ive been detailing for a couple of years and wouldnt attempt it... All you need to do is slip up once and then paint on that panel will be ruined.

Heavy buffing can flatten peel out a little, but to get 100% removal without sanding would take a very long time. Like weeks.

Some great tips in this thread though, I'm going to attempt to remove the slight peel from my car when I can find the time, it's been resprayed to a show level though with plenty of clear to play with. .

Sent from my GT-I9305T using Tapatalk 2

[kaanage]

I'm not looking for complete removal as there is no way to do that without reducing the minimum clearcoat thickness (the valleys between the peaks of the peel). The Carpro denim and velvet pads look like a good option to reduce the orange peel effect

Regular polishing won't do the job as the foam, wool or microfibers will cut into the valleys as well as the peaks, reducing the thickness of the clearcoat without greatly affecting the texture (it will reduce it a bit if the texture is particularly rough but you get diminishing returns as the peel peaks round off)

Anyway, when I have time, I'm going to try and find a practise panel and learn how to use the Carpro pads.