Wet Sanding And Polishing To Remove Orange Peel

[autogloss valeting]

Hi guys

not a Lexus, but just as an example of what cane to bring paint back from the dead.

Well - what a weekend. Spent 2 full days in Darlington correcting a black celica's paintwork for Lee. She had a full mop a few weeks ago, but was unhappy with the amount of peel on the car.

The car has been resprayed at some point, with a good coat of paint. Unfortunately the paint wasn't finished properly, leaving the whole car severely orange peeled, and bumpy.

So - with the help of Graham, (Lees dad) we set about

Snowfoam and rinse

Full body flat with 1500 wet and dry

Rinse down

Full body flat with 3000 wet and dry

Snowfoam and rinse down.

Machine polsih with 3m Fast cut on green pads

Rinse down

Machine polish with 3M Ultrafina on yellow waffle pads

Final Snowfoam and rinse down

Machine polish with Poorboys black hole.

Sealed with AG Extra gloss protection

waxed with AG HD wax.

This was a mare of a job, as it was too hot most of the day to work the compounds properly. there are a couple of minor holograms on the door, but i have explained these will just need to be polished out on a cooler day. Although I think the results speak for themselves.

I was certainly not unhappy with the way she came back up.

Massive thanks to Graham for all his help (pretty much half the car), otherwise it would have taken me 4 days!!! Also a big shout to Lee, Craig and Gayle for keeping me fed and watered!

Half and half

Finsihed

Thanks

Mike

[TommyH]

Wow, top job mate :winky:

[Jimxms]

I'd quite like to have this done on my IS300 tbh. The paintwork isn't quite as flat as I'd like.

[DaveEdin]

That's some top work there...

[Parthiban]

That looks absolutely stunning, I remember Mr Singh did this to his black Altezza years ago and it looks incredible!

Shame it only works on black........

[SHAHZ]

That looks absolutely stunning, I remember Mr Singh did this to his black Altezza years ago and it looks incredible!

Shame it only works on black........

was the first thing i thought of when i saw the title.....nice work mate B)

[PJ S]

I'd quite like to have this done on my IS300 tbh. The paintwork isn't quite as flat as I'd like.

If you're serious, then you need to speak to KDS Keltec in Gillingham.

Easy enough to find website, and threads on DW/Pistonheads of some of the work he has done.

[PJ S]

That looks absolutely stunning, I remember Mr Singh did this to his black Altezza years ago and it looks incredible!

Shame it only works on black........

Nope, orange peel on any colour plays havoc with the reflection, but certainly darker colours tend to have a greater wow-factor.

[Parthiban]

Nope, orange peel on any colour plays havoc with the reflection, but certainly darker colours tend to have a greater wow-factor.

No I meant this method of sanding it out only works on black as there's no clear coat, is that correct or have I made that up?

[PJ S]

Definitely made up - many blacks have a clearcoat, but generally only if metallic or pearlescent.

You're thinking of Lexus solid black, which like the red, is singlestage paint - the UV protection is in along with the pigment, whereas metallics and pearls are a paint layer over which the protective clearcoat sits.

[Parthiban]

Definitely made up - many blacks have a clearcoat, but generally only if metallic or pearlescent.

You're thinking of Lexus solid black, which like the red, is singlestage paint - the UV protection is in along with the pigment, whereas metallics and pearls are a paint layer over which the protective clearcoat sits.

Oh yeah I was definitely talking about Lexus solid black (and also probably the Toyota black given this thread) - what I meant was I couldn't have this done to my pearl blue Lexus, it only works on black ones :)

[mattc]

You can have it done on any car. Sanding out orange peel works on all colours

[PJ S]

To qualify Matt's statement a bit more, you can wet sand any paint - singlestage and clearcoated - provided there is sufficient depth to do so.

By that I mean, in clearcoated paints, the orange peel is in the clear lacquer, not the paint layer, and so long as you leave at the very least 30µm of the clearcoat after polishing back up, the paint layer beneath will still have adequate protection from the elements, and the UV radiation of the sun.

Below that, and you start getting into problems with pigment fading (as happens with the Milano Red "EP3" Civic Type R's, even with sufficient clearcoat), and clearcoat failure - something Audi knows a fair about.

So, it may not be totally possible to remove all the orange peel, but you can certainly reduce its effects dramatically, and not compromise the paintwork in the process.

Classic case in point - http://www.pistonhea...sp?h=0&t=685712

[Parthiban]

Ok cool, I didn't know the orange peel was in the clear coat. That BMW looks stunning after it was worked over, although not sure I'd have the guts to put a new M3 through that!