Why do I have dimples in my paint?

[soog]

I just finished detailing my entire car. My process on the outside was:

Wash
Clay
Wash
SSR2.5
PP
SSR1
UPP

It was kind of a bitter sweet project. My car looks better but now I can really see all of the dents and chips on it.

It also uncovered all these little "dimple" type shapes in the paint. It is still smooth to the touch, and you dont notice it unless you are really looking hard around the reflection of the sun for swirl marks.

Is this just what happens to paint after 10 years? Was it a bad paint job originally? Is there anything I can do?

Sorry I don't have a digital camera, so there are no pictures. I was hoping someone else might have run into this as well.

[Dwayne]

This is known as "orange peel" is common in factory clearcoat finishes.

All that washing and claying and polishing and UPP left such a clear finish that and factory defects seem to pop out like a sore thumb.You could eliminate the orange peel with wet sanding and buffing but that would remove much of the protective clearcoat and I don't recommend wetsanding a daily driver that, other than some orange peel, looks great.

Dwayne

[soog]

Thanks for the quick reply. Guess I'll just have to deal with it.

I don't know how you guys do this. It's gonna take me a while to get used to trying to perfect these things (cars) which are inherently imperfect.

[Jcrawford]

don't worry, when the addiction sets in then it'll come like second nature.

[Bob]

The dimples are taken from a golf ball design and help your car go faster. Sort of like "speed holes".

Just kidding, orange peel is what it is.

[clean4u]

Yet another victim of orange peel

[edschwab1]

Originally posted by 2001civicex
The dimples are taken from a golf ball design and help your car go faster. Sort of like "speed holes".

How much extra HP does this give me?

Orange peel just happens.

Eric

[Focusedonsound]

What in the painting process causes this to happnen?

[HondaMan]

Can someone post a picture -- a closeup -- of this "orange peel" phenomenon??

[vdubbya]

Most often caused from to little paint/too much air while sprayed. Manufactures slack on the paint to keep production costs down. LOL

[jaybs02]

Soog,
Don't feel bad I have been noticing orange peel on alot of new cars :dunno

"J"

[kimwallace]

Orange peel is a product of spraying the paint.
When it is sprayed the tiny droplets of paint are not able to flow out, or level themselves completely when they hit the surface of the car. One reason is that the paint needs to set up fairly quickly so it doesn't run. In order to get a paint finish without orange peel, you need to wet sand between each coat of paint and then wet sand and buff the final coat.
Orange peel has a benefit for the car manufacturers in that it does hide many of the minor imperfections in the body panels. When your car is polished and waxed you notice more imperfections ... If the orange peel wasn't there, you would see a bunch more. The more perfect the paint ... the more perfect the body panels need to be.

[jaybs02]

Originally posted by kimwallace
Orange peel is a product of spraying the paint.
When it is sprayed the tiny droplets of paint are not able to flow out, or level themselves completely when they hit the surface of the car. One reason is that the paint needs to set up fairly quickly so it doesn't run. In order to get a paint finish without orange peel, you need to wet sand between each coat of paint and then wet sand and buff the final coat.
Orange peel has a benefit for the car manufacturers in that it does hide many of the minor imperfections in the body panels. When your car is polished and waxed you notice more imperfections ... If the orange peel wasn't there, you would see a bunch more. The more perfect the paint ... the more perfect the body panels need to be.

Another sign of the times

[Dwayne]

Originally posted by jaybs95
Soog,
Don't feel bad I have been noticing orange peel on alot of new cars :dunno

"J"

I have heard new car salesman at the Chevrolet dealership refer to orange peel as "shine and gloss".

[darkcrow]

shine and gloss??? omg thats funny, i just did an 04 svt cobra with the "shine and gloss" so bad that i thought it was a repaint,(orange peel and the odd fisheye) however the guy that owns the car figures the original finish will hold value-i shake my head, remember the old lead based paint?? there was a finish!