I recently painted my car with a single stage metallic paint. After painting, and then doing the research, probably not one of my best decisions. But it's already painted and I don't want to restart. So, is there any way to reduce the orange peel appearance on a single stage metallic paint job? I tried a couple spots with a scuff and buff, but it is very very meticulous and things can go wrong quick. I tried 2000 grit and then buffed, and it came out pretty decent, but don't know if it is worth the risk to try and do the whole entire car. With just a buff, I can get some pretty good shine, but doesn't do much for the orange peel even with the super heavy cut compound. I know that I can't get rid of all of it without clearing, but just want to reduce some of it.

 

I'm a professional painter. So with a single stage metallic, what you'd basically need to do is sand the surface flat, and put a couple more coats on. The metallics will want to shift around when you sand it, so putting more color on is about your only option. In order to clear it, you'd still need to sand it and add more color to even out the metallics, then clear.

You should be painting with like a 1.3 tip in your paint gun. That will give you a smooth texture. If you have a lot of orange peel, either you're using too big of tip in your paint gun, or you're putting your coats on too dry. Without a picture of your finish, I don't know which one of those it is

Darin

 

If you haven't seen his work, take the time to look at some of the cars on this site that he has redone. Trust what he tells you.

 

I have a 1.5 tip in the gun. It's an Ingersoll rand 270g gun.

 

That's a lot of your orange peel problem. I use a 1.5 tip SATA gun for spraying primer

 

After you mentioned tip size, I thought that was it. The primer layed down almost perfect. The bad part is I can't find any tips for the gun.