I was at my buddys house looking at his dads GTA. It was white and looked amazing, he painted it himself so I was asking questions about painting mine (having him do it)

My buddy pointed out that he would have wet sanded it another 2-3 times to make it smooth, but his pops liked the orange peel because it came from the factory like that.

I liked it, mine has orange peel, but i figured someone painted it before i got it. Opinions?

Keep in mind I am doing a factory restoration on the car.

 

The paints used during the 3rd gen production were less prone to orange peel than modern paints, even the water based stuff on the later cars.

Look at nearly any new car and you'll see what I'm talking about.

I say get the best paint job you can regardless of how flawed the original paint was. Modern paint will require work just to look as flat as your original paint and it seems silly to aim for a certain "correct" amount of peel.

 

okay, thats what I was asking if thats how it was, or if it was flawed.

I want a mirror black finish, but wanted to make sure that wouldnt go against the originality of the car.

thanks

 

Yeah-you do not usually get marked down for to good a finish!
I find I can limit sanding to match a rougher profile if needed. On our fun cars I usually take them all the way down and it helps get out all the "goodies" out of the clear.


The factories claim that the epa is harder on the solvents and that is why the newer finishes are rougher. I do not know- I work in production paint and we have one of those "aero bells" like the factories use and I can tell you that thing atomizes so well you could spray peanut butter with that thing!

 

Factories also have much faster turn arounds and likely formulate the paint to have a quicker flash off (not sure I'm using the correct term, I'm not a paint/body guy) I can tell you my GF's new focus has horrible peel while my T/A is smooth as glass, atleast where the metal is straight and not rusty. It's disapointing to see new and expensive cars with such bad paint, Mercedies and BMW's often have it despite the huge price tag.

 

I love it when a car is smooooooth. I work in a bodyshop. The worst orange peel I've seen on a new car was on a Volvo. It even had dirt still left in it (and yes, it was original paint). The absolute WORST orange peel I've seen was on a car another shop painted "base coat clear coat". I put that in quotes because they mixed the base and clear together. I hate having to fix other shop's stupid mistakes.

 

most cars off the factory line have orange peel. They dont wet sand the cars after them being painted. which is the only way to get rid of it. theres alot of cars that actually have body work on them from the factory too. quite interesting. look on your sail panel (wheres the qaurter meets the roof) theres a weld line ther that if wasnt cover with plastic filler itd show through the paint. sometimes on a brand new car you can see the outline of it because it was poorly sanded. on a BRAND new car. learn this when i went to school for collision repair

 

also repairing our customer cars in class we have to try and match the "factory orange peel" too so it doesnt look like it was repaired

 

It can be "minimized" with improved chemistry and technique but the main factor there is time, paints less likely to develope peel take longer to dry = money, improved technique usualy means multiple passes and lighter coats = money.

Look where the quarter meets the rocker on most cars, spot welds and un finished seams are common. It's a place where GM cars like Bonnivilles, Lesabres etc on the older big FWD chassis would start to rot right away. It's out of sight and often covered with "aero" so it never got any attention.

 

Unless you're going for a real factory accurate restoration and being judged on every detail of the car being correct, go for the glass smooth paint. Done right, that black paint will almost be like looking into a mirror.

 

I don't know where you guys are getting the idea that the older cars have less orange peel than todays. My car is definately factory with no touch ups and has horrible orange peel. Today's cars are much smoother than the 80s because the technology in the equipment is so much better. My 2006 Silverado has about the same or less orange peel than my 87.

 

Sounds like more of a looks thing than it does a restoration thing. I will just get the deepest mirror black I can find, thats what I wanted anyway.

It was just that GTA guy I talked to AIMED for a certain orange peel on his, So i didnt know if it was relevant.

Since we're talking about it, Are the buckets to my headlights a faded black or were they flat black to begin with? I kind of like it, and think it would look bada** to paint it matte again.

 

In Reality, Orange peel isnt such a bad thing because it gives you more room to end up wetsanding and buffing for later in time. In my opinion orange peel wouldnt bother me unless its Over excessive and noticable. Other then that orange peel is really a normal type of thing considering all cars pretty much have it. Just in small unnoticeable amounts