I've been on the hunt for the right IROC for almost 1 1/2yrs. I know for sure that I want a car that doesn't need paint and body work. It's just too expensive for a good paint job. I've been looking at some very low mileage cars. I realize that they are very pricey but paint and body work is very pricey as well.

One of the cars that showed up on BringaTrailer.com is a super low mileage car (less than 6000miles) that has probably the worst orange peel I've ever seen. It's so bad that the car doesn't shine all that well. Here is a link to the car that I'm talking about: 1988 IROC

Take a look at pictures 59, 60 and 61. Holy orange peel, Batman!

I've never had "paint correction" done to a car. Can paint correction fix this orange peel and bring out a good shine?

This isn't the first low mileage car that I've seen with bad orange peel a poor shine. I made a phone call on one about a year ago. The selling dealer did admit to lots of orange peel. Currently, there is a dealership in Pennsylvania that has another red IROC with minimal shine in the pictures. I'm suspecting bad orange peel.

BTW, I know there may be some originality concerns with doing paint correction but that isn't a concern for me. I just want to know if these old, factory, Chevrolet paint jobs can be successfully paint corrected by professionals.

 

I have a Iroc for you


1989 Iroc-z frame off restoration

 

FWIW, I've never seen a 3rd gen with factory paint that bad; it's an insult to oranges everywhere. I'm no paint expert, but to my eye, that looks like a poorly done single stage repaint. If the seller is claiming "all original," IMO you'd do well to keep looking.


Good luck in your search.

 

Looks like factory paint to me. Seen them a LOT worse.
The paint jobs varied so much in quality back then.
Best thing to do is inspect it yourself.

 

My 1984 Trans AM (built Cal) has original dark royal blue metallic paint. there is a spot about the size of 6 inch diameter. My bodyman who painted my 1972 Buick GS back in 2009, told me that what i have is paint pop. Not going to repaint the car. Unless u are looking for it, u do not see.
He told me that the paint jobs by GM in some plants were junk.

 

!!!!!! So true!

Thank you for posting the picture from the BaT auction on this car. I tried to post pictures 59-61 but wasn't able to do it.

The seller has many subsequent pictures where he has paint thickness meter readings and they show the paint to be a "single paint job thickness." Probably original.

 

There are numerous comments on the BaT auction talking about how this was normal back in that era. There are some comments that say that it's worse. Like I said in my original post, I've seen at least 3 red, ultra low mileage IROCs with supposed OEM paint, that had/have terrible orange peel and a low amount of shine.

 

ouch, that don't look factory to me, and if it is, by far the worse I've ever seen. in any regard, I'd guess it can't be corrected. but that is just a guess, I'm not in that biz.

 

That's pretty orange-peely. But, paint meter thickness readings look like a single layer of paint. Probably original, just not great quality control.

OP, you asked about paint correction, but typical paint correction only involves buffing with compounds and polishes to remove light scratches, swirls and bring out the shine. It will do nothing for orange peel.

What you would need to remove orange peel is a cut and buff. Wet sanding to cut down the high spots of the paint and then followed by buffing with compounds and polishes to get rid of the fine sanding scratches and bring out the shine. The problem is with that paint thickness, there isn't enough clearcoat thickness to wetsand down the high spots in the paint and buff it out without burning through the clear. The only way to correct the orange peel here would be to repaint and that's not worth it.

On a repaint, it's common to lay down a couple of extra coats of clear to build up some extra thickness for a cut and buff, but it's generally not possible to do on factory paint.

 

Transam, thank you for your information. That's what I was needing to know-you can't paint correct this level of orange peel on a factory paint job. Just not enough clear coat.

 

The SPID shows the factory paint to be 'base-coat/clear-coat.'

 

I don't believe he was referring to single stage vs. base/clear, but rather that the thickness indicates one paint job and no repaints over the original.

 

Couldn't one wet sand (scuff) the factory clear, then clear over that w/a quality application, then cut and polish that and end up with a pretty acceptable sheen/smoothness on a factory base coat?

 

It can be done this way, but it's very easy to burn through the clear while scuff sanding and then you will see the burn through area after clearing it. If it's just a small repair area on the existing clear, that's manageable to just do the clear, but I wouldn't try doing a whole car.

 

Yeah, I wouldn't either.
I'd just wax the wee out of it and tell myself that it's "good enough".

 

Agreed

 

Yes. That's exactly what I was trying to say-just one coat of paint from the factory.

 

That is the sense that I'm getting. It's not worth trying to fix this level of orange peel on OEM paint. At least I know know this for any other orane peel cars that I may see for sale.

 

The low mileage, orange peely IROC sold earlier today on Bring a Trailer dot com for $36,500.

9k-Kilometer 1988 Chevrolet Camaro IROC-Z Coupe

 

After looking at the pictures I just can't believe that car left the factory looking that rough. If damaged and repainted just about any body shop would do better work than that too. When a car looks that bad in pictures, probably worse in real time. Pretty awesome car otherwise.

 

This is 100% truth! Something can look good or even really good in pictures but in real life, not look so good. However, if something looks bad in pictures, you can be sure that it looks really bad in person. For me, pictures only weed out potential cars/boats/personal watercraft, etc. but they never confirm that I'd buy the item. For that, I have to see them in person.

I know plenty of people have purchased cars online having never seen them in person. My nextdoor neighbor is one of them. He purchased a used Audi R8 from a dealer in CA about 1 1/2yrs ago and the car isabsolutely stunning. Me, I don't have good luck like that and my "sight unseen" car would end up with shoddy body work and a poorly repainted body panel !