I got my car painted. Long detailed story short, I get it back in to my garage and i notice the trunk lid has orange peel all around the perimeter of the glass. There is also some on the roof.

This isn't the first time this has happened on this project. I was supposed to pick the car up in the first week of December but some things weren't right. At the moment I brought just the headlight covers, front bumper, and spoiler home. When I got home I noticed the bumper and wing were completely orange peeled. Perhaps I'm a moron, but it seems there is too much light to see it during the day, at the shop, with all the bay doors open. But look at it with some focused light in a shaded area and the presence of orange peel becomes painfully obvious. Parking the car near a light pole at night would do the same thing.
There isn't a whole lot of mixed paint left which will be used to fix the bumper and wing. So it seems like the only way to fix it would be for the shop to buy more paint, create a new mix, and try to blend it. This is unacceptable considering the amount of money paid for the job and the fact that it should have all been done right the first time. In my opinion they should have to repaint the whole car and eat the cost. So, what are my options? What would YOU *points at more experienced members* do if you were in my shoes? If he fights me would I have grounds in court? Thanks.

 

if its a "professional" body shop it should be done properly so i would fight it.. worst case you're going to have to wet sand everything.. is it single stage or base/clear?

 

I also agree if you paid for professional paint job you should get professional results. I would let them know you are not satisfied with the results. A good painter should be able to make it very nearly unnoticeable.

 

PPG base/clear

 

They must of not wetsanded it. I have seen a lot of shops just apply clear and leave it because factory paint jobs have a ton of orange peel already.

 

If the paint is good and thick, it should be able to be wetsanded/buffed to get a mirror finish. It's REALLY hard to get a mirror finish right out of a gun, most times after painting it needs wet sanding and buffing with compound to get the final look.

Dale

 

^this^ I will add that a professional paint shop would have done this before returning the car.

 

From the way you describe the orange peel being around the edges. It sounds to me like the guy who did the color sanding and buffing was just being overly cautious about not burning through the clear coat.
That's the real risk when your wet sanding and going into the buffing, it only takes a little screw up with a buffer on the edges and you'll burn right through the paint.

As was already said by Dale, if they have plenty of clear coat on there then it's just a matter of getting in there tighter with the sand paper and some more buffing.

They are going to be hesitant because it's a very fine line between getting it right and making a while crap load more work for yourself..

Ideally when spraying these finishes you don't have heavy orange peel or fish eyes to have to contend with. Sounds like they had a lot of orange peel. So try to keep that in mind. I would say that unless it's really bad I would just let it go.

 

^ 100% right. Leave it alone or hit it with 800 wet, re-clear and hope for a better outcome...

 

Thanks for the input, guys. Shops closed on the weekend but I'm going to talk to them about it. Perhaps I can drive it up there after I get the motor and all dropped in and they can buff it out. I certainly don't want to burn through the clear coat though.

 

If you just got it painted, do not wetsand it or even touch it right now. Give it at least 2 weeks to cure and then wet sand it. I personally would go even lighter than 800 like 1200 but I do not know the severity of the orange peel. just bring it back to the shop and explain to them. I use PPG so I have mad exp with it. But orange peel is a funny thing, use very light sandpaper as it should not be too hard to do it yourself! You do not have to reclear it if it isnt that bad! Polish does a great job these days considering that there is enough clear material to use.

 

This is wrong, you can wet sand and buff on any cured paint as long as it has cured or baked to the manufactures recommendation. I have been painting/wet sanding on cars since I was in high school and i would wait maybe an hour and a half after it baked.

And unless you plan on re-clearing the car DO NOT use 800 grit. I always start with 1500 then 2000 and final with 3000, buffs like a dream! (Some times I will use 1000 if the texture is really bad but use very light pressure).

 

agreed, id wait longer than an hour.. prob the next day but its actually better to do it when the paint is softer..

 

I detail yachts and cars for a living. Orange peel is fairly easy to remove. Just do as previous people have stated. I usually use 1200 grit then 2000 grit. After that I use a white wool pad and heavy cut compound. Then I move to a lighter compound with a wool pad. The final steps are using polish with a few different foam pads. After that is wax.

 

Doc, I live in the lower mainland as well. I have dealt with the same problem you have currently. Unless you paid a large amount of coin on a paint job ($6000 or more) you are going to have to get a detailer to wet sand and buff your paint.

I thought you were someone else. But the same general comment still applies.