One for the Purists

[Andy]

Last week i noticed that the reflections in my paint were quite hazy when viewed from a distance. Not sharp and crisp like i expected them to be. I put it down to all the different kinds of wax i'd been applying so late last week i stripped it all off and applied the 3 stage meguiars system but swapped the last wax stage for a coat of a glaze and then some pure carnuaba wax. Looked really shiny but the reflections were still hazy.

Looking deeper into the paint i noticed that it was very orange peely. Being a dark colour it stands out a bit more. This is the reason the reflections arnt crisp. The only thing i can do is cut the whole paint back smooth and flat it/polish it using increasing grades of polish. Unfortunatly this is a bodyshop job, so im going to leave it.

Then at trax i had a look at others cars, and sure enough they are the same as mine, all super shiny but have an orange peel effect.

All cars have it to some extent, as its almost impossible to get a finish without it, but vauxhall paint at the minute seems very poor quality.

Heres an example. (sorry K53payney for using your car)... look at the bumper. See how although the car is shiny, the reflections are hazy.



Heres a pic of mine. Although you can see the deep shine, when you look deeper its just not 100% right

[Duncan]

Yep me too. Super shiney (my car is next to Andy's) but when you look really closely, in the right light/angle, you can see the orange peely finish. Noticed it a long time ago when polishing etc. As you say, nothing we can do about it - it's all down to Vx. It's not really bad, I've seen much worse cars, but enough to just stop you getting that crisp reflection.

D

[Inspektor]

Out of all the manufacturers,Vaux paint is now pretty good(much better than Fords/Honda's IMO. Next time you see a modern Fiat have close look at how bad they come out. Audi are IMO the best finished cars,a perfect reflection

[payney]

Heres an example. (sorry K53payney for using your car)... look at the bumper. See how although the car is shiny, the reflections are hazy.

hey fella dont worry about using my car as a example,i like to see it but i will tell you my bumper was brand new and had full respray on it at a crash repair centre and ive asked this question myself before in the past ,the answer i got was something to with the fact that the bumper is made of a diferent material to the mainbody so this is why the paint dosnt look as good when you polish it........

[Caterman]

Thank god for that, i was beginning to think mine had been in an accident that the dealer had not told me about. I've tried everything but as you say it is down to VX.

[Duncan]

Thank god for that, i was beginning to think mine had been in an accident that the dealer had not told me about.

That's what I first thought when I first saw it on my door when I was up close polishing - I thought it had been in a smack and resprayed. Then I noticed that it was all over so assumed it was just the finish, either that or I had been in one hell of a smack!!

D

[payney]

nine times out of ten if you have asterix on your tax disk this means that your car has been in accident or has been stolen recoverd ok m8 ,and you could always ask someone elses opinion.......

[Brake buster]

My brothers spray cars for a living in a crash repair shop ( one actually works for the local VX garage )

the above statement about different materials is deffo tru, the main reason for variation in finish is the material surface and believe it or not the electrical charge within it, as most peeps know platics attract static electricity, this has an effect on the way the paint lays down , especially metalics or pearls, they tend to ' stand up ' rather than lay flat like on metal body panels,and in turn catch the light differently, there is not much that can be done about this to be honest, and i have known peeps take back a new car cuz the plastic parts look a different colour to the rest of the car,but in fact are not.

best way to get even paintwork b4 polishing is to ' mop ' it , this can be done in a pro shop for about £120 for the car, however it will need a polish or 3 and then sealing which will cost extra

BB

[Andy]

im not really meaning my bumpers, although i did use payneys bumper as an example. My whole paintwork has a really rich deep wet look shine (and plenty of swirls ), but it also has a fairly deep orange peel, especially noticable down the flanks. This causes the reflections to be blurred or hazy.

[Brake buster]

im not really meaning my bumpers, although i did use payneys bumper as an example. My whole paintwork has a really rich deep wet look shine (and plenty of swirls ), but it also has a fairly deep orange peel, especially noticable down the flanks. This causes the reflections to be blurred or hazy.

as mentioned, get it in the workshop and have em ' mop ' it with a D A Sander , ( dual action= rotation and oscilation ) to eleviate the swirls, these came around from hand polishing,


the ' orange peel ' effect will be flattened by the mopping giving a nice flat result

BB