I'm just wondering can a aftermarket paint job look as good as a factory paint job or can you always see the difference? Case in point, my brother in law showed me his repainted car and from a distance (say beyond 2 feet) it looks great but at about 1 foot or at certain angles of view in the light, you can see a pattern of mini pock marks or maybe should I say, bumps and valleys in minute size thruout the paint job (inotherwords not a smooth paint job).
Thanks all for the replies. I've since looked at one other car with a factory paint job (year 2003) and it had the same surface effect looking at the paint from an angle. Perhaps (maybe my imagination because it was a different mfg and different color) the paint was slightly flatter but not flat like glass.
Most flat like glass paint jobs come from being wet sanded and polished. I think Ferrari still does that and a few of the other 7 digit price tag autos.
Hey Dad, Where you got the decimal point in that 7 digit number??
Story:
A high school classmate went on to GM-U and his apprenticeship included a stint as import manager for GM's corporate dealership in Tokyo. Post WWII, the Japanese divided imports into several categories and Cadillac was grouped with Jaguar, Rolls et al.
Japanese customs demanded Geo. Barris-like finishes on that group of cars. If they didn't pass, "beauty inspection," they couldn't leave the pier.
When I visited Yokohama in 1957, Jerry had a tiny tent out on the end of a pier where a team of "very small guys in flannel coveralls" were polishing the orange peel out of four Cadillacs. In those days it was cheaper to wet sand & polish in Japan than it was for Fleetwood to lay on smooth paint.
Judging by the bonnets of XLRs I've seen, they aren't in Dad's 7-digit league. But I don't see really good paint on BMW 7's or Lexuses (Lexii ??) for that matter.
I wonder if the quick-dry we demand in today's production is at the root of our inability to produce smooth surfaces??
Do any marques offer a "no clear coat" option that would facilitate new car re-finishing by the dealer ?
First off give me today's clear coat any day, makes for a great finish to polish and buff out to mirror like smoothness.
Particulate size plus VOC demands of today promotes the finish we now get on all painted products. Not so much in the foreign manufacturing facilities yet but it's coming as their production increases.
As far as that decimal point there is none on a real class automobile with a corresponding paint job, they go through more than one paint, sand, and polish before they even begin to put the car together. What do you think George would be getting for his work today? Barret - Jackson is killing us with their pricing influence in the rebuilds now. I looked at a black Porsche last night at an awards banquet that compares favorably to a Saturn, yuck! On the other hand a military buddy had a Countach that was damn near perfect for 1/4 that price, but that was in '84.
Most people that jump on the orange peel surface of a paint job have not paid to much attention to what they think they have been seeing as this poster realized when he checked other finishes.
On the other hand there were some paint jobs in the past from acrossed the pond that were very smooth but they were very thick hard enamel that was allowed to flow out before they were oven cured. Nice technique but not practical in today's world of manufacturing.
On the 1970 BB Vette, my aftermarket paint job done by a professional painter , called 'Blue Fire Poly' by PPG ... is far better than the original Blue that came from GM . But then again...my 2006 Vettes factory paint job exceeds that .
================== Kind of hard to believe that your 06 got a better paint job at the factory then your 70 did at a GOOD private paint shop.... Maybe I go to way too many cruise ins and shows but the GOOD paint shops put out a product that far exceeds the factory AND CHARGE ACCORDINGLY
Hey Tom, I found an answer to that one. Mentioned it to the salesman, he said it was the, "rustproof primer--like galvanizing" on the doors that caused that. I really dig these guys who "know their product."
-- pj
Tom > The last dozen or so C5 and C6 Corvettes I have seen up close had a lot of
I wonder sometimes if there is not enough attention to the complete function of painting an automobile. Surly they deal with viscosity, humidity, temperature, pressure, bell speed, orifice size for color or clear, poly mix ratios, and yet I have never seen a paint shop index equipment to the color being sprayed/applied.
Do they ever consider that the robot may have worked all weekend and was just sick of smelling all of those fumes and not getting out much anymore? Knowing that in order to get some time off it would require a complete breakdown. A simple " I've got a short circuit (headache)" won't cut it anymore. If they don't get their deserved break they won't bend over far enough to put on a good wet coat on the door bottom, "that'll fix them."
Then there is always peer competition like "I'll bet I can put on a better orange peel than you can" type of program out there somewhere. There just needs to be more robotic understanding; maybe some better bennies would help; like a visit from the Borg 7 of 9. If that would happen I think I could stand there and paint cars all day and night.
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