Orange peel paint

[rustydiver]

What is the best way of getting the orange peel effect off paint.
Painted my sliding door with a rattle can came out quite good but has some orange peel in it. Was going to go for a full lower repaint but found some paint a near match so thought i would give it a go. Its only cost me £30 and i have enough paint left for my sills i done over the winter.
Do i get a rubbing/ cutting compound and rub it in?
Use wet and dry papper working my way to a finer grit?
Or a combination of both. i dont have ant fancy machines to do it so looks like its going to done by hand.
All i wanted was the van to be one colour. :msn4:

From this

To

 

[Pad]

If its proper orange peel then cutting compound wont suffice. Best bet is to use ultra fine (3000 grit) on a block with plenty of soapy water. The paint will go dull and you will see the low points as shiny spots...once these spots have gone, then you are down to a smooth finish which can be then polished up using cutting compound if you wish (machine polish would be prefereable).

If its really bad, then you can go up to 1500 grit, but obviously it depends how much paint you have laid (which is probably not a great thickness using rattle cans) as to how far you dare go.

I'll see if I can find some pics of orange peel removal I have done before.

Cheers
Pad

 

[Force3g]

I just dealt with this today. I had bad orange peel. I wet sanded with 800. I could use this more aggresive grit because I had 3 coats of single stage laid down. After wet sanding I repainted. It came out good.

 

[angus]

I guess the same applies to runs/ripples? Key being to use a block...?

 

[Pad]

Yep, although with a run you can use a more aggressive grit to remove the bulk of it and then finish with a fine to do the final blend.

 

[rustydiver]

Tried a cutting compound on a small bit and it seemed to remove most of it. Going to wait for a bit for the paint to harden off (i can paint the rear tailgate) got some fine wet and dry may try that on a small patch to see how it goes, is it best to use it wet, yes i know its a dumb ass question.

 

[Pad]

yes, definitely wet with a bit of fairy liquid in to aid lubricity (ooer).

 

[curly head]

yes, definitely wet with a bit of fairy liquid in to aid lubricity (ooer).

not that i know what i am on about but i was always told never to use fairy liquid as the salts in it attack paint :roll:

 

[rustydiver]

yes, definitely wet with a bit of fairy liquid in to aid lubricity (ooer).

not that i know what i am on about but i was always told never to use fairy liquid as the salts in it attack paint :roll:

that's ok I don't use fairy liquid I use ecover the enviornmently friendly stuff :lol: :lol:

 

[Pad]

never caused me a prob to be honest. Cant imagine the trace amounts that would be in there when diluted in a bucket of warm water could cause any issue, especially as gets washed/polished off.

Stand to be corrected though!

 

[ProfessorWheeto]

I tend to use a tiny bit of normal car shampoo, and if we're being really geeky the bubbles break the surface tension of the water and stop of block from sticking.

I block with P2000, runs I'll knock down with P600 if they are deep and then P2000 to recondition.
Then machine polish dry with Farecla G6 rapid.

Remember to clean all the dust off the panel prior to flatting back, if you hear a sound like a record scratch you've got some grit trapped so dunk your block into the water and wash down the panel to prevent putting in deep scratches.

Looking at that door its had a westy folding side step fitted, quite rare!

 

[rustydiver]

Thanks professor for that advice, going to do it next week.
Yes there was a side step fitted but Scott removed it when I bought the door, I don't know why it looked a grubby old thing. :lol: I have put some robber grommets in them just in case I get the urge to buy one in the future.

 

[ProfessorWheeto]

Oh, would have been worth hanging on to, they are rare and well cool!