I'm hoping that someone here has at least painted a panel on their XF. I've done a fair amount of car painting, but never one with a factory two stage paint.

Man, has the automotive industry conned folks into thinking their car's paint jobs are perfect (when new).

To me, the final finish should have zero orange peel. My question is, does all of the orange peel need to be sanded down before painting/clear coating to get the finish I want?

Or if I just slightly rough up the clear coat, spray two base coat and two or three clear coats, then color sand and polish, will the original orange peel no longer show?

Or does the underside orange peel exaggerate the final clear coat?