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?

 

My mistake, I thought this post was about getting rid of graffiti in the 'hood.

 

The smoother the surface you apply the new paint to the smoother the new finish will be. I would block the original then prep like you would for any refinish. Dusting with a little black from a rattle can before you block the old surface will help you see how your process is doing.

 

THAT IS TOO FUNNY 180. I didn't know you had it in YA !!

 

That was funny!

I had the pleasure of wet sanding a old Chevy pickup with 15 coats of clear coating, yes, you read that correctly, "fifteen." Talk about heavy orange peel. One week later, probably knocked off half of that clear coating. Needless to say, the orange peel was gone, and the clear coat still had thicker protection then 3M clear bra.

And no, I have no idea why so much clear coating was applied.

 

Just finished repainting my hood. I sanded down to the primer, then reprimed it. Wet sanded that to 800 then 3 coats of base, then 5 coats of clear.

 

No matter how much orange peel is there,if you have enough clear on to make it flat again, your all good. But i would always say to sand it out before. That way you know your prepping the whole surface and not just skimming the tops.

 

Jsk was actually talking about a guide coat. If your using spray can to dust it, just make sure its 100% sanded off. It will react with the new finish.

 

I appreciate your comments. Unfortunately I've run into a problem with my Sata spray gun. It flutters. I'm not sure how universal that term is, but it is like a dot, dash, dot, dash - the dash being normal spray, the dot being roughly half the paint. The dash is about three inches long, the dot the same.

I have an email into Sata, but they've not gotten back to me. I'm trying to order seals and the plastic ring where the nozzle is attached.

I've tried it at a fairly low pressure and a medium to high one, but the flutter remains constant. It's a great spray gun when it is working right.

Anyone ever run into this and solved it?

 

Sounds like a rebuild kit is in need. Air cap and needle.