Orange Peel

[scottmoyer]

be a PDR tech and you'll find that orange peel becomes very easy to see. In PDR, you learn to look for highs and lows in the paint, and you lift the lows and tap down the highs. Some orange peel is actually there to hide imperfections in the panel stampings. Much like textured walls or textured ceilings, the texture hides waves in the panel.

I have also been involved with show cars for years and anybody saying the orange peel is worse today than older cars is incorrect. Some cars are smoother than others, but my 1987 IROC-Z has heavy orange peel on a factory paint job from Van Nuys, CA. Every manufacturer plant will produce different quality finishes, so the issue has been around for decades with some finishes smoother than others.

 

[GMetal]

Factory clear coat is very thin. Only a few mils thick. Think about a sheet or two of paper. Less clear is less UV protection. Cut that clear off and your paint will fail prematurely. I've seen Ferraris with terrible orange peel. When we paint high end paint jobs with mirror flat finishes it requires a two step clear coat process. Vehicle gets cleared. Allowed to dry and then sanded flat with a block and 600P grit paper. Then the whole thing is clear coated again with a flow clear or slightly over-reduced clear. Then after drying its block sanded with 1200p to 3000p grit before being buffed out. Ive seen many cars where they sand the clear off and they end up buffing the base coat then hide the whole screw up with a wax. Be careful trying to get perfect paint with a high production vehicle by companies focused on cutting costs. If you want to really scrutinize paint use a LED flash light after stripping the surface with 90% alcohol.

 

[csacannon]

I guess the first question is does anyone not have orange peel issues with their Ram? And second, has anyone taken the step of getting the orange peel tapered down? I would imagine it would involve wet sanding but my concern is it may compromise the clear coat thickness to the point where UV protection will be an issue. I would love to see some before and after pictures if anyone has taken the step to remove the peel. My black metallic finish still looks like a mirror when its all cleaned up but my obsessive nature still cannot get over the peel texture.

Still a problem in 2025. Just had one delivered and noticed the issue on about all surfaces. My question would be, is RAM doing anything about it?

 

[mikeru82]

Still a problem in 2025. Just had one delivered and noticed the issue on about all surfaces. My question would be, is RAM doing anything about it?

If it's bad enough you might be able to get them to fix it (or have it fixed by a local shop). I've seen a couple cases where the orange peel was severe and was covered by Ram. The best thing to do is negotiate that into your contract before you actually sign all the paperwork. Once you sign it's much more difficult to get issues like this covered. Which is why it's very important to look closely when considering any vehicle for purchase.

One piece of advice I give is to take someone with you when you go to look at a vehicle. It's best if they are somewhat knowledgeable about cars but it's not a big deal if not. It's easy to overlook small things in the excitement of buying a new car or truck, and an impartial person might notice things you miss in your possible excitement to buy it.

 

[StuartsFriend]

2025 RAM has orange peel, but it is not horrible. Toyota paint is absolutely horrendous. Ford seems to be okay, but I haven't seen too many trucks up close and paint corrected none. BMW, Lexus, Porsche seem to have better paint jobs than the domestics.

My advice - don't screw with it. The reality is that you're dealing with mass produced cars and unless you know wtf is up, you'll will do more damage than good by trying to fix things yourself. Drive you new truck to a professional shop. Put clear paint protection film in high contact areas and add ceramic or graphene coating. Take the car back every 18 months or so for a booster. Done.

From there, proper car washes and not screwing around with the latest YouTube tips are the best thing you can do.