Read a thread years ago on Challenger forum of guys comparing their home paint jobs vs others pro jobs — Both had orange peel.
It was a question on the depth and visibility of that peel. Like you said - factory jobs have it too. Best effort to distort the effects.
Enjoying watching your job paint jobs. I'm working towards painting more than flat black spray jobs on skids & frame...
Man, prep and painting is a pain, but what got me past black paint on frames and bumpers is a story.
I bought my son a 05’ TJR that was ridiculously well priced, but had rust issues out of Ohio. It came with a cool set of sliders. When we tried to remove them we had trouble and I tried to use heat on the back side. It caused the paint to ruin just behind the lower corner of the door. I felt bad. Here we were trying to salvage this rust bucket jewel and I made it worse. I told him I’d fix it. I knew it would take a lot of work and practice before I tried. There was no paint there, and I’d have to build layers and blend it all in.
I had a rear Savvy tailgate armor and valance. It was raw, and I wanted to color match it. I tried the Perfect Match and that color sucked. I decided to try some cheap Rustoleum called Sunset Red. It was surprisingly close. I worked really hard on prep and technique on that job. I knew spray cans could never be good enough, but I figured if I could get really good with cans, then I could spray paint his very noticeable spot I ruined.
Next project involved corner armor for his TJR. The rear corner panel was rusted all the way through. Hole was about 5x6”. We got all the rust out, converted it, and then came the armor. Perfect Match was spot on for his Patriot Blue. I was super scared on this one bc I was still working with cans. It’s his Jeep. He’s really OCD. Technique had paid off, and they turned out amazing.
We went right on to the spot. It turned out reall pretty good. It’s difficult to notice. I felt more challenged by the sanding and spray technique by far on this spot.
I’m just happy he was happy.
I hope someone enjoys this story. Now I’m on to HVLP with my very cheap setup, but the color match is great, and the 2K clear is a dream. I need a lot more practice. I occasionally overspray and get a run. Fixing something like that is a lot of work and expensive.
The next step for me would be removing orange peel. I don’t think it’s hard, just scary and time consuming.