kgb_agent said:
I would love to hear more about "intentional" orange peel on new cars. This is fascinating.
Certainly, I'd be happy to fill you in further.
When working with today's urethane paints, many manufacturers
do intentionally create a subtle "pebbly" texture to the paint finish, which some people here are referring to as "orange peel", rather than paint that is smooth as glass. When you look at the surface, particularly when it is clean and in good light, you can see that the surface is not smooth as glass, but rather, has those slight indentations, but
in a consistent way, on all areas of all panels. That's how you can tell that it is intentional - because of its consistency all over the car. It is
not accidental, and it is
not horrible, certainly no more so than you might consider a particular color "horrible" (or laugh at it) because it doesn't appeal to your taste. It is done that way because that is what the manufacturers are striving for on that particular vehicle, whether they are trying to achieve that particular look, or (more often) trying to make a more durable finish, or for whatever other reason. (Some manufacturers even have specs for exactly how much of this texture the finish must have.) I've seen some beautiful, high-quality, paint finishes on high-end cars, with gloss and depth to the paint, that had this same slight texture to the surface. But if your personal preference is for paint that is mirror smooth (rather than, say, another paint job that might be more durable), then you should simply shop for vehicles that are painted that way, just as some people prefer certain colors, certain types of vehicles, etc.
One of the challenges this creates is for body shops, when body repairs are needed. A high-quality body shop will not try to create a mirror-glass finish to the paint for such cars, but rather, will try to re-create the same surface texture when painting the repaired panels that is on the undamaged panels on the rest of the car. Which, again, is one more indication that the textured finish is intentional - on the part of the repairing body shop, as well as on the part of the original manufacturer.
Manufacturers also create a different look on specific individual panels for other reasons as well. For example, plastic bumpers may have a rougher surface texture because they add a flexing agent to the paint so that it will adhere to these panels when they flex, which they will naturally do more than metal panels.
