Orange peel paint on a new car
 

Before I start....this is subjective to everyone, so this is a posting of awareness and seeking peoples' opinions. No flames pls (like on the US forum!)...we are all grown ups here.

So, I purchased a new 2021 XC60 in Onyx black. On first wash, noticed that the vertical paintwork (sides) had what I believe to be significant orange peel. The horizontals (roof/bonnet) were fine.
A friend of mine purchased a new XC40, in Onyx too....and exactly the same level of orange peel. Back at the dealers, mentioned it, and we had a walk around the car park....and any of the darker (new and new'ish) cars all had OP to a certain degree (just IMHO, not as bad as mine). Dealer believed it was to do with the newer water-based paints used by manufacturers, but said they would contact tech for advice.
I posted (moreso in error) in a US forum....and got all kinds of people saying "yeah, all cars have orange peel" and "my $250k supercar has it, stop whining".
The dealer ten referred me on to a Volvo approved bodyshop (actually a Kia dealer!), where they measured paint thickness and took photos with the view to pushing a report back to Sweden for comment. The tech basically said he has not really seen anything this bad on a Volvo, as the paintwork is normally very very good, but even the Kia's there had OP !
So, really...has anyone actually noticed this on their new car ? To me, this is Volvo cutting some corners on the paint process, which is pretty poor for a £50k car, in my case. I feel a little bit peeved and it is simply being deemed "acceptable" - this is a manufacturing "fault" and it is not just the XC60's out of Gothenburg, the XC40's from Ghent obviously have the same process applied.

Very clear photos showing the problem - nice one!

Yep, both my XC60s have had 'orange peel'.

I did some reading on the subject and perceived wisdom seems to be that the US forum was right and that all cars have 'orange peel' to some extent.

Apparently it can be lessened by sanding between paint coats but that is only done with high-end cars, and Volvos don't come into the high end category.

Have a look at this article: https://newoldcars.com/orange-peel-w...y-look-so-bad/

It's lengthy and quite in-depth but worth the read.

This is my new 2021 XC90 and waxed up by me after purchase. Can’t say I noticed much orange peel but now I’ll need to look carefully....

I have a MY21 XC90 in onyx black and can’t say I’ve noticed anything like this, although I too will have a more thorough check the next time it’s clean (not very often).

I was told many moons ago by someone who worked in the paint shop of a car manufacturer that orangepeel paint is how they come - it's repeated polishing that makes them smooth during the life of the car!

Whether that answers your question or not i don't know but the straw poll that's happened with other members reporting the same thing on new cars supports this idea.

Its not uncommon for cars to have some orange peel and my 3 year old S90 has a patch on a rear door. Its just poor painting which can be fixed with wet sanding if you know a good detailer. Polishing might remove or lessen it if a polish with a heavy cut is used but sometimes flattening it is the only way.

Most of the paint on my Volvo seems decent enough though so maybe mines had some poor corrective work.

Yes my XC90 in Onyx black is the same, tbf black is a horrible colour for defects every little mark shows up. I also had it on a Merc so its not manufacturer specific, but I believe it's worse on metallic/pearlescent paint, flat colours don't seem to be as effected.
I have also been told it's down to water based paints, good old fashioned oil based paints might not be good for Johnny Polar Bear but they are much more hard wearing and give a better finish.
I'm not Volvo's biggest fan, but this issue is not specific to them.

Informative and interesting link...this made me "chuckle":

"The average buyer doesn’t notice or care. Unlike you, the average buyer won’t recognize orange peel until you point it out to them. Honestly, go ask your neighbor what they think about the orange peel on their car. They’ll give you a blank stare. People have accepted the fact that this is what a new car paint job looks like."

I DO care :regular_smile: and can't unsee it now and it spoils the feeling of my new purchase. Rework is what I am hoping Volvo will come back and agree to.

I am with you on this one Goatherder, OP on paintwork isn't something that should just be accepted, it just shows that the paint process being used isn't up to scratch.
I too have an Onyx Black XC60 but mine is a 2019 MY20 Polestar Engineered car.
When I took delivery of my car in Nov 2019, I did have a good look over the paintwork looking for any obvious issues but thankfully didn't find any. Not long after taking delivery of my car, I had a stage 1 paint correction and ceramic coating applied by a local body shop and thankfully, they confirmed that very little work was needed to prep the paintwork before the ceramic coating was applied unlike alot of the JLR products they have in for the same that have much more OP and other paint related issues that need sorting before ceramic coatings are applied.

As you mention, it looks like Volvo are starting to go down the route of cost savings which affects the end product thats delivered to the customer.

Hopefully you get a positive outcome with Volvo and they resolve your issue swiftly as there is nothing like some dodgy paintwork that you cant unsee to taint your nice new purchase.