BMWs at the Toronto Auto Show.

Just got back from Toronto where I arranged to attend the Toronto International Auto Show while I took care of other business.

I was going to do a great comparo of 'booth babes' complete with photos but somehow managed to leave my camera at the hotel. I just didn't feel professional asking for poses with my iPhone for equipment. You'll have to take my word for it, the Rolls Royce/Aston Martin babes were hot in an elegant way, and the Fiat babes pegged the cuteness meter. BMW had no babes. They had younger and middle aged guys in suits, looked just like a showroom which I suppose was the look they wanted. Boring....

Which leads me to the point of my post. Orange peel. Or the lack of it. A month ago I was at the local dealership perusing the latest model and as usual I was disappointed by the orange peel in everything from 1'ers to 7's. Awful. A 100K car with wicked orange peel. How depressing. The average Corolla or Fiat 500 has better paint.

While visiting all the booths at the CIAS I paid close attention to the quality of paint. I left BMW for last figuring I would be spending the rest of the day there. I was very surprised to see that NONE of the cars on the floor had orange peel. The paint was as slick and smooth as if it were still wet.

I figured something was up and it wasn't that BMW was using a new paint process. After discussing the disappointment of the CIAS not having the new 4 like the Chicago show did we talked paint. I asked about whether these cars had been wet sanded and buffed. The guy actually admitted that, yes, in fact every car on the floor had been wet sanded and buffed!

I can understand wanting to make your product look good, but I think they are misleading the public into thinking the car they get is going to look as good. It won't. Seeing those cars though does have me thinking of wet sanding and buffing mine.

Originally Posted by DSXMachina

I can understand wanting to make your product look good, but I think they are misleading the public into thinking the car they get is going to look as good. It won't. Seeing those cars though does have me thinking of wet sanding and buffing mine.

I dunno, mon. I still remember the foliage run where you and Bemo were pointing out that you could tell my car had been repaired by finding the line between the orange-peeled OEM paint and the fully slick paint from my bodywork guy.

You've been known to exfoliate goats, so wet-sanding and buffing should be no problem. You've spent years training and strengthening your wrists...it is about time you did something productive with them. Just make sure you apply even pressure with both the left and right hand. You wouldn't want it to look like someone else was doing it.

maybe one day they'll take all the extra money they have from not spending it on decent paint/process and actually put it back into their product...

Originally Posted by DSXMachina

I figured something was up and it wasn't that BMW was using a new paint process. After discussing the disappointment of the CIAS not having the new 4 like the Chicago show did we talked paint. I asked about whether these cars had been wet sanded and buffed. The guy actually admitted that, yes, in fact every car on the floor had been wet sanded and buffed!

I can understand wanting to make your product look good, but I think they are misleading the public into thinking the car they get is going to look as good. It won't. Seeing those cars though does have me thinking of wet sanding and buffing mine.

You are enrolled in Wet Sand and Buff 101

Wet Sand and Buff 101

Originally Posted by DSXMachina

I can understand wanting to make your product look good, but I think they are misleading the public into thinking the car they get is going to look as good. It won't. Seeing those cars though does have me thinking of wet sanding and buffing mine.

Sounds like a daunting process. For some reason, I thought the orange peel resided in the paint layer, not the clear coat layer. Learned something!

Originally Posted by Nordic_Kat

Sounds like a daunting process. For some reason, I thought the orange peel resided in the paint layer, not the clear coat layer. Learned something!

Me too!

The orange peel is deliberate to hide minor blemishes by breaking up the reflected light.

by creating one huge blemish?

The Orange peel is deliberately put on BMWs and is an important factor in the superior BMW driving dynamics.

If you don't want a car with orange peel buy a Lexus (which as everyone knows is a rebadged Toyota).

CA

...or a Porsche (which is a rebadged VW). Me, I'm saving for an Aston-Martin DBS (which I feel is the most beautiful car in the world).

Originally Posted by Zooks527

I dunno, mon. I still remember the foliage run where you and Bemo were pointing out that you could tell my car had been repaired by finding the line between the orange-peeled OEM paint and the fully slick paint from my bodywork guy.

Blasphemy! I did not utter such words. Suppose we can resolve our differences during the 2013 Fall Foliage Run. Ideally after the hot laps with Simon K.

This of course assumes The Captain's willingness to host another LRP visit (pretty please). Now if EdCT would stop wasting his time in the Political Science forum and scopes out another fun route, we'd be set!

Originally Posted by Bemo

Blasphemy! I did not utter such words.

Hmmmm. Perhaps it was LQAddict or Captain Audio. I apologize for any damage I may have done to your reputation.

Sincerely,
The Ford Fella

Originally Posted by Bemo

Blasphemy! I did not utter such words. Suppose we can resolve our differences during the 2013 Fall Foliage Run. Ideally after the hot laps with Simon K.

This of course assumes The Captain's willingness to host another LRP visit (pretty please). Now if EdCT would stop wasting his time in the Political Science forum and scopes out another fun route, we'd be set!

I am planning on hosting 2013 Fall Foliage Run to LRP and the American Mural Project.



CA

Originally Posted by captainaudio

The Orange peel is deliberately put on BMWs and is an important factor in the superior BMW driving dynamics.

If you don't want a car with orange peel buy a Lexus (which as everyone knows is a rebadged Toyota).

CA

Are you suggesting that like the dimples on a golf ball, the orange peel effect actually makes the car go straighter and further?
I've heard that part of the reason sharks and modern submarines travel fast is that they have 'rough' skins. Could it be that BMW paint engineers are leading the curve when it comes to performance enhancing paint?

Originally Posted by DSXMachina

After discussing the disappointment of the CIAS not having the new 4 like the Chicago show did we talked paint.

The Chicago show didn't have the 4 either. It's only been in Detroit so far. Chicago did have an ///M6 and 650i Gran Coupe. And they were both open! The 740Li was locked. Weird. As was the 328i Touring M Sport.

Originally Posted by DSXMachina

Are you suggesting that like the dimples on a golf ball, the orange peel effect actually makes the car go straighter and further?
I've heard that part of the reason sharks and modern submarines travel fast is that they have 'rough' skins. Could it be that BMW paint engineers are leading the curve when it comes to performance enhancing paint?

Shilling mercilessly for my daughter's science channel on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/BiteScized), I feel obligated to note that she explains this between 1:18 and 1:53 in the video linked below. The thumbnail for the video even uses her sharkskin illustration.

Originally Posted by DSXMachina

Are you suggesting that like the dimples on a golf ball, the orange peel effect actually makes the car go straighter and further?
I've heard that part of the reason sharks and modern submarines travel fast is that they have 'rough' skins. Could it be that BMW paint engineers are leading the curve when it comes to performance enhancing paint?

Exactly!

You have come up with the correct question to the answer.

Originally Posted by Zooks527

Shilling mercilessly for my daughter's science channel on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/BiteScized), I feel obligated to note that she explains this between 1:18 and 1:53 in the video linked below. The thumbnail for the video even uses her sharkskin illustration.

That's so nice of your daughter to say all these things to the camera instead of seeking you out to share this incredible wealth of information.

Thanks for sharing, she really has talent in front of the camera and an obvious hunger for knowledge and how to apply it beyond just acquiring it. That's awesome!

Originally Posted by DSXMachina

Which leads me to the point of my post. Orange peel. Or the lack of it. A month ago I was at the local dealership perusing the latest model and as usual I was disappointed by the orange peel in everything from 1'ers to 7's. Awful. A 100K car with wicked orange peel. How depressing. The average Corolla or Fiat 500 has better paint.

That is pretty rough...!? I don't think I've seen more clearcoat failures on the road than I have Corollas. My guess is that even if you did wetsand your cleacoat, you still* would have thicker paint than what is on a Corolla. Honda doesn't have a great rep either, and the last car I measured paint on was a Honda CRV, only a few years old, and the great majority of my readings were under 100 um. However Mazda is probably the thinnest of them all, I'd guess our BMWs have double the thickness in comparison.

Originally Posted by Zooks527

Shilling mercilessly for my daughter's science channel on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/BiteScized), I feel obligated to note that she explains this between 1:18 and 1:53 in the video linked below. The thumbnail for the video even uses her sharkskin illustration.

Cool video! Subscribed. When she poses the "homework assignment", the immediate conundrum that came to mind was, even if an absolute beginner, I so far cannot sharpen my (entry-ish level) chef knifes to a satisfying level. So far, trying a lower grit double sided waterstone, and a fine grade Spyderco. While I'm 100% certain it is user inability, and we've probably perfected the tech(s) about as far as it will go already, I still am scratching my head to figure out where in nature I could look towards for biomimicry... Hmmm...

dude

your daughter is hot