Red Bull

I hope im in the right forum for this question, but I am about to purchase a S2000 and am kinda skeptical on the vehicle. There seems to be alot of orange peel in the door jams where the latch assembly is. Is this normal? Or has the vehicle been repainted? TIA.

MikeyC

You can really get orange peal anywhere. I wouldn't necessarily say it's a sign of re-painting as most cars come with it from the factory.

The best way to tell if a car's been re-painted is to use a paint depth meter. A lot of the dealers in my area have them to check trade-ins for re-painting. Ask the dealer to check the paint depth (FYI a new car reads around 4).

If he won't measure the paint then feel around edges for roughness (in the factory they dip panels so edges are smooth) and look near trim for overspray. Also, keep an eye out for paint that doesn't look like it matches the rest of the car.

Red Bull

Thanks MikeyC! As far as the color, it looks spot on! But i have noticed on other vehicles (non s2) that the door jams are smooth similar to the paint on the outside of the vehicle. However on this car the paint in the jams is bad, there wasnt any overspray but there was alot of orange peel and lack of clear coat. I was wondering if s2s come like that from the factory? I heard that they use less paint for weight purposes?

MikeyC

Orange peel is kind of a radom thing. It is in some places on some cars and other places on others. You can look at two cars same make/model and same color and one will have OP in one place and the other will have it in another.

REALLY bad OP is a sign of re-painting though, but OP by itself is not.

Red Bull

MikeyC is your paint bad or not as good in your door jams compared to the rest of your car?

macr88

Make sure all the panels (doors, hood, and trunk) have the vin sticker on them all of them.

Orange peel seems to very year to year.

Look at the fender bolts. All should be painted to the fender but one towards the front on each side.

Some areas are lightly sprayed like the engine bay and trunk lid underside but the doors and door jams should be nicely sprayed.

wanabe

got pics???

or post up in your local forum- one of your neighbor owners would likely be willing to go with you to check out this part of the car...

imo, its not all that normal for it to be widespread

Jaeden09

I'm hoping when I get my car back, my new paint isn't orange peeled... Went and talked to the guys at the shop today, said they would have it done tomorrow night, and the guy called my dad later today, and said the bumper they were getting was reconditioned, but the supply place didn't have one, after the order was already placed, so they are getting a brand new one... so basically, my entire front end is brand new parts, just no VIN's.

The guy said they would be cleaning it tomorrow, and I told them that if he didn't want to, they wouldn't have to, and I would understand, and I'm through about cleaning the car, and plan on cleaning it when I get it back anyway, because I detail the car weekly, and he it would just be a cleaning, not a detail... but I witness them wash a car last week with a pressure washer, so I'm kinda worried and just want to ask them not to even clean it, but my dad made the point when I brought this up with him, that if the paint has imperfections (Which it shouldn't) that pressure washing would probably reveal them, and if the paint didn't stick, it would blow the paint off. SOoooOoo Wish me luck, should have my car in 4-5 days hopefully.

by the way, wanabe, you make my door jam orange peel.... wink wink

MikeyC

I don't really recall. I traded in my S at the beginning of the month. Plus, it had some re-painting done to it (not in the door jambs though). When it was 100% factory paint though it did have some OP in the paint and my new car has OP in some spots.

Jaeden09

I think most cars have op.... I wonder why.

What causes OP? Anyone know? Is it just un-even spraying? or does it have something to do with the actual paint? Because someone said earlier in this post, that factory panels are dipped, which means they should be smooth.