[DJ'S Dad]

Good afternoon all. Is Volkswagon using hammered paint on the Taos? If you focus on the reflection of the window on the attached photo you can see my paint is not smooth, it's hammered like someone ran a golf ball over it as it was drying. The clearcoat makes the surface smooth but I'm noticing more and more micro scratches in the clearcoat after each wash so this is a concern to me as well. I use high end cleaning products and I already applied a ceramic coating since I purchased her in January. She is garage kept and very well taken care of.

I'm just trying to figure out if I have a manufacturers defect or this is how everyone's Taos looks. Matt

 

[CRVW]

Classic orange peel effect.
Is Orange Peel in Paint Bad, or Correct? (motortrend.com)

I think blue is one of the worst colors for showing up small scratches. I can certainly see a few on mine (also Cornflower Blue). My old Tiguan was white, and scratches were there but almost invisible.
Silvers and grays also seem to hide scratches well.
Keep using the good stuff on it and two buckets when washing. A light polishing by hand with something like Meguiar's polishing compound before waxing usually takes care of noticeable light scratches.

 

[DJ'S Dad]

Classic orange peel effect.
Is Orange Peel in Paint Bad, or Correct? (motortrend.com)

I think blue is one of the worst colors for showing up small scratches. I can certainly see a few on mine (also Cornflower Blue). My old Tiguan was white, and scratches were there but almost invisible.
Silvers and grays also seem to hide scratches well.
Keep using the good stuff on it and two buckets when washing. A light polishing by hand with something like Meguiar's polishing compound before waxing usually takes care of noticeable light scratches.

Thank you for this! I never heard the term orange peel. At least now I know it's not a defect.

I never use the 2 bucket system. I break the car into 4 zones and each zone gets a fresh microfiber mitt. Wheels and tires get another clean mitt. I'm sure two buckets/one mitt is more effecient but it's just what I'm used to.

Thank you again.

 

[The Smurf]

Yea it’s orange peal. Common on new cars now. Well unless your buying a Porsche or a Bentley lol

 

[CRVW]

The goal of mass production is to get the right amount of paint on the car as quickly, cheaply, and repeatable as possible, while still looking reasonably good. They are not aiming for a super smooth paint job that could be done, but would require a lot more time, more coats, and much more cost.
I do, however, expect the paint on my next Rolls Royce to be flawless.

 

[CorradoG60]

The goal of mass production is to get the right amount of paint on the car as quickly, cheaply, and repeatable as possible, while still looking reasonably good. They are not aiming for a super smooth paint job that could be done, but would require a lot more time, more coats, and much more cost.
I do, however, expect the paint on my next Rolls Royce to be flawless.

The paint process on a Rolls costs as much as a Taos costs to manufacture.

Classic cars are “restored” to a smoothness and sheen and color depth never even possible when the car was new.

 

[CRVW]

I actually knew a guy that had a Rolls Royce back in the 80s (his second one, since he had traded in his old one for a newer model). It was beautiful and he absolutely adored it.
"I can set the cruise control to 110mph and it's still nice and quiet!"

 

[Rob22Taos]

Yes definitely a lot of orange peel on my White one also. As said pretty much on all new vehicles except high end.
I also find they scratch and chip really easy

 

[CorradoG60]

Our Tiguan and Jetta have the hammered look too, noticeable in reflections. I would assume all cars built in Puebla have the effect, due to their paint process.

 

[CRVW]

The GTI and Q3 (German built), have it too. In fact, I don't remember ever recently having a VW that didn't.
I seem to remember my '71 Beetle paint was pretty smooth, but that was likely because they didn't put so much on!