[RonBurgundy]

I have an M4 Comp with individual paint (Imola Red) scheduled to be built next month at the Dingolfing factory. My understanding is that the individual paints are hand sprayed and not applied by robots in the same manner as the standard paint colours, and this increased the likelihood of orange peel.

How noticeable is this? Have people found the problem to be mild, moderate or significant?

Secondly, how easy is orange peel to correct prior to ceramic coating?
Does the type of paint correction tend to be expensive and are there any downsides in the correction process?

I’m not someone who is hugely fussy when it comes to paint but hope any orange peel is not too noticeable

[Limegrntaln]

I only have a Semi individual color, but, I've seen quite a few individual colors and I don't remember seeing any orange peel.

Orange peel would be ridiculous to remove. Someone skilled with a denim and a rotary, could probably do it. Otherwise, it requires wet sanding.

Most shops don't want to mess with it on factory paint, because factory paint is so thin. There isn't much to work with, as it is. It also depends on if the orange peel in in the actual paint, or in the clearcoat.

My C7 had the paint flattened, in an attempt to remove the worst orange peel anyone has ever seen on a car. And it was in the base coat, and it wasn't really worth the labor to make such a minor improvement.

Check out chicagofan00s car. His paint is individual, and he has some amazing closeups. He can tell you if there is orange peel.

[DoubleDave]

IMO trying to correct orange peel in paint is a bad idea. One of the reasons for orange peel in paint is to hide minor imperfections that occur during the manufacturing process.

My personal experience with paintwork is that human applied paint/clear coat has less orange peel than the factory applied paint. I can’t speak to the BMW individual paint as my car is a regular production color.

The correction process involves fairly heavy compounding and potentially wet sanding to smooth the finish. You’re giving up a lot of clear coat (of which there isn’t a lot to begin with) for the sake of a mirror finish. It’s labor intensive so it would be significantly more expensive than a normal new car correction.

If you’re not too fussy, my recommendation would be to live with the orange peel and enjoy the beautiful Imola Red paint as is (with normal correction and ceramic coating).

[BMWRacer523]

Never seen orange peel on a recent BMW factory paint, individual or not. I don't believe this is a concern.

[chicagofan00]

As stated above, removing orange peel is not an easy process and probably not really worthwhile.

I have individual paint and there isn't an over abundance of orange peel in the paint. It can be noticeable in some areas and certain light conditions but nothing that has ever stopped me in my tracks and said "woah, look at all the orange peel!".

[Forzanerazzurri]

I thought individual paint was applied the same way with the same robots on the same line.

[DBV]

Can't speak to the paint process, but my Semi-Individual Champagne Quartz F80 was like glass from the factory. I'd imagine the individual paints might get a bit more attention or QC than regular paints due to the customer paying more for them, but maybe that's just what I like to tell myself when configuring my next individual BMW.