I have no issues with the paint on my charger. Then again it's white so it's hard to notice issues.
A lot of new cars have orange peel problems. Imports and domestic.

That happens because it's a different material. I used to work for a tier 1 company here in the Detroit area - the company used to be Creative Industries, was bought out by MascoTech Special Vehicles, then turned into MSX International in the mid-90's. I worked there from 1994 to late 1997. We painted ALL the first gen Vipers, & all the Prowlers. We were a HUGE paint operation. We also built some concept vehicles for Ford. We had huge programs with both Chrysler & GM - we would paint a lot of their show cars. I remember a Cadillac STS or similar model with a new candy red color for the upcoming year. Paint department painted the entire car, including the fascias out of the same batch, same day, same booth. When the car was assembled, the fascias were WAAAAAY off - they did not match at all. Thus began a long series of custom-blended versions of that color until they finally got it almost the same as the rest of the steel body! It was pretty unbelievable what they went through to get a match. Think about it - the paint was baked in our booth, & the plastic of the fascias reacted very differently than the steel body - and that affected the curing & characteristics of the paint.

I worked in shipping and post production for Toyota for years. You’d be surprised what is considered passable in their books, I’m sure it’s similar at other companies. We’d commonly be told that even though we were at greater than the standard of “3 feet or 30 degrees” it didn’t matter because the defect was “customer acceptable anyway.” Some of us joked that 3 and 30 was a rough guideline.

I saw cars with bumpers with almost no paint, fisheyes, you name it. That doesn’t even count the ones our guys wrecked. On site body shop took care of almost all of those. Except one that got wedged in a train car and took about three hours for a wrecker to pull out. That one got crushed.

One black car I’ll never forget had such a nasty spot right above the wheel going up to the c pillar. Another guy looked at it and said no way they will take that back. So I messed with it until they couldn’t deny doing something and made the call. Was total bs to go out as it came off the line. Got the car back and they got the spot out, unless you looked from an angle and saw the huge swirl marks from the buffer...

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That happens because it's a different material. I used to work for a tier 1 company here in the Detroit area - the company used to be Creative Industries, was bought out by MascoTech Special Vehicles, then turned into MSX International in the mid-90's. I worked there from 1994 to late 1997. We painted ALL the first gen Vipers, & all the Prowlers. We were a HUGE paint operation. We also built some concept vehicles for Ford. We had huge programs with both Chrysler & GM - we would paint a lot of their show cars. I remember a Cadillac STS or similar model with a new candy red color for the upcoming year. Paint department painted the entire car, including the fascias out of the same batch, same day, same booth. When the car was assembled, the fascias were WAAAAAY off - they did not match at all. Thus began a long series of custom-blended versions of that color until they finally got it almost the same as the rest of the steel body! It was pretty unbelievable what they went through to get a match. Think about it - the paint was baked in our booth, & the plastic of the fascias reacted very differently than the steel body - and that affected the curing & characteristics of the paint. [/quote]


i am a PPG certified painter with about 40 years of experience.

well said on different materials can give a different color from the exact same paint.
i will add a few more things that can change the color.
also how the panel is positioned when the panel is painted can also affect how the metallic lays down can give you a different color.
another factor is the OEM sometimes adds a flex agent to the paint to give it a better durability. this can change the color of bumpers.
another factor most people don't realize is when the bumper is installed. it's not exactly on the same angle as the metal panel. different angles on the panel reflect light and give the appearance of a color mismatch. if they are on the same angle the color is a perfect match.

i am a PPG certified painter with about 40 years of experience.
i have been spraying water base paint for about 6 years now.

in my opinion water base paint is actually easier to use than solvent born paint. it's also faster drying, has better durability and there are more consistent color matches with it. also. the paint it usually 30% or more cheaper than solvent. the top coats used with it are more $$$ so it evens out in the end.
the biggest problem with it is your facility must be set up for it to use it properly. you will need airflow enhancers and extremely dry compressed air to use it properly. you also can't use cheap spray guns when you paint it.you get the best results when using guns designed for water base paint.
my biggest complaint about it is dirt in the paint and correcting them. correcting dirt in the base coat is extremely difficult in the painting process compared to solvent paint. also the techniques required to spray it create dirt in the paint problems
.
as far as it's hard to spray, i took a 1- 8 hour day classroom class and a 4 hour day in shop class with PPG on painting water base paint and i was good to go. it was pretty much the same as solvent training.
spraying water base requires techniques almost 180* opposite of solvent paint. sometimes it gets difficult because you still use solvent undercoats and top coats with it.

My 2010 Dodge pickup is that Austin Tan. The gloss is good, there is minimal orange peel. The only thing that is sketchy is that in direct sunlight the metallic is mottled. But it's stood up well, I can't complain. It isn't like the late '70's GM products that used the first generation water based paint that came off in sheets.

The heavy orange peel comes from the subsurface coating on new vehicles. It's almost like a fiber type materiel and very thick, not like a primer or e coat. I noticed it years ago working in body shops. You can't spray smooth paint and clear if the substrate is course.

So why do they use those coatings? Sounds quite different than a heavy-build primer, which you block the heck out of to get it level. Can't you block the fiber material? Or does the color coat go right over the fiber coat after it is sprayed?

paint falling off cars happened during the 90's early 2000's cars.
i have repaired THOUSANDS of GM de laminating paint cars.
water base paint had nothing to do with the paint falling off.
there were multiple reasons why the paint fell off GM and several other manufactures cars, the biggest reason is they didn't put enough paint on the cars. the UV light from sunlight penetrated thru the color to the E coat and attacked the chemical bond between the 2 layers of products. this caused the paint to fall off.

Silver and blue/silver would not last long in the late 70s and early 80s. I had a light blue 77 Cordoba that the paint fell off of. And I mean fell of. Beautiful car when the paint was good. But I didn't get 5 years out of the paint. Seen a lot of other cars and trucks with those colors with major paint problems. And the manufacturers certainly would not stand behind their failures.

Well, many of us remember the 70-71 Plum Crazy cars from way back when they were only a few years old. That paint fell off too - separated away from the primer. Chrysler stood behind it. I spoke with an older guy back in the 70's & he told me how the paint went bad after about 3 years, & his dealer repainted the car for no charge under warranty. It did cost him a little because there was a little bit of bodywork they had to do.

Yes, the blue, blue/silver '81 and '82 Blunder Motors trucks were quite a sight all running around with black hoods in the mid 80's.

Those were the days. Best ride, best body, best drivetrain, most power, best re sale value, best fuel mileage, the best, the best, the best. They were a joke back then and still are today.

Have a blue '83 Ram and the paint is still stuck to it just fine.

Only way to get glass smooth is working each coat by hand from the primer up. OEM's can't take the time to do it so they don't.

Even high end import cars that look like they don't have any orange peel do have some if you were to run a little 2000 grit over the paint to expose it.

My youngest uncle who was the age an older brother woukd be had a yellow 1970 Barracuda slant 3 speed with the white ball shifter.
It had lots of orange peel and quite a few runs.
My almost F8 1994 Ram 2500 diesel was splotchy Nd the clear went to crap even washed and waxed plenty.
And the brakes were okay not great. They never ever got the Brake light t9 go out on th anti lock. They said we fixed it but took the bulb out
Trans at 80k. Ball joints wore fast but got 28MPG HWY. Empty.

I once went to inspect a blue Dodge Dynasty. The owner reported that her car had been vandalized. I drove to her house, and the car was surrounded by sheets of paint that had peeled off of the car, like a vegetable peeler would do to a carrot or cucumber. Strips several inches long and a few inches wide, all over the ground around the car. Primer underneath looked like new, except for one nickel-sized spot on the roof that had been exposed to UV rays for some time. One of the weirdest things I've ever seen.

My dad had 86 (blue) and 91 (white) Chevy Astros. Paint delaminated badly on both of them.

Well that is disheartening to learn. I have a '21 Ram SSV being outfitted now (Patriot Blue Pearlcoat). Haven't put eyes on it, just gave the up-fitter the details of what I want on it.

I was on a construction project in the late '70's that had purchased about five 1976 Chevrolet products for site vehicles in that bronze metallic that Chevy had. Within two years there were huge spots where the paint had failed right down to the bare metal. When the failures were presented to the selling dealer their position was that it was due to water based paint that GM was using and it wasn't their problem. I had no personal knowledge then and have none now, just repeating what was said.

I have heard it's like that all over.

My friend who works in a GM plant says the paint "repair" area in the plant is usually overrun with work, super busy and can't keep up.

Even robots can't seem to get it right all the time.

Mine might be the exceptions, have a 2017 challenger and the paint is very nice and has held up well daily driving it for all but 1 year, the panel fit is good on it too. the car is grey (forget the name) i just bought a 20 challenger (black) and the paint and panel fit is equally as good on it. I didn't look at a bunch of cars before buying either, maybe i got l lucky. Also have a 09 challenger that the paint and panel fit is nice. when we bought that car the first one we looked at the paint was bad. All 3 of these we bought new,

Stand back and look closely at your car's bumper covers to body paint contrast when they are clean and in the sunlight. I have yet to see any Challengers/Chargers/300s where the bumper covers matched the body.