Orange peel is not a good thing, but it is a fact of life on newer Benz vehicles (like it or not). On the repaints that I've had, the orange peel has been worse than on the factory paint - which still had some orange peel effect in it. The repaired area will be noticible if the orange peel is not of the same depth/uniformity as the paint in the panels immediately adjacent to the repair.

My point is this: The damage is in a very confined, well-defined area. If you can spot repair this area (and make it look good), why would you take the chance of shooting a whole panel and having a job that isn't as good as factory?

None of the paint shops around here can match the factory paint process. Their booths aren't as clean, their guns aren't as new, they have humans running the guns (rather than robots), and the results aren't as good.

Another point that isn't so well known outside automotive circles: Not all repair shops shoot the same paint as the factory. This means that there will inherently be differences in color under certain lighting conditions (metamerism). If you've ever seen a repaint that looks good in daylight, but is a shade off under sodium vapor lights in a parking lot, then you know about metamerism.

For these reasons, I'd give them a chance to spot repair it first. If you're not happy, then let them reshoot the door. Reshooting the door first may repair the scratch, but leave you more unhappy with the reshoot than with the scratch.

Good luck either way. I hope the repair is to your satisfaction.

hmm... hopefully the body shop knows what to do, they're supposed to be MB certified and reputable.

what is "orange peel"?

thanks!

Good description of orange peel:

http://autopia.org/forums/showthread...l&pagenumber=1

hell you have a new car, make them trade doors with another one on the lot...