fish eye

Still having trouble for the first time painting my own car with fisheye.I don't like this BC/CC paint but have done 3 of my cars with it but this is the first time with this problem.It seems to only do it on the clear coat.But this time I used sealer and I'm wondering if the sealer is not working with the clear activator that is the only thing that I have changed.Went with sealer to coat the gray with black as not to have to use twice as much color.Changed hoses and have filter on wall and disposible filter at gun.Help Please about to drive me NUTS.Will Fisheye elimator stop this problem Thanks

 

The most likely cause cause is a silicone based material that has somehow contaminated your surface. I used to run a body shop at a dealership that was a building away from the service department.We had to stop the technicians from using spray silicone in the shop because it was causing fish eyes in the paint jobs. The stuff can really travel. Make sure you wipe the car down with something like PrepSol before you paint and yes fish-eye eliminator additive does help .

 

Seeing as how it's only happening in the clear coat, are you sure you are not mixing up fish eyes with solvent popping? The both look similar, Solvent popping ocours with not enough air flow when applying the clear. It will leave tiny little craters all over the top surfaces. If your problem is only on the tops and not on the sides, it's probably solvent pops.

 

Good point. Try a test panel next time with the fish eye eliminator to try and head it off. Good luck. Got any pics?

 

fish eye eliminaor is just adding silicone to the paint, its best to avoid, clean and keep the silicone away
its kind of a crutch and i tried to use it only if problems presented itself and if you recoat you have to use it again as you are painting on silicone

 

Read the attached PDF that will describe potential problems with paint application and how to prevent them. There is a lot of information here that might help solve your problem.

 

Silicone, plain old oil, teenie weenie particles of wax or rubbing compund, diesel smoke, and the worst offender, temp/humidity change at the gun outlet. All will contaminate slow drying clear coats. The temp change is maddening. Hot air blowing out into cooler air=water at the end of the stream. Suspend the hose to keep it off of the cold floor. Hard to do in a garage scenario. Blow down the whole shop a day or 2 before, Do it again a few hrs before paint and clean all of the surfaces real well with appropriate solvent. PPG has a water based cleaner as well as good ol wax n grease remover. "104" I think? Wax n grease remover, prepsol, all of the solvent based cleaners, they won't even touch anything that water will clean. Coffee drips even resist lacquer thinner (!) but water base cleaners or some clear warm water works like a champ. Solvent based cleaners will also just glide over another enemy...TREE SAP. Some of that gummy shit comes off but it takes soap and water for the remaining stain. Just throwing some things out there to think about before you spray.

 

If your sealer and base cost are laying out fine i wouldn't think it was a contaminated panel...are you using a different gun for the clear?

 

I clean the surface with prep sol and when I did the inside truck yesterday I primed using 2k let flash 1 hour sealed let sit for 30 minutes color let sit for 45 minutes no craters then 1 coat clear CRATERS.Changed air hoses another coat of clear craters still.When I did under floor on rotisserie I didn't use sealer and no CRATERS so this week I will try again with no sealer if no CRATERS I"ll throw out sealer.Never used sealer before.Thanks for help

 

Let us know how it works out without the sealer. It would be good to know what products you are using too.

Good luck.

Thanks.

 

I always drained the air system, often. Had more trouble from that than any other source.

 

Drained compressor and have 2 filters.Using Nason paint and clear,Autobody primer and sealer.They say they ar compatible.Sprayed to floor and firewall with no fisheye or solvent pop but didn't use sealer and the craters are on the flat part of door in the upright position like it hangs.Used sealer because the primer is light gray and spraying black car so got black sealer Thanks for any info

 

The sealer is "under" the base. How it could have an effect on the clear is something I can't answer beyond simple coincedence. The clear flashes slower and is more prone to the effects of contamination. Draining the system and traps means it may not be there. What are your temps when spraying?

 

My first suggestion is to cut apart your 'on gun' filter and see how much contamination is in it. It is only a last chance filter, and may get overloaded with gunk quickly if your system isn't filtered well.
Fish eyes can be caused by many things, as everyone said, like moisture, oil, silicone, even dirt and dust. They can get on the car due to air, or through the air hose, contaminated paint, even through touching the surface.
It only appears in the clear, even if the primer,say, is contamnated, because the base is so porous, it absorbs the oil/water/other, but the clear can't stick to the contaminated base.
You have to be very meticulous when cleaning the surface to be painted, what happens after cleaning, and your air delivery system.
Try using a blower and blow your air into a clean white cloth, or paper towel and see if moisture or oil is getting in your lines. If you have a small compressor and it is working hard while painting, it will get hot, and the moisture in the air can pass through your primary filters, and condense out farther in the hose to come out when you paint. A small 'on gun' filter won't handle it!

 

Had this problem, and it was caused by one of those desicate filters (all the little blue beads that change to pink when they go bad) had a sight glass on the side and they always looked blue and if you opened it up to look the 1st couple inches were blue. I finally dumped it out completely, and the bottom 3rd of the filter was way bad. Changed out all the beads and it solved my problem.

 

Thanks I"ll go at it again this week.Use a seperate gun for clear,one for color,one from primer.By no means am I a pro at this just a hobbiest.But I wish they still had laquer paint

 

One squirt of wd40 or any sylicone base product can give you fisheyes for months. Keep away from fish eye eliminator it allways makes the problem worse and just makes your clear thick and full of orange peal. as for solvent pops they are coused by putting too much paint on too fast. The poping is from the solvents getting traped and trying to get out of the top coat or your cleer cousing lots of pin like spots. How to tell the diffrence is fisheyes normaly happen rigt away looking like small craters and solvent pop normaly takes a few to see after your last coat is sprayed. Inconclushion to help get rid of fisheyes spray a tack coat on your first coat of clear. Pull the gun 2 feet from the panel and spray so your cleer looks verry dry sprayed, dont wory it will look like shit but let that dry untill its sticky to the toutch. Then come back with your 2 or 3 coats of cleer. Make sure every coat drys untill its sticky to the toutch untill you put on another one. As for solvent pop when painting never spray another coat untill the last one is dry. Fish eyes suck! Good luck

 

Thanks I"ll try this week