Fish eyes from moisture?

[smike]

Primed the car today. Ended up with major fish eyes in two spots. On the roof and on the door. They follow the path I was spraying. About a foot long and the width of my spray. I am 90% sure it cam from my air supply. Didn't have any problem with the epoxy or slick sand. Rookie mistake I never drained or cleaned the water separators. I have 2, one before the regulator and one on the regulator.. Last time I did was my last paint job 4 years ago.
My plan is to block sand these areas down with 180 and reprime with lighter coats. While I'm at it a need to fill a few pinholes. What are the chances the fish eyes will come back?

This got me rethinking of painting the car with a single stage. If I go with BC/CC, will the base act like a sealer in a way? Would it be easier to deal with fish eyes? My last paint job 4 years ago did not have any problems. That was BC/CC.

thanks Mike

[Len]

Primed the car today. Ended up with major fish eyes in two spots. On the roof and on the door. They follow the path I was spraying. About a foot long and the width of my spray. I am 90% sure it cam from my air supply. Didn't have any problem with the epoxy or slick sand. Rookie mistake I never drained or cleaned the water separators. I have 2, one before the regulator and one on the regulator.. Last time I did was my last paint job 4 years ago.
My plan is to block sand these areas down with 180 and reprime with lighter coats. While I'm at it a need to fill a few pinholes. What are the chances the fish eyes will come back?

This got me rethinking of painting the car with a single stage. If I go with BC/CC, will the base act like a sealer in a way? Would it be easier to deal with fish eyes? My last paint job 4 years ago did not have any problems. That was BC/CC.

thanks Mike

If the divots are coming from contaminants in the air you should be able to sand them level and respray and not generate more problems as long as you cleanup the air. However if the problem is coming from contaminants on the surface you'll probably need to sand off the coating, clean using a decent grease and wax remover then re-prime.

No the base doesn't act like a sealer and the fish eyes will still be a problem. You can use a "fish eye eliminator" to help solve the problem, the best one I've found is linked below.

[bmarler]

if you think the fisheye might pop back up you might think about actually applying a sealer coat before the final top coat. if fisheye shows in the sealer you can hold off on the top coat till you get it figured out. sealer is usually quite a bit cheaper than paint.
fisheye is a real bugger. it pops up a the worst times and can be a pain to cure. keep in mind that you probably have contamination in the hose you sprayed with, and should not use it to spray again. ideally you should have a good painting filter and a new hose hooked directly to it. i seal the ends of my painting hose so nothing gets in when i'm storing it. (connect the ends together)
fisheye remover is a last ditch effort for me, i hate using it. just sayin.

[Ronf]

There is a lot of different scenarios in which fish eye can appear, i.e. surface contact with your personal clothing while spraying or final wipe down, a silicone spray product recently used in the area and lingering in the air, not using gloves during final wipe down (G&W remover or tac cloth) which can transfer hand contaminates to surface. bmarler brings up two really good points of interest; if your air filters and/or air tank are the problem then the hose should also be replaced and the use of fish eye remover as a last resort, I'm just not a fan of fish eye products.
I never allow silicone products of any type in my booth or spray area as they beg to disturb your paint performance, namely fish eyes. Prior to final wipe down I glove up and blow off my disposable paint suit or my personal clothing if not in a suit, followed by wiping down my spray hose with G&W remover (I use a dedicated hose for spraying only) and drain all my air tanks and filters. Using this process every time I spray will eliminate those aspects if I encounter a problem after spraying. Doing less than this requires more time trying to figure out what went wrong when I have a product failure. If I encountered the same problem as you show in your pic I would sand down just below the applied surface and reapply the primer without fish eye remover. You obviously have experience in painting since you painted at least one car 4 years ago and I suspect even more. Over time it is easy too forget the little things we have too do in order to get these products to lay as expected. Keep us posted.

[smike]

I sanded down the problem areas and reprimed. Problem is gone. I took apart and cleaned both water separators. I drained the drip leg I have. I installed a drip leg on every air outlet when I piped in the garage. I drain my tank every day, I have an electric valve on the drain so I just have to push a button. I used a different air hose. I made sure I cleaned the panels real good, only doing a small area with a paper towel and let it dry real good. I have to admit I got a little lax because it was just primer. learned a lesson.
I am confident that is was a moisture problem.

I have to remember that tip on connecting each end of the hose for storage. I probably painted 15 cars in the last 30 years. My last one was this Lemans. This board has helped me a lot.

[bmarler]

I sanded down the problem areas and reprimed. Problem is gone. I took apart and cleaned both water separators. I drained the drip leg I have. I installed a drip leg on every air outlet when I piped in the garage. I drain my tank every day, I have an electric valve on the drain so I just have to push a button. I used a different air hose. I made sure I cleaned the panels real good, only doing a small area with a paper towel and let it dry real good. I have to admit I got a little lax because it was just primer. learned a lesson.
I am confident that is was a moisture problem.

I have to remember that tip on connecting each end of the hose for storage. I probably painted 15 cars in the last 30 years. My last one was this Lemans. This board has helped me a lot.

wow! dig that pontiac. makes me miss my old firebird with that same split grille style. great color too.

[recoatlift]

I’d give ya speeding ticket just because of that vehicles stance, looks ready to race. Nice looking tires & wheels. Great job!