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Paint Problems - Fish eyes. HELP!!!!!!

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by rustyironman, Jun 18, 2011.

  1. I think I may have a disaster on my hands. I am working on my
    ermine white 62 Hawk. Close to full repaint. I really know not what
    to do at this point.

    Subsurface: Old ancient paint, most of it original. Had some old brush
    touch-up tube style paint on old nicks. Some spotsof the original
    finish were just ever so slightly age 'lacquer crazed', not noticable unless one really was looking at it obliquely with a light. It was in really excellent shape for its age. I've painted over worse finishes on a 5-year old car.

    Anyways, I used a pressure washer and super-clean (the purple
    degreaser) before any body work started on the car. Then washed it
    down with Naptha and a rag and scrub brush.

    Did my repairs and body work to the four fenders. Used Nason
    lacquer-type primer surfacer over my repairs, blocked and feathered it
    out onto the old paint. Basically sanded the rest with 320 grit paper
    in prep to shoot with sealer.

    Shot the epoxy sealer (DP-50). Had problems with a few areas of the
    old paint wanting to 'lift' and anywhere there was the old touch up
    paint and surrounded sanded area wanted to just slightly fish eye. A
    few fogged coats cover them, they covered. Did a flood coat and I
    thought I was okay for topcoating. Let it sit about 24 hours.

    Today attempted to shoot the color coat, single stage Martin-Senour
    Crossfire enamel with hardener. Anywhere I had the lifting or fish-eye
    problem originally in the sealer, it fish-eyed horribly in those spots
    and more areas even though the epoxy sealer was not fish eyed in those spots immediately before shooting the color. Grabbed an old hood and shot
    some paint on it, no fish-eyes. So that rules out contaminated paint,
    air or gun.

    Added a shot of martin-senour fisheye eliminator to the paint and
    tried to reshoot those areas on the car. It reduced the fish-eyes, but
    still left like little salt-and-pepper voids in that area. I quit at
    that point to re-group since I was only one panel in.

    I suspect the old ancient paint has some old silicone polish or wax
    embedded in it causing this.

    My fear is that I will have to strip the whole car to bare metal and start
    over, and basically loose all my effort of the repairs. And would
    there still be contimaniation in the little pits/scratches of the metal if I strip it with abrasive discs?

    I know not what to do. I have always heard horror stories of silicone
    contamination but this time it seems I am experiencing it first-hand.

    What should I do?
     
  2. voodoo1
    Joined: Jun 27, 2007
    Posts: 452

    voodoo1
    Member

    I would clean up the areas that are fish eyed, just sand them down good if you can. Then go back over it with a water borne primer-sealer. It will create a clean non-chemical coat that can be top coated easily. Pre clean with a good cleaner that is also non chemical so it won't heat up the lacquer. You might have to take some areas down past the lacquer to metal to clean it all up. You'll be ok with the water borne sealer to paint. Mike
     
    Last edited: Jun 18, 2011
  3. Jim P
    Joined: Apr 27, 2005
    Posts: 239

    Jim P
    Member
    from Tyler, TX

    Let it cure, wash it with a red scotch brite and comet. I believe naptha is petrolium product. Might be some of the cause. I put some vinyl graphics on a late model for a guy one time. He tried to help by cleaning it with naptha. You thought he had sprayed it with wd40. Nothing tried to stick.

    Try the cleaning. If it trys to lift again give it plenty of flash time and dust over it until it covers. Once covered put the final coat on it. If it has orange peal or didnt lay out flat where it attempted to lift just color sand it flat. Hope that helps.
     
  4. mercury jeff
    Joined: May 22, 2011
    Posts: 16

    mercury jeff
    Member
    from brownsburg

    I paint for a levying . I have ran in to evey thing . This is just my upinen ! Not seeing it . I think I wood sand the car down and reprime the hole thing with a 2 part primer sand and seal and paint . That is what I wood do. It sucks!! You need a baier be twine the old paint and the new paint.
     
  5. Jdee
    Joined: Feb 19, 2002
    Posts: 485

    Jdee
    Member

    Put some bulldog over it...
    It works great to lock down stuff.
    Jdee
     
  6. Von Rigg Fink
    Joined: Jun 11, 2007
    Posts: 13,404

    Von Rigg Fink
    Member
    from Garage

    I found an area about 4" long on one of my garnish moldings ,, it would not take paint.

    I primed it..primmer layed down nice..paint did not.

    I stripped it and sandblasted it (again)
    same deal..

    stripped it sandblasted and acetone on the area..still did it..

    primer never showed a problem..but the paint did..

    i fuckin gave up
     
  7. Can't hurt to just clean up the areas with the touchup paint, as others have noted, and try again. Even if you had to go to bare metal there I don't know why you'd have to strip the whole thing.
     
  8. BrandonB
    Joined: Feb 24, 2006
    Posts: 3,515

    BrandonB
    ALLIANCE MEMBER
    from nor cal

    Get ahold of "pimpin paint" or "earl schieb" here on the hamb. They can steer you in the right direction.
     
    Last edited: Jun 18, 2011
  9. cheveey57
    Joined: Mar 11, 2010
    Posts: 676

    cheveey57
    Member

    Where are the grammer Police when you need 'em?
     
  10. Ob1
    Joined: Jan 21, 2010
    Posts: 411

    Ob1
    Member

    Grammer indeed...

    Doesnt sound like fisheye to me, sounds like solvent lifting the edges of the old repairs.

    Sand the old spots, a few coats of water based primer, guide coat and wet block sand, then go at it again.
     
  11. CutawayAl
    Joined: Aug 3, 2009
    Posts: 2,144

    CutawayAl
    Member
    from MI

    Fish-eyes are caused by contamination/residue that the paint can't mix with. The cause could be wax, silicone, oil, grease, water, animal or vegetable oil/fat, Brylcreem, etc, etc.
     
  12. Sorry if I wasn't clear, but I had both problems - I am aware and know the difference between solvent incompatability and a true fish eye as caused by your list below - namely silicone. Lifting I can live with to solve, but fisheyes are a whole new game to me.



     
  13. choptopdoc
    Joined: Nov 19, 2008
    Posts: 135

    choptopdoc
    Member
    from tulsa

    X2 Waterborn primer is your best friend in times like these. I use Dupont 210S, works great on problem areas!
     
  14. If you're spraying enamel,just add some FEE(fish eye eliminator) to your mixed ready to spray paint and start spraying.If you're not going to strip it all off,then by all means use the waterborne primer and then when you're ready to paint use the FEE as a safety precaution.There is a chance that someone has already used it in the existing paint. FEE is a petroleum based product and somehow counters the fisheyes.I'm a painter,not a chemist,but I know this crap will work when nothing else works,and it doesnt take much of it in the paint.
     
  15. KrisKustomPaint
    Joined: Apr 20, 2007
    Posts: 1,107

    KrisKustomPaint
    Member

    Naptha contains Paraffin (yes like the wax), so its pretty much the opposite of wax and grease remover.
     
  16. dragsta
    Joined: Apr 11, 2010
    Posts: 589

    dragsta
    BANNED

    it sounds to me like you're mixing your paint too thick and it's not flowing out properly. this is a common mistake. also, when painting the color coat, i like to spray a light coat over an entire area then go back over it heavy. i found that if there's going to be a problem with adhesion the mist coat helps.
     
  17. Redbuddy
    Joined: Jun 10, 2011
    Posts: 137

    Redbuddy
    Member
    from Cordova al

    If it is silcone the only thing to get it off is bleach.I have had the problem with armor all If you do not get it all off it will come back!
     
  18. I too think the naptha is the culprit. It doesn't cut the crap off the surface the way lacquer thinner will.

    I say let it cure, sand and spot prime the bad spots, wipe the whole thing down with a scotchbrite pad, then lacquer thinner on a clean rag.

    Dust a light coat of color and go forward from there. The fish eye eliminator will help in the clear or in the color if it's single stage but don't over do it. It will be prone to run if you use too much. I usually just add a 1/2 cap or so into the clear.

    Most fish eye problems are something simple in one of the prep steps.
     
  19. pimpin paint
    Joined: May 31, 2005
    Posts: 4,937

    pimpin paint
    Member
    from so cal

    Hey,

    It kinda sounds to me like you've an old Earl Schieb paint job on this vehicle:( Schieb use to advertise that they used GE silicones in their paint. Complete removal is the best answer, as any thing you could shoot over it to bridge the silicone will, in time, break down and cause the paint to pop. On jobs where I had fish eyes from wax or oil, a bath with tsp followed by two-three wipe downs with Prep-Sol and many old diapers, never old shop rags!
     
  20. Is that not what the equivlant would be if it had been shot with a repaint with fish-eye-eliminator in the past?
     
  21. pimpin paint
    Joined: May 31, 2005
    Posts: 4,937

    pimpin paint
    Member
    from so cal

    Hey,

    That hasn't been my experience. A job that was previously shot with fish eye eliminator could be killed by good cleaning, prep, and one to two dry coats of primer or finish dusted over them, with long flash times. A Schieb job couldn't be killed off no matter how many rabbits you pulled outa the hat:D
     
  22. fearnoevo
    Joined: Nov 28, 2009
    Posts: 218

    fearnoevo
    Member
    from Iowa

    I used to work in a cabinet factory. In an effort to eliminate fisheyes in their finishing systems, they banned the use of anything with silicone in it in the entire facility. Several hundred thousand square feet.

    Through research they had determined that something like 10ppm of silicone molecules could cause fish eyes.
     
  23. Dave Mc
    Joined: Mar 8, 2011
    Posts: 2,827

    Dave Mc
    Member

    I preclean with Turpentine,works best for me,started using it when we realized it was the only thing that will strip the Hardshell buffed in wax often sold to Customers by New car dealers
     
  24. Master of None
    Joined: Dec 18, 2009
    Posts: 2,279

    Master of None
    Member

    Most of the old "fish eye eliminators" contain silicone, I always thought that was ironic.
     
  25. Dave Mc
    Joined: Mar 8, 2011
    Posts: 2,827

    Dave Mc
    Member


    Same with "Wax & Grease Removers" sold by the Paint Suppliers....
     
  26. KrisKustomPaint
    Joined: Apr 20, 2007
    Posts: 1,107

    KrisKustomPaint
    Member

    Show me the MSDS. Most contain a small amount of Naptha, but I have never seen one that contained any silicone.
     

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