water blisters under clear

[flat screwd]

Let me start by saying thanks for the for the welcome. Now on to business, this has happened to me in the past and once again on my latest project, water blisters under the clear . This time I was in the process of cutting and buffing I layed a damp towel next to the area I was working when I lifted it I noticed small blisters in the paint. This project is a base- clear using Valspar products. Another time this happened was on my boat. It was parked in the shop covered with blankets, it was raining and the roof leaked and water dripped on the bow. I then covered it with plastic. A week of so went by I pulled the covers off and noticed once again blisters This boat was painted a year before using single stage and then cleared to cover the stripping with HOK. So that being said, time doesn't seem to be an issue and paint type doesn't seem to be the problem either. The only thing in common is the primer. I use PCL polly prime, it fills great and sands easy. So my question is this ,Has anyone had this same problem? And scientifically how the hell does this happen?

[ABD]

Never heard of a Water Blister in clear coat...A pic would speak 1000 words in this case...Most Clear coat failures I know of are contaminates from oils, grease and such..But they usually appear in the form of craters and fisheyes almost instantly upon clearing...The other issue is solvent pop...Caused from rushing yer flash times and not letting the gasses escape, Traps em in the clear and they will form pockets..Looks like lil white specks/dots all over..The only time I've ever gotten solvent pop in my clear is using HOK..It seems to be more finicky than other clears...Most times if you get solvent pop the 1st time you will notice it is around the cut and buff stages...They like to magically appear as you sand..LOL

Dunno if any of that helps..Be cool if you could snap a good pic, would help a whole lot I think.

[Cowboy]

FS , I,m not familiar with PCL polly prime . But it Sounds to Me Like It Was Probably Moisture in The Primer Or Even Below it, Some Type of Contaminents . Not Sure What Might Have caused it. Humidity, Moisture In Your Air supply or Possibly applying The next coat to Quickly. The Primers need to Gas Off or It can Also cause Solvent pop if There Sealed in Even after a Long While After being Topcoated . Even Using Wax to soon Can cause it to do Strange things Under the top coats Especially if covered . One Thing IMO, that is A definate NONO, Is Covering with Plastic, Or Even Tarps. Blankets What have You Especially In Drastic temp changes .

But If Need Be After Fully Cured , a Good Quality car or Boat cover That Allows the Paint to Breath . But Doesn,t let the Dust , Moisture or anything else through. The Best I,ve found Was a Brand called Hollywood covers If I Remember right .

Just Throwing some Ideas out there , That Might Help You pin down the Problem . I,ve Never had a Problem Personally On Anyone Elses Stuff, But I Learnt this By doing My Own vehicles & Learned the hardway . I,m Sure others will have Other Ideas. Best of Luck sorting it out.

I Type Slow , Figured Dell or Somebody would be Me to it. lol

[ABD]

I Type Slow , Figured Dell or Somebody would be Me to it. lol

"ándale ándale, arriba arribaaaaa"...(To quote my good buddy Speedy G)...LOL


Something I hadn't thought of that ya mentioned CB, the tarp/plastic ordeal...They say some clears don't clear fully in a month or so...Plus weather and climate plays with that time frame in every case pretty much...I dunno if it was cured or not, but plastic wont help the matter none, like ya said.

[flat screwd]

I can rule out debris in the air supply and its not water spots that have been cleared over, this problem happens after the fact. Well I am GUILTY of wet sanding polly prime , not so much on solid colors but definitely on light colored metallic "silvers and blues" never thought that it could retain moisture.
Cowboy , I certainly agree plastic should only be used temporarily and not for long term storage.
If I can convince my 13 year old son to drop the video games and help with some pics I will do so. Computers are like sex, I know my limits.
Thanks every one for the input.

[flat screwd]

This is a pic of the boat deck

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii27/solarkid2000/IMGA0132.jpg
This is a pic of the blisters
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii27/solarkid2000/IMGA0139.jpg
This is a side view of the car

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii27/solarkid2000/IMGA0138.jpg
And a pic of the blisters
You have to look along the reflection of the lights to see them
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii27/solarkid2000/IMGA0134.jpg

[AndyW]

Made the mistake of giving my front Fender to a "pro" highly recommended two year ago, got the fender back look sweet............ 6 months down the line little blisters, now got one nasty that has joined together at the top, look freakin awfull, so it is coming off and doing it myself, feel strongly that it was very poor prep.

Have one I repaired with rattle can 6 months before and that is in far better condition, the galling thing is, that one respray on a fender cost me $260 an I supplied the paint.

[Cowboy]

Hard to Tell for Me FS, Makes Me Want to Take the tip of a pocketknife to the a bubble & see how far Down it Originates . Thats the Only Way I Know ti Find out What Happened or Where it Turned loose from , Ussually If It Turned Loose Between the Metal & Fillers or Primer It Will Show a Tiny lil Oil spot Or Rust from Moisture . If It Seperstes Betweeen The Layers of Primer Also Noticeable. By Looking at the Bottom of The Bubble chip & Where it Was Lifted from . Or It May just be Under the Clear, Very Doubtfull IMO. But possible .

If The Bubbles Are Limited to Just one area & You Just want to try to Repair for a Short time fix , You Can Try a needle in the Center of Each Bubble, Flatten With a Plastic Paddle Like You apply Mud with ( Fillers ) Using a heat Gun . Then After it Lays Down Dab a Tiny drop of Clear on it Let it Cure . Lightly Block sand & Buff But Not enough to get it Hot . Wont be Perfect But Might get You by for awhile. Best of luck.

[flat screwd]

Hi Rise, Absolutely .In all honesty I never knew that untill now . I am painting a soft tail right now and I will definatly refrane for wet sanding . Thanks for your input. Bad thing is I might have screwd up 8 or 10 cars and countless other projects.

[REDTAIL]

i have some poly primer on the back of the can they say if ya wet sand make doubly sure its dry before ya base it

RT

[ABD]

Bad thing is I might have screwd up 8 or 10 cars and countless other projects.

If that's the case I'm in the same boat...I wetsand all my Primers, every single time...Gonna be years of angry peeps coming back to me if they start to Blister:D

[Cowboy]

Like anything else its common sense, I,m not familiar with this particular primer . But with enough dry & Cure time You wont have any problems . But I,ve Wetsanded R&M,s waterborne primer back in the 80,s when it came out. But With that You just do a little bit at a time & dont soak it as much as todays products . Just Give it Plenty of time to Cure before doing so & Plenty of time to dry out before Baseing it. You Rush it Your bound to have problems just like anything else. I,ve Never had a comeback Yet . & I,ve got Restorations out there 40 plus years old . My 2 bits .

[Norm]

I agree with Cowboy on this.. I have jobs out there that were done 10, 20 or more years ago.. and some as recent as this summer.. I've always wetsanded my primers.. BUT, I never topcoat my primers the same day as I've sanded them, which is what I believe Rise is saying... allowing them to fully cure, AND allow any moisture to dry before topcoating. Just what has always worked for me.