I'm painting my car with Dupont paint, basecoat/clearcoat. I painted the trunk lid for a test and noticed a few small depressions in the clear coat the size of a pin head, like the bottom of a bubble. It doesn't look like fish eyes. Any idea what caused this? Can I shoot another coat of clear to fill them in?

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68/Z28,35O LT1
RICHMOND 5 SP,

I think it's dried oversprayed dust. When you paint, some of the overspray collects on any area masked or tape off, like on the glass. Then over spray then dries into a powered. On the next coat of paint, the gun blows the dust off and onto the paint, usually the hood, roof, and trunck lid. I tack the tapered ares between coats just for the added insurance.

Something I heard about that sound similar to what you are experiencing. When you don't let the base coat dry long enough and then top coat with clear it traps in the chemicals from the base coat. I was watching Dream Car Garage on SpeedVision, they were talking about it. My dad works for a local Chevy dealer and he said the painters do this all the time. I'm sure someone out there has heard of this.

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Sean James
67 camaro convertible
69 Firebird - ls1 t-56 behind pontiac 350 motor
12 bolt 4:10

oops... Mo67cam is right. If it's small and looks like little rings, it's dust. If it's little pinholes, it's solvent popping. It happens whe you don't let the coat dry enough before laying the next coat. The thinner is trying to eveporate and getting traped under the next coat. Colorsanding and buffing might work if the final coat was the the only layer effected.

Is the depression on the basecoat side of the clear...or on the surface?

Minor contaminants can form various "levels" of craters.

Take a look at it through a magnifing glass to see if there is any little particles in the bottom of it. If there is, then it is obviously a speck of dirt. If not, then solvent pop is a possibility. Did they appear in an area that you may have gotten a little more clear thickness?

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Fan of anything that is interesting and moves human beings.
1965 Buick Gran Sport Convertible
1965 Buick Skylark H/T
1948 Chevy PU with 401 Buick

Thanks for the responses. I was painting stripes. I let the bascoat dry 30 min, then applied the stencil (which took another 30 min), then shot the stripe color, waited 30 more minutes and then peeled of the masking.
I think I was so concerned how the stripes turned out I forgot to use the tack cloth before I shot the clear. I looked at the dips with a magnifying glass and I think I see dust particles at the centers. I'm doing the doors this weekend and I'll see if
cleanliness improves the results.

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68/Z28,35O LT1
RICHMOND 5 SP,

My turn. Solvent pop, or fisheyes (unfortunately fisheyes come in all sizes). Normally solvent pop will be in a larger group or all over. Fisheyes are usually here & there without a definate patern. Was there any bodywork done on the area where it looks like this? If so, forget what I said above because it's probably pinholes in the body filler. This happens pretty easy if you dont mix your filler right. Many bodymen try to fill pinholes with primer http://www.camaros.net/forum/rolleyes.gif
Painting is easy 'till there is a problem.
Wish I could see it. Good Luck
Austin