Quote:

I just started my firt rolling coat of Gloss white just 2 mins ago..and I have a question about bubbles

I thined out the paint but right when roll on the test peice, I see tons of bubbles, i can blow them out and they go away...but is this normal?

Did I thin the paint too much? Is the paint too thick? Is this normal, like does every1 get bubbles to start with and they just level out or what?

Someone help me asap



Some degree of bubbles is normal.... and usually the amount of bubbles is a result of the amount of pressure you are using with the roller to apply the paint.

To put it visually... the foam roller has air pockets in it to hold the paint. But not all air pockets get taken up with paint... they have air. And even as you are laying a coat of paint on to the panel.. the paint in the pockets is released and air enters the now empty pocket.

IF you press down too hard... you will see a real swath of bubbles forming after each pass of the roller. So the trick is to learn to lay on 'just the right amount' of pressure to minimize the bubbles.

The thinning of the paint with mineral spirits or Pentrol helps to weaken the surface tension of the bubbles so that they pop on their own. BUT in some cases even our best efforts may not result in self popping bubbles. So that is where the discussions evolved around the 'tipping' technique. Tipping being the art of lightly going over the freshly painted area with a very light pass of a paint brush.... with the intention of gently popping the bubbles as you lightly pass over them.

You were saying that you were able to blow the bubbles and most of them would go away... so I don't think there is any problem with your paint to mineral spirit percentages.

There have been a few different techniques of tipping mentioned so far in this thread and I have tried them all...

a ) use a cheapo foam paint brush for doing the tipping. You can buy like 20 or 30 of them in a bag for not too many bucks. They look like black foam brush shaped things with a wooden dowel stuffed up their butts. The trick with these cheapo foam brushes is to not over use it. When it gets clumped up with paint THROW IT OUT.. don't bother to try cleaning it with mineral spirits, because it will start disintergrating and leaving little black bits of crap in your paint job.

b ) the more standard tipping weapon of choice is a wide good quality paint brush, one designed for use on malanine is ideal. You can re-use it and wash it down after each painting session with mineral spirits and it should be able to be used from the first coat through to the last coat if you properly take care of it at the end of each painting session.

c ) a variation that I enjoyed was the use of a second roller. The first roller would be used like normal to lay down a coat of paint on a panel. Then I would follow up that fresh paint on a panel with a quick light working with the second 'clean' roller ( not loaded up with paint ). IF you work quickly... you can do the entire vehicle with the second 'tipping' roller. Otherwise... you might want to plan on using two rollers during the paint job for the tipping. Use the first tipping roller for all the side panels... and then load on another fresh roller to do the hood and trunk. My theory on this was that I did not want anything screwing up the hood or trunk since they are the most visual to the eyes.

On the topic of bubbles.... this is probably one of the key reasons why Charger initially recommended that people do a little 'test rolling' before digging in at their main project. The technique you develop while testing out the process on a large test piece pays dividends when you actually go to put the technique to work on the real project.

But don't feel bad about bubbles... I don't think too many folks have been able to lay down a glossy slick surface without some bubbles requiring action to assist them at popping. The trick is to learn to minimize the number of bubbles so that you have less to have to assist. That is where 'technique' pays off.

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Last edited by Marq; 10/28/07 10:18 PM.