I've been researching this forum for ideas on why my base was rough- very fine grain rough. To low pressure, to far away or to fast. too cold. But then i saw one that said too wet causes rough. i'm confused. any thoughts? this is two coats of base over a sealer. still dont know what caused the fry up at this point, as the second coat flashed, as the sealer was over a primer.

Is that fry-up around a repair where you sanded back the old paint. Maybe didn't cover it well enough with primer or sanded the primer back a bit thin so the thinners in the basecoat soaked through. I'd say you're probably going a bit wet. It's hard to get the hang of not covering with each coat and trusting that the next one will do the job.

Overall the finish on that base doesn't look too bad. Sure, I've seen better, but I've seen much worse too. It will be covered by clear which will fill the (minor) texture. If, when you tack it, the cloth glides smoothly, it should be fine.

YOU TYPE FASTER THAN ME. need more info like what was the primer put over? an old finish? what kind of finish? list the products your useing. my first impression would be that your putting the base on to wet. try light -med coats, if it doesn't want to go on smooth use a slower reducer. your lifting means that one of your products or the base substrate is not compatible with the others and overly wet coats magnifies this. bombard us with more info.
Jay D.

thanks for the replies. all ppg shopline products.

full respray over original scuffed and sanded paint. started with high build primer. sanded and did have burn through at some edges, but not where these spots are. sealed with jp337 urethane sealer. tacked and about 35 minutes later sprayed my first coat of base which went on good i think. waited about 15 after finishing the first, tacked and laid down the second. seemed ok. went in to spray a third and i found the cracking. it was barely 60 in the shop.

It looks like lifting to me. Maybe scratches through the sealer??

It is hard to help unless we know every single detail. Bargain based materials are also suspect here.

mini64 wrote:waited about 15 after finishing the first, tacked and laid down the second. seemed ok. went in to spray a third and i found the cracking. it was barely 60 in the shop.

And here is your problem. Too many coats, insufficient flash off time for the temperature.

NFT5 wrote:

mini64 wrote:waited about 15 after finishing the first, tacked and laid down the second. seemed ok. went in to spray a third and i found the cracking. it was barely 60 in the shop.

And here is your problem. Too many coats, insufficient flash off time for the temperature.

AND to wet with the wrong temp reducer for 60*
Jay D.

thank you. so even though the paint was no longer glossy and dry enough to run a tack rag over it, it was flashed enough to recoat?

Probably not. Sometimes the surface skins enough that it appears fully flashed off and you can even tack rag over it, but underneath there are still unevaporated solvents. These come back to bite you when you put additional coats over the top.