New paint - should I be concerned? Can I fix this?

[Cricket]

Hello, and thank you, Mike, and everyone else for all you share on here and in videos -

I've read loads of articles and watched the videos, am reading your book, and have practiced on cars we have that "don't matter" or are for parts, and so far, pretty good.

I recently found a good deal on a '99 Miata with 200K miles - runs great, had serious road rash and severe clear coat failure across the hood. The deck lid was also wrinkled mildly.

My Questions:
I've attached a photo composite of the hood, showing tiny (really tiny) insect tracks. Some have a slight depression around them with a slight ridge around the depression. There are about 5 instances of this on the hood only, and then there are 4 or so tiny pinprick dimples or depressions in the clear coat.

1) 2-stage Emerald Mica metallic 18J paint. '99 Miata MX-5: Can these blemishes be fixed with a DA polisher properly? Or is repainting required?
Is this something "worth worrying about" when yes, I DO care how the car looks, I'm a visual person, an artist and photographer, so things like this jump out at me.
Will they be "noticeable" by others, say at an auto-related gathering?

2) This is the 2nd time the hood has been painted in the past month. The person doing the paint is very particular, he's affordable for me compared to those who do a lot of insurance paint and body work, and HE is the one who told me straight up that the hood would have to be repainted after the first time. He had to attend to emergency personal business while my car was with him, and his help painted the hood, leaving some slightly lighter areas on the corners/edges. He also repainted a front fender and a rear fender due to very minor issues that were below the clear. I didn't have to ask him, he just did it, and I was very happy about that and respect his decision without having to be asked. And yes, I noticed all three panels had issues, especially the hood.

3) HE is the one who brought these insect tracks to my attention on the phone before I came to get the car. It was dark and rainy when I picked it up, he said take it home, look at it in the sunlight, let him know. I know he isn't excited to paint the hood _again_ (3rd time), neither am I, but then, DOWN THE ROAD, am I going to regret not having this done right? Is this something that anyone with some experience (or me, after I practice more, and so far, the Intrepid is looking great, including doing some wet-sanding on scratches)

4) His business is paint, body, and mechanical work. He's meticulous and has vintage cars, muscle cars, etc there having paint/body work done, BUT he does not have a state-of-the-art paint booth with the downdraft and all that. It is completely enclosed. He was straight up about that, and I knew it when I first visited his shop. He doesn't do the careful jeweling/wetsanding etc - the paint has swirls throughout that I can see when I use a bright flash on it. Otherwise, it looks tremendous. And, you can't tell the deck lid was ever damaged!

The three examples in the photo are the worst ones, and the yellow tape is 3/4" wide. The photo is way smaller after uploading it than I made it, so if you can't see it well enough, I'll upload them as separate images.

Thank you, Mike, and anyone else with opinions on any or all of my questions.

~Cricket

[Cricket]

Here's the the 3rd example, with and without flash. Also, Why are there so many white dots with the flash? These are not visible otherwise.
Thanks!
Cricket

[twitch77]

From the pictures it looks like that might be "fisheye". It's an issue caused by not having the painted surface completely clean of everything and ready for paint. Usually the defect is because some sort of oil or silicone residue exists on the panel when it is painted.

I could be wrong but from the pics that's what it seems to me. Some bigger pictures might help as you suggested.

[ken tuep]

The pictures are almost too zoomed in for me to really see what the issue is.

Me being a painter, wouldn't let it leave the shop like that. But I understand his environment isn't optimal for painting.

Maybe another picture or two, a bit further out to really see what we're looking at.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using AG Online

[Mike Phillips]

From the pictures, and bigger pictures would make it easier to see what's going on, but from the pictures you shared, the white dots look like missing paint?

If this is the case, then buffing on them won't add paint.

Looks like you either need to repaint or apply touch-up paint.

[Mike Phillips]

Looking at the picture again, buffing might remove the ring.

[Cricket]

Thank you very much! He claimed they were insects, but it seems perhaps he didn't actually SEE them. Bugs in paint in my experience are stuck there, they can't leave, and they leave a mess. The dots are all in either a cluster like these, or singular, with a couple double dots.

I'll post larger pics tomorrow morning, rather than putting them in a collage. And I'll post some from further away.

Fwiw, his IS willing to repaint, I just don't know what will happen "next time". Looking at the car today in the sun, I was discouraged. You have to look for them, but there they are, plain as day, if you are close enough. One is right on the center toward the front of the hood.

Thank you SO much!

[cardaddy]

"Bug tracks", that's a new one for me. Can't really tell from your photos. Try resizing them to 800 x 600 and uploading them HERE to the AG site. AG allows forum members to upload as many photos as the like, for FREE as long as you're a forum member. Makes it much easier to link in threads, and makes sure that down the road the photo is always there, rather than one day a blank box or an 'X' just showing up.

If he's willing to repaint it, (again) then I'd surely take him up on it. Whether it's 'bug tracks', fisheye, solvent popping, or whatever. If you can see it now, you'll see it even more down the road. Fix it while you can, then hopefully after it cures you'll be able to polish it down to a perfect finish.

[Cricket]

Thank you -- the first image is 387x916 pixels. 72dpi. I did upload them here on the AG site. Don't know why they appear so small once uploaded. I noticed that when I uploaded it. I shot them with my DSLR.

I'll upload new photos showing these issues.

Meanwhile, I shot these earlier today.

Note -- I see that regardless the size I set, they are automatically reduced, with a max size allowance of 640x480. Maybe it's a situation of number of posts made by a member - I used to moderate a forum and image size allowance was increased after a minimum number of posts was met.

[Cricket]

This is one set of white dots. Close up, plus further back to show relative size on the hood of the car. They look like tiny pin pricks - they sink in and are white. The camera flash, when used, shows lots of white dots, but the ones that can be seen while examining the paint are sunk in like pin pricks, and are circled in yellow. I shot these tonight since it's easier to see them in the dark or shade.