Showerthought: I prepped panels with dish soap for 3 years until a fisheye ruined a full respray

Cora Roberts · 2026-10-10T08:25:04.226091+00:00

I was wiping down every panel with a mix of Dawn and warm water before paint, thinking I was saving money on real wax and grease remover. Then last Tuesday I shot a hood on a silver Camry in my bay and watched 11 fisheyes pop open like little craters right in the middle of the coat. My mentor Dale walked over, sniffed my spray bottle, and asked why I was painting over hand lotion and silicone residue. Turns out dish soap leaves a film that some cheap degreasers can hide but never fully strip, and silver shows every single one. I re-sanded the whole hood and redid it with proper prep solvent and not a single crater showed up. Anyone else had a shortcut come back and bite them on a silver or white job?

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Showerthought: I prepped panels with dish soap for 3 years until a fisheye ruined a full respray | Auto Body Repairers - Thought Shares