Need your expertise on this one for it has me baffled ! Trying to paint my car ( 1970 chevelle , shadow grey , PPG GLOBAL SYSTEM ) & thought i would do a most excellent job on it & do everything just right but that wasn't meant to be . Have car all ready to paint & masked so i go ahead & wipe car down with final prep ( PPG ) & call it a day . Next day , at least 14 hour from wiping car down , i begin to paint . Hood turns out good , go to fenders & HOLY SH^T , there is nothing but "solvent streaks" ALL over them ! Why would the hood turn out ok but fenders become a disaster ? Used the same method of wiping off entire car , wet paper towel , followed by a dry one . Did not finish painting rest of car for fear of the same thing happening to it . Where did i go wrong ? How long does it take for these prep cleaners to dry out ? Or do i need to get 5 gallons of gas & burn car , shop , & all paint related tools to ashes ?

That is very odd for sure, usually it is the horizontal surfaces that would retain the solvent if any where.
Is the shop heated? Is there a window or door near that fender that could have kept it cold?

The only thing that pops in my head is the air movement in that area, or the fact that when one wipes the top you are looking at it, paying more attention and would wipe it dry better. On the side you don't have the same light reflecting off and that sort of thing so you may be a little "lazy" when wiping.
Now, that being said 14 hours is a heck of a long time to keep solvent trapped, I have not real answers for you at this point. :(

To answer your question on how long does it take the cleaners to "dry out"? Well, minutes, unless the "planets are aligned". If you are not familier with my that saying it is when ALL the issues like heat of surface, air movement, solvent flash speed and so on are pushed. If one was pushed but all the others were well within there limits, no problem. Maybe even if a couple were pushed with one left in the "safe" zone. But with ALL of them, it goes to poop.

Thanks for the quick response MARTINSR . Kind of thought there wasn't much that could be wrong but if there was a way to screw it up , i would find it ! To answer your question , the shop was right around 68 - 70 degrees for over 24 hours & the fenders & hood are in pretty much the same location . Had not yet turned on the exhaust fan to get much air moving . Did talk to another bodyman & he seemed to think it might have been the towels i was using . Mine had the pretty bears & flowers on them ( don't look at me that way - my wife bought them ! ) . He thought maybe the die from those colorful creatures may have caused my problems . But still , why the fenders & not the hood i will never know . Will wipe car down again with different towels & try to shoot again later this week . If you happen to see a bright light in your eastern sky , don't worry , it's just me lighting the whole mess up for a big weenee roast ! graemlins/clonk.gif

The only thing I could think of was that you got a little lazy wiping the sides.
Hopefully someone else will chime in.

Could be the towels,although I've used em in a pinch.They are not very strong and have a lot of lint. As Martin said sounds like you did not get the whole fender wet and kinda smeared the degreaser around leaving a slight film.I always degrease car just before I paint.Try wiping car down with a damp rag first(water),then go with the final prep just before paint. Good Luck Mike