I'm trying to paint my dash right now. The temp is in the 80s, sun is shining, winds are about 10 to 15 miles an hour, but the relative humidity is over 75%. You can't tell if you're in Fort Worth or Galveston! I sprayed an area on the backside of the dash to test some black lacquer paint I bought for the trim, but it's turned milky. So what's the humidity limit for lacquer paint? Do I need to wait until we get through this weather pattern and just wait for dryer days?

If you are using aerosol, wait until dryer conditions. If mixing try a slower thinner,or in extreme conditions lacquer retarder. Longer flash times between coats can also help. CAUTION: slower reducers & use of retarder can cause change of gloss. If you are going for semi or almost flat appearance this method MAY NOT give you the result you want. Slower products can also result in sand scratch swelling, particularily if flooded on. When we used to spray a lot of lacquer we did NOT have in line dryers for compressed air system. Maybe MARTINSR can enlighten us as to the benefits of air dryers when applying lacquers, or other products. Also IDEAL temp & humidity for application. Remember even if the weather report says 75%, it can vary within reporting area. One of the many reasons it was so easy for the industry to adopt products other than lacquer was the versatility of newer product. We HAVE to get them painted regardless of conditions.

More ambition than brains pretty well summed it up. Actually, a refrigerated air dryer in-line with the compressor has little effect on "blushing" of lacquer although it can help to some extent. As stated, a slower thinner with retarder(if necessary) is the only sure way to combat blushing. Spraying light, thin coats will help to reduce the possibility(probability) of sand scratch swelling. Of course, that presents another problem...the lighter and thinner the coats, the more "rubbing out" you may have to do. Spraying lacquer above 65-70% humidity is pretty much a crap-shoot. Go with base/clear and you don't have the problems.

These are aerosol lacquers, interior paints from Year One. The last couple of days have been Houston/Galveston like around here. It looks like I'm on hold until the air is a little less damp.