Having trouble spraying pearl. Mottling, blotching

Rgn, how much overlap are you doing? A pearl should be about 75%, medium to medium wet coats, track straight and it'll go on even. At this point though to get you through the job, try over reducing it and spray 2 coats after you think you are close with how "pearly" you want the finish. Try it at 1 part RTS Pearl(midcoat) to 1.5-2 parts reducer or preferably a blender. You can use the SPI intercoat as a blender or you can get the Axalta version at your jobber. With the SPI you would want to reduce it down to the recommended ratio before you intermix it with the pearl midcoat. Once you do that, spray 2 coats over the problem areas and that should even it out.
What color is your base? Try spraying 8 inches or so out. Ideally you want to see the base going on wet. But not so wet that it texture or mottles. If you have mottling, unevenness, then over reduce your RTS pearl as I described and spray 2 coats, letting it flash completely and inspecting the finish between coats. If it looks good after 1 coat stop.
Rgn what brand reducer are you using? What is the speed of the reducer?

@Mitch I like to think of it as medium wet, meaning it's going on wet but not so wet that it's flowing or moving around. Does that make sense to you? Hard for me to put into words. Example on a Sata 2000 1.4 HVLP, I will back it out 2 turns. Then spray it fairly quickly.
 
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Thank you. I'm about 80% overlap. I will get some blender from my jobber and use it. Sounds like that should do the trick. Thank you for your help.
 
Rgn, how much overlap are you doing? A pearl should be about 75%, medium to medium wet coats, track straight and it'll go on even. At this point though to get you through the job, try over reducing it and spray 2 coats after you think you are close with how "pearly" you want the finish. Try it at 1 part RTS Pearl(midcoat) to 1.5-2 parts reducer or preferably a blender. You can use the SPI intercoat as a blender or you can get the Axalta version at your jobber. With the SPI you would want to reduce it down to the recommended ratio before you intermix it with the pearl midcoat. Once you do that, spray 2 coats over the problem areas and that should even it out.
What color is your base? Try spraying 8 inches or so out. Ideally you want to see the base going on wet. But not so wet that it texture or mottles. If you have mottling, unevenness, then over reduce your RTS pearl as I described and spray 2 coats, letting it flash completely and inspecting the finish between coats. If it looks good after 1 coat stop.
Rgn what brand reducer are you using? What is the speed of the reducer?

@Mitch I like to think of it as medium wet, meaning it's going on wet but not so wet that it's flowing or moving around. Does that make sense to you? Hard for me to put into words. Example on a Sata 2000 1.4 HVLP, I will back it out 2 turns. Then spray it fairly quickly.

The color is a light blue. I use all Axalta brand and it is 441-21 reducer. I reduce it .2:1
 
You 100% sure you got full coverage on the base? A color like light blue can take several extra coats to get full coverage. Might very well be the basecoat is splotchy(not full coverage) and when you sprayed the pearl you are seeing the light and dark areas of the basecoat through your mid-coat(pearl) rather than the pearlcoat being the issue.
 
You could very well be right. I talked to Hub from Iwata and he told me to check the tip with a magnifying glass. It looks as though it may be damaged. Like it's been dropped. I'm going to compare it to a friends tip today and see what it looks like compared to it. I think I'm gonna need a new tip and needle. Kinda makes sense now that I've never had trouble before and all of a sudden I get splotchy where I've never had it. This tip is very important to atomizing the paint and putting it out evenly. Hopefully I've found the problem. Thank for all of your help. It's nice to be able to talk to experienced people to get suggestions and advice. I will be back on this forum in the future I'm sure.
 
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