Bike decals have blistered badly?

[rumpelstiltskin]

Had my Kawasaki into the body shop to be painted and new stripe decals on the tank and rear tail piece.Painter said the decals went on fine,were nice and smooth.Then he lacquered them and lots of little air bubbles appeared under the decals,tiny little blisters?He tried to pop a few with a pin but there were so many he gave up,any idea if this can be cured?Is this more likely to be a painter fault or the decal quality?He's the best painter in the area,used him loads of times and he nails his work for me every time,want to give him the benefit of the doubt!

[snuffle]

could be a number of factors,
base colour still curing
cheap decals
poor technique
or just one of those act of god things that happen.

[TallPaul]

I've painted loads of bike bits, and this is quite a common problem when clearcoating over transfers. The adhesive will still be leaving the transfer, but it is trapped by the lacquer, causing bubbles to form. Whenever I paint over transfers, I always leave them for as long as possible before lacquering- ideally at least a week, but generally, 24 hours will be enough.
Thats the problem, he didnt leave it long enough.