Small holes in body filler that can affect the appearance of a paint finish are called?

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Pinholes are tiny holes that can appear in cured body filler, and they cause the paint finish to look speckled or mottled. These tiny voids form when air, moisture, or solvents trapped during application escape as the filler cures, or when the filler isn’t properly prepared or dried. If those holes aren’t filled and sealed, the paint can sink into them or fail to lay down evenly.

In repairs, you’d correct pinholes by ensuring proper mixing and curing of the filler, cleaning the surface, and applying additional filler or glazing putty to fill the openings, followed by careful sanding and a sealer/primer before top coating.

Other terms don’t fit as well because craters imply larger surface depressions, pores refer to natural openings in a material rather than defect holes in a filler, and hollows describe deeper voids rather than tiny surface pinholes.