New car colours

[Buckman]

Which leads me to ask what colour is best and worst for showing dirt?
Fully polished my two black cars looked brilliant. One shower of Sahara dust rain, all ruined.
White has stood the test well. Amazing how my neighbours white BMW is not as white as my VW!
The metallic turquoise and golds faired well imo.

We had a light copper coloured car and the dirt still showed up. However if you owned a 4x4 it is supposed to have lots of mud on it. If you live in the city and have a 4x4 you can buy spray on mud! https://www.theguardian.com/science/2005/jun/14/uknews

 

[Raywood]

Those bright colours may save your life as they are easier for other road users to see. This was confirmed some years ago by a major car hire company who checked the accident rates for different colours. Green and then black had the highest accident rate and yellow the lowest. The simple deduction was that the brighter colours stand out more and other motorists are more likely to spot them and take action. green and black are more lkelyto fade into the background.
To some extent it was confirmed by my sister in laws experience when she had her black mini written off when a car pulled out in front of her and the driver said he never saw her. Not conclusive though.

 

[Raywood]

I dislike the Range Rovers and other large SUVs that are all black with blacked windows and no bright work. They look like the sort of vehicles used in POTUS’ motorcade. Ugly isnt a strong enough word.

Round here they are usually the drug dealers.

 

[otherclive]

We had a light copper coloured car and the dirt still showed up. However if you owned a 4x4 it is supposed to have lots of mud on it. If you live in the city and have a 4x4 you can buy spray on mud! https://www.theguardian.com/science/2005/jun/14/uknews

Like this you mean?

 

[Buckman]

I think my brother now wishes he had a 4x4 as he has been stuck in a holiday resort about 100 miles from home due to floods. They are about 46 miles East of Worcester in WP.

 

[Ukdave2002]

Black is high maintenance. I’ve had silver cars which didn’t tend to show the dirt. For me my best colour was my white Pajero as it didn’t show chip marks, or even side scratches incurred whilst off roading. White gloss on white primer was ace. Prior to selling it I used a colour restorer and it came up like new.

There is a historic reason that so many vans (Transit type not Caravan) are white; simply its easier to maintain and repair than other colours, companies would specify vans in white to help keep maintenance costs down, and thus the phrase "white van man" was born.

 

[Buckman]

There is a historic reason that so many vans (Transit type not Caravan) are white; simply its easier to maintain and repair than other colours, companies would specify vans in white to help keep maintenance costs down, and thus the phrase "white van man" was born.

Supposedly a white van is also cooler than a black van in the summer, but a black van is warmer in the winter than a white van.

 

[Dustydog]

Historically it is alleged white paint is the cheapest to make. But the majority of van owners used to sign write them. White was best as a background. Now as said earlier White Van Man has taken over needing no sign writing😄

 

[GaryB]

I think nothing looks nicer than a clean black car, I've had several and always regretted it as actually keeping them clean was nigh on impossible! My current Volvo is classed as "platinum" but it's more of a grey with a brown tint and it's actually quite good at disguising the muck.

Nowadays I tend to buy ex-demonstrators so my colour choices are restricted but looking through some of the new colours available I don't think there's any that I'd actually like! Personally I think a very dark metallic red looks nice.

 

[Dustydog]

Now you know why undertakers always carry a chamois leather on duty😎

 

[Beachball]

I think my brother now wishes he had a 4x4 as he has been stuck in a holiday resort about 100 miles from home due to floods. They are about 46 miles East of Worcester in WP.

My brother had no problems with his newish car

 

[Beachball]

Black is high maintenance. I’ve had silver cars which didn’t tend to show the dirt. For me my best colour was my white Pajero as it didn’t show chip marks, or even side scratches incurred whilst off roading. White gloss on white primer was ace. Prior to selling it I used a colour restorer and it came up like new.

At present i have a silver car from the front you would think it stunning but the sides and and boot are not at present we have been on country lanes and the A64 Scarborough to York .

 

[Buckman]

At present i have a silver car from the front you would think it stunning but the sides and and boot are not at present we have been on country lanes and the A64 Scarborough to York .

Couldn't you afford the sides and boot?

 

[Jcloughie]

I think nothing looks nicer than a clean black car, I've had several and always regretted it as actually keeping them clean was nigh on impossible! My current Volvo is classed as "platinum" but it's more of a grey with a brown tint and it's actually quite good at disguising the muck.

Nowadays I tend to buy ex-demonstrators so my colour choices are restricted but looking through some of the new colours available I don't think there's any that I'd actually like! Personally I think a very dark metallic red looks nice.

My present new car is black. When buying I was offered a diamond coating. My past experience on cars and caravans has been very good. But I lack confidence in the national companies doing the job properly. The Volvo I had I needed to get them to redo it.

So I had the work done by a local person who not only coated the car, windows, and seats. But, also machine polished the bodywork. Something you may have thought would not have been necessary on a new car. The improvement was stunning, And still looks good 6 months on. It is easy to keep clean though at only 2000 miles, gets little use. £500 well spent inho.

The picture shows the car that has not been washed for about 3 weeks.



NB those marks below the head and fog lights are only reflections!

John

 

[Buckman]

We had the Diamond coating on our 2004 Volvo S80 and I don't think it even last a year. In 2018 we had our caravan done with Paintseal and we are still impressed and no annual maintenance to keep up the warranty which has now expired, but after a wash with the shampoo the caravan looks brand new.

 

[RogerL]

I had my then new car professionally ceramic coated - and still looks like new at 8 years old.

Caravans need to be treated very differently as the paint is so thin and soft.

 

[Mickyjb]

Scenario: Clean black car tows clean white caravan through 100 miles of rain/standing water.
Result: Black car now covered in white/light grey dirt and white caravan with dark grey/black dirt.
Question: How does it know?!

 

[GaryB]

My previous V90 and the current one. It isn't possible to see in the photos but the black one had only been cleaned two days prior but was actually filthy!

 

[trevormonty]

My brother just part x change his BMW for a newish MHEV Range Rover Evoque black

Should blend in nicely with dozens of other black SUVs doing school run.

 

[Challenger]

Bet you wish that you still had that Jensen?

If it remained it would be orange lace by now

 

[Beachball]

Should blend in nicely with dozens of other black SUVs doing school run.

Don"t think so it be use for going fly fishing and holidays