Do swirls and dirt show easily on Red?

adg44 · 04-20-03, 08:49

I'm talking about a flat, non metalic red. Not a bright red, but not a very dark red. Amulet Red on an Audi A4 3.0 that I'm looking at.

I'm curious as to how much it shows dirt and swirls. I had a dark blue car before this, and it showed swirls almost as much as black.

My car before that was silver, and you couldn't see a swirl unless you spent a long time looking for one.

I don't want to have to be paranoid about swirls, and if red isn't that bad, it would be a nice color to have.

Thanks,

- Anthony

CharlesW · 04-21-03, 04:12

Chances are you will be happier with the silver again. Right now, we have two red cars and while they don't show flaws anywhere near as bad as black or dark blue, they do show them.
That said, 11 of our last 12 vehicle have been either red or black. (The 12th is dark blue) Might be a little more work, but to me it is worth it.

Charles

adg44 · 04-21-03, 08:37

I think you may be right, Charles.

Silver is just so easy and it always looks good. I remember myself saying "my next car is going to be silver!" while I was SMRing my Blue car.

Aurora40 · 04-21-03, 09:14

Yeah, red shows them pretty well. I think a non-metallic red would show them even more. I think metallics help to hide swirls a bit, so maybe if you want red you can get a metallic red (usually a bit darker).

adg44 · 04-21-03, 09:20

I was just going to say that I think the metallic layer helps hide the swirls because it reflects more.

Yeah I think I'm going to go with silver.

bcwang · 04-21-03, 10:49

I have a metallic red car, and it doesn't really show swirls, but if you get the light angle just right and look carefully you can see micro-scratches on the finish. I don't know if that's what you consider swirls, but it's definitely not that bad. Unless I'm just way out of my league for what you guys want your cars to look like.

gnahc79 · 04-21-03, 01:18

there really isn't an "easy" color to maintain:
darker and/or non-metallic colors show swirls, but touch-up paint for chips and scratches work well
metallic colors hide swirls, but touch-up paint is harder to match due to the density of the metal flakes not matching
light colors (white, yellow)....well they don't reflect or have the "liquid" look like the darker colors do

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