thoughts on white paint

migelowsky · 01-03-09, 08:46

Hi, this is my first post.
I'm thinking of painting my car again, it's
my old loyal vehicle, a 1984 chevy cavalier.
When I got it 15 years ago it was red, then about 8 years
ago it was painted yellow.I love how it looks
yellow, it was a big upgrade from the red because
I changed the interior and bought new rims.
Now I want to know what you think about white cars, I would
like to try white with blue racing stripes, but I'm not sure
if white paint really show offs and makes justice to
all the waxing and polishing work. The reflections on
the surface mostly are light images, so I think they get
lost in the white paint, that's why black cars look so cool
when they are well treated.
Any comments or thoughts on white paints?
Thanks =)

Accumulator · 01-04-09, 09:37

migelowsky- Welcome to Autopia!

White is simply *different* from darker colors, and most people don't think it can ever have the same impact.

I can appreicate white if it's kept very highly polished/well-detailed, especially if there's good contrast with black/etc. trim. But IMO there aren't all *that* many cars that "look right" in white and I dunno if your Cavalier is one of them

And while white with blue stripes might look cool on an old sportscar, I dunno how it'd look on a Cavalier either; I'd lean towards no stripes but then I'm kinda conservative about this stuff.

I'd find some images of one in white and see if it appeals to *you*. If so, go for it, and who cares what anybody else thinks. Note you might need some really good primer-sealer to put white over yellow (assuming you're not taking it down to bare metal).

One very nice thing about white is that it's very easy to maintain at the ~80% level because it doesn't show minor flaws the way most other paints do.

But if you love how it looks in yellow....

migelowsky · 01-04-09, 09:58

thanks for your reply =)
at the moment, my 3 choices are those
white-blue, blue-white or black.
I like it yellow, but I think I need a change.
I'll try to post the links to the 3d renders I made,
I have just one post so I don't know if they will
allow me to post them.
white:
http://img211.imageshack.us/img211/3231/blanco01ym1.jpg
blue:
http://img160.imageshack.us/img160/8566/azul01zo6.jpg
black:
http://miguelambriz.net/Inorganic_fi...ition=download

I know that a 25 Cavalier is not precisely a cool car, but every day there
are less and less, I think I enjoy watching any clean,waxed and shiny car.

thanks again =)

White lexus 23 · 01-04-09, 10:46

just go with what makes you happy. thats what i say

wytstang · 01-08-09, 10:41

Leave the strips off, that model can not pull it off. Personally I don't like *most* newer cars with racing strips. What I'm picturing a bit is a 2 tone paint job, paint the coupe part black and the rest white, with black rims with a polished lip.

migelowsky · 01-09-09, 09:44

thanks for all your suggestions,
I still have a month to decide, in
the mean time I'll make another
render the way wytstang suggested.

The links to the images are now
active, when I do the render I'll
see if I can post them directly here.

Kaze_RSX · 01-12-09, 11:53

Personally white has an odd impact. From the standpoint of a detailer, its as bland as it gets in most cases, but many modern show cars and trendy styled cars are white. A pure white just looks so clean and crisp...

OTG Signs · 01-13-09, 04:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kaze_RSX

A pure white just looks so clean and crisp...

I agree. I've always wanted a white on white 99-04 Saleen:

It's so much less "look at me" than bright yellow or red, but still has the ease of cleanliness, and even looks better when clean IMO.

migelowsky · 01-14-09, 05:33

thanks for for reply =), I'm paying more attention on the streets
watching white cars, the Volkswagens seem to use it a lot,
they look very cool, the Golfs and also the Tuareg.
That Mustang looks great.
I also played with beige, is not very common this days,
the only one I've seen are the mini coopers, here are another
tests:

http://img299.imageshack.us/img299/7...isatrasmg9.jpg
http://img70.imageshack.us/img70/1289/beigegrisxz1.jpg
http://img299.imageshack.us/img299/7...ssolidohh9.jpg

migelowsky · 02-28-09, 07:04

My car it's at the bodyshop and It'll be ready next week =)
The color was ivory white from VW and dark gray from SEAT ( the
spanish automaker ).

I'll post the pics when I get it back

migelowsky · 03-15-09, 07:53

My car is painted =), I'm happy with the result,
at first I was a little worried that the campanella white
would come too beige, but it is exactly as I wanted,
the same from the VW's.
In two weeks I have to go back to the paint shop and they'll
polish it.