White Cars - Not Rewarding?

J

jasonrs2

New member
I'm looking into getting a new pearl white colored car. I've had my bright blue car for about 2 years and it's always rewarding when I clean it after a dirty week. I stand back after I'm finished and admire the reflection. I've had a regular white rental car, and after 2 weeks I decided to give it a wash just so I don't get any bs when I go to return it. Any way, I also figured it would be a good chance to see what it would be like washing my pearl white car when i get it. I have a few problems with it:



- i can hardly see the soap suds (meg's gold class) so it's harder to see where i've washed

- after i was done, it didn't feel as rewarding. it looked almost the same to me and the car was extremely dirty when i started. don't get me wrong - it was clean now, but it was still plain white.



so i'm confused about what i want to get now. i feel like pearl white will be different since it has some life in it (pearl/sparkly). are there soaps that have color suds? lol. does anyone else get this same feeling? i just felt like with my blue car, i'm very careful. on the white car, you can hardly see anything so i was just scrubbing all over the place. thanks for any feedback.
 
The perceived reward is whatever you want to get out of it. I used to own a metallic black car. It looked awesome right after I detailed it. It never looked quite as good the next day after driving it around.

I currently have a car with a metallic pearl white color. To me, it looks awesome everyday. I wash & QD it every week and I wax it every two or three weeks. I haven't had to polish it in over a year and there are still no signs of swirls. I'm never going to black again.

If you're wondering if the metallic pearl makes a difference, it does. My wife has a regular white car and I do find it somewhat unrewarding to work on, but I suspect it's because it has some heavy acid rain etching all over that I haven't been able to get rid of even after wetsanding with 1500 grit sandpaper. It's tough trying to shine up a car when you know you're going to be thwarted from the get go.:sadpace:
 
my next car is def going to be pearl white .. leaning towards a lexus



with white i think it shows lots of dirt .. but hides swirls .. you will enjoy cleaning a white car .. cause they look super dirty when its been drive for a week and then rained on .. it looks nasty
 
i can't wait to get a white car. having a black bmw, i spend A TON of time always cleaning it although the shine is unreal, it's just not worth it. and if you care about swirls and scratches, forget about it. I've thought many times about selling the jet black 540 and picking up an alpine white m5, but after doing so much to it to 'customize' it , i just can't swallow taking a hit on price and paying out the wazoo for the m5 maint.
 
Silver is a nice compromise. Looks very good when really clean, polished, dressed, etc. Doesn't look too bad if it gets a little dirty or covered with pollen. Have a silver LS430 Lexus, goldish silver Honda CR-V, Black Excalibur, and Red Reatta. The red and black ones look fantastic when cleaned, polished, and dressed, but really show pollen and dirt and demand cleaning frequently. The other 2 are essentially invisible clean or dirty. Decide how much time you wish to invest in keeping your car fantastically clean. White looks good and doesn't show dirt badly, but still looks good when cleaned, dressed, and polished. Remember, you generally only see the interior and the hood when you're driving it. The good feeling comes whenyou know it's really clean!!
 
Ah, I find white rewarding in different ways.



Single Stage Whites are usually hard and take a bit more to correct.. I find it rewarding when they are neglected and are oxidized and/or dirt stained. I remember cleaning a 2000/2001 Super White Camry, sat under a tree daily and had heavy dirt staining that came right out with a medium polish and made for a rewarding and dramatic result.



Regular Clear Whites are rewarding when you can get them to look really deep. Its easy to make them wet by just slapping on an LSP, but when you have a depth and wetness, you nailed it.



Metallic/Pearl Whites are rewarding when trying to find the right LSP to make the metallic/pearl POP. I had fun a few times, namely Diamond White Pearl on a Rav4. There are so many colors in the pearl of the paint, so different waxes/sealants will truly look different on the paint. I believe I used P21S on the that particular paint.



I do not like looking for wax residue on white paint, it can be a pain.
 
GLuXuRy said:
my next car is def going to be pearl white .. leaning towards a lexus



with white i think it shows lots of dirt .. but hides swirls .. you will enjoy cleaning a white car .. cause they look super dirty when its been drive for a week and then rained on .. it looks nasty
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I currently own a Starfire Pearl IS350. The color is absolutely gorgeous. I saw the different black colors available for the IS when I was looking. The Starfire looked soooo much better.



SR20det said:
Ah, I find white rewarding in different ways.



Single Stage Whites are usually hard and take a bit more to correct.. I find it rewarding when they are neglected and are oxidized and/or dirt stained. I remember cleaning a 2000/2001 Super White Camry, sat under a tree daily and had heavy dirt staining that came right out with a medium polish and made for a rewarding and dramatic result.



Regular Clear Whites are rewarding when you can get them to look really deep. Its easy to make them wet by just slapping on an LSP, but when you have a depth and wetness, you nailed it.



Metallic/Pearl Whites are rewarding when trying to find the right LSP to make the metallic/pearl POP. I had fun a few times, namely Diamond White Pearl on a Rav4. There are so many colors in the pearl of the paint, so different waxes/sealants will truly look different on the paint. I believe I used P21S on the that particular paint.



I do not like looking for wax residue on white paint, it can be a pain.
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I found S100 to give the best sparkle on my Starfire Pearl.
 
After the "joy" of detailing my black cars and trucks for over 30 years, I find detailing my wife's white Tacoma and my white Dodge Ram very "rewarding".



Tom :cool:
 
I have a white car that is rewarding to clean and wax. It's a plain white car, but the more I wax it the better it glares. The trick is to get the paint super clean. What I like is the glow it gives off at night under the street lights. It's pretty awesome.:cooleek:
 
Some of the color choice depends on the make and model, but you can almost never go wrong with white. Silver and Desert silver (beige) are also great. These colors may not be as "sexy" as a black, blue, or red, but they are easy to clean and take care of. Granted, it can be hard to see polishes, waxes, and other products on the paint, but in the end these colors hide swirls and are easy to spruce up with less work.
 
Whites can look fantastic. Of course it has a lot to do with polishing out the defects and then finding a topper you like. The key for white vehicles in my opinion, besides nice paint, is taking time and care for the black rubber and plastic parts throughout the vehicle-when these black parts are cleaned and dressed properly it really makes the white paint stand out-even more so then a non-white vehicle.
 
Keep in mind matching any Pearl paint for touch-up, accidents, etc, is impossible to get 100%.



Heck, my buddy's BRAND NEW Honda Accord that was over $30k in Pearl white came with bumpers that were a good 2 shades different than the body of his car! Bummer deal...



Although, I will admit, a polished pearl or metallic paint job looks awesome.
 
On my white corolla i still have collinite 476s on it, but a couple of applications of ultimate quick wax. It is very clear looking and reflective, so I am happy with that.



I strive to have the cleanest, whitest, most reflective white car in my area.
 
74 thing said:
Whites can look fantastic. Of course it has a lot to do with polishing out the defects and then finding a topper you like...
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Yep :xyxthumbs



See two identical white cars side-by-side when one has *really* well-polished paint and you'll immediately notice the diff. Clearcoat is clearcoat and stuff like burnishing/jeweling works wonders on "boring" colors too.



I've had a few white cars, and I sure never thought any of them looked boring because of the color. My white VW station wagon probably got more compliments than any of my Porsches!



Oh, and +1 regarding the impossbility of matching pearls. We've had pearl white Audis and touchups/repairs *never* matched to my satisfaction, *never*. Even darker pearls are very problematic in this regard.
 
Legacy99 said:
Get a black color if you really want to see a difference. Plan to spend 100% of your spare time on it.
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AMEN BROTHER!



Some here wrote the following before I purchased my black car 9I came from white)

Black is not a color, its a part time job.



That is an understatement!
 
Right now I have two white cars and love them, they hide dirt very well. One is an 08 Arctic White Corvette and the other is an 06 Polar White Scion xB.
 
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