Metallic paint - how to know

CountingCrows · 13-07-2009 10:14am #1

For me at least I can't easily tell the difference between metallic and a solid colour well polished.

Is there any sure way of telling if a car has metallic paint?

Anan1 · 13-07-2009 10:21am

Check the colour code.

Owen · 13-07-2009 10:21am

Get the paint code and google it.

Saruman · 13-07-2009 10:23am

I always found that metallic paint, looks sort of metallic

Its not solid, you can see a sort of shiny metalness going on.

Happy121 · 13-07-2009 10:26am

With metalic paint, when you look closely at the paintwork you will see millions of small, shiny, reflective, metalic bits.

.Longshanks. · 13-07-2009 10:47am

Metallic paint is one thing that I always thought it easy to spot up close, but (apart from google etc), how would you spot pearlescent paint?

CountingCrows · 13-07-2009 10:48am

Cheers, looking at '05 GTI this week and its meant to be metallic black, I thought the GTI's were only available in solid colours.

smash · 13-07-2009 10:50am

red car

metallic red car
Ultra%20Metallic%20Red.jpg

black car

metallic black car
Ultra%20Metallic%20Black.jpg

.Longshanks. · 13-07-2009 10:50am

CountingCrows wrote: »

Cheers, looking at '05 GTI this week and its meant to be metallic black, I thought the GTI's were only available in solid colours.

Just so you know, the MKV GTI definitely also came in pearlescent black.......

smash · 13-07-2009 10:54am

lol, I took them from a car paint website

and yea, the MKV Golf did come with pearl black paint.

CountingCrows · 13-07-2009 11:09am

Longshanks100 wrote: »

Just so you know, the MKV GTI definitely also came in pearlescent black.......

So am I right in thinking it either solid, pearl or metallic?

Obviously not that big of deal but could be a bargaining point.

TomMc · 13-07-2009 11:41am

CountingCrows wrote: »

For me at least I can't easily tell the difference between metallic and a solid colour well polished.

Is there any sure way of telling if a car has metallic paint?

http://www.volkswagen.ie/Configurator/index.cfm?fuseaction=vw.Colours&variantID=6543

10-15 odd years ago solid or single stage colours had no clear coat unlike all metallic paint which had and so that is why they colour faded so much, mainly down to UV light. Since water based paints came in, virtually all colours now have a clear coat to protect them. Some paints have a mix of colour base coat and clear coat combined into one.

Metallic colours are far more discernible in strong sunshine. The coloured aluminium flakes pop out at you. They sparkle. Pearl effect colours reflect light differently (like a pearl) and can change colour tones depending on the angle they are viewed from. Solid colours are easier to colour match in terms of crash repairs. Pearls more difficult than metallics. The lighter the colour the harder to match but having said that IMO metallics and pearls look better in lighter colours.

Black is such a hard colour to keep, solid black is best if you must go with same, metallic or pearl black just doesn't work for me.

Metallic paint - how to know

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