A few months ago, I decided to sell my Xterra and get a Honda Pilot. Saw a nice black EX-L in the lot and thought, what the Hell, I haven't owned a black car in over 30 years, why not?

Well, now I remember why not - EVERYTHING shows on this paint, EVERYTHING! Dust, dirt, lint! Microfine scratches that would have been invisible on my silver Xterra glare at me accusingly in the sunlight. This weekend, a young lady opened one of the rear doors to climb inside and now I can see fingernail scratches on the paint behind the door handle! Auuughhhh!!!

I'm now washing this thing at least twice a week - The good news is that the paint looks good - for an hour. The bad news is that , at this rate, I'll start seeing water-induced rust bubbles under the paint in about a year.

God help the first person that I see opening their car door onto my paint in a supermarket parking lot...

White or silver are by far the best choices for those with anal-retentive or mild OCD issues. Ask me how I know.

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Or those of us that are wash & wax averse.

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1980 300TD-China Blue/Blue MBTex-2nd Owner, 107K (Alt Blau) OBK #15
'06 Chevy Tahoe Z71 (for the wife & 4 kids, current mule) '03 Honda Odyssey (son #1's ride, reluctantly) '99 GMC Suburban (255K+ miles, semi-retired mule) 21' SeaRay Seville (summer escape pod)

Aversion to labor is quite understood.....

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Silver also tends to show sculpting lines in the body design the best.

With the exception of my daughter's car, the other vehicles in my sig are dark-colored.

That means, once a year, I'm spending an afternoon per vehicle doing a fine machine polish on each of them in order reduce the swirlies!

But DANG they look like a million balloons...for a nanosecond!!!

Then comes the dust, wind-blown debris, bird poop, etc....

I guess I'm a glutton for punishment!

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2009 ML350 (106K) - Family vehicle
2001 CLK430 Cabriolet (80K) - Wife's car
2005 BMW 645CI (138K) - My daily driver
2016 Mustang (32K) - Daughter's car

I own one black car. I will never own another. They are amazing looking when clean... which last for about 15 seconds after you get done washing it

-J

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1991 350SDL. 230,000 miles (new motor @ 150,000). Blown head gasket

Tesla Model 3. 205,000 miles. Been to 48 states!
Past: A fleet of VW TDIs.... including a V10,a Dieselgate Passat, and 2 ECOdiesels.
2014 Cadillac ELR
2013 Fiat 500E.

Charcoal/Carbon grey metallic is the answer...still looks dark and stunning but hides dirt really well.

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TC
Current stable:
- 2004 Mazda RALLYWANKEL
- 2007 Saturn sky redline
- 2004 Explorer...under surgery.

Past: 135i, GTI, 300E, 300SD, 300SD, Stealth

My favorite Mercedes dark color is the "blue-black" or "blau-schwartz" metallic 199. Hides the dirt and dust well, and the color shift in light is pretty cool.

I have a black Maxima.
I gave up; it's dirty all of the time....... sigh

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"Our Lady of Blessed Acceleration...
don't Fail Us Now"

Yeah, after owning my Obsidian Black C43 - I never want to own another black car again. Cleaning it was the biggest PITA ever. I could never get it to look AWESOME, always just looked good....



The Tektite Grey on my E55 is nice - hides dirt quite well for about 2 months... Then it just turns brown. Speaking of which - its due for a wash today.... Mother nature, work your magic!

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-Justin

91 560 SEC AMG - other dogs dd
01 Honda S2000 - dogs dd
07 MB ML320 CDI - dd
16 Lexus IS250 - wifes dd

it's automatic.

If you just quit washing a black car, it will eventually become grey...

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On some nights I still believe that a car with the fuel gauge on empty can run about fifty more miles if you have the right music very loud on the radio. - HST

1983 300SD - 305000
1984 Toyota Landcruiser - 190000
1994 GMC Jimmy - 203000

https://media.giphy.com/media/X3nnss8PAj5aU/giphy.gif

You're talking to a guy who used to disassemble instrument clusters in order to clean the inside of the clear plastic covering the guages. I'm part German, and that is definitely the German side of me...I had an uncle who once drove a Ford Bronco II 135,000 miles in a rust-belt state. When he passed away, I took this car to a used car dealer, who is very anal about detailing his inventory, to see if he would purchase it. He thought that the car was extraordinarily clean even for a 35,000-mile vehicle. When I told him that the odo had already rolled over once, he almost fell over.

Hence the style trend of the "flat black" paint jobs.

This... Oh and silver looks pretty good.

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1984 300SD Orient Red/ Palomino
1989 560SEC
2016 Mazda 6 6 speed manual
1995 Ford F-150 reg cab 4.9 5speed manual