# Solid v Metallic black



## samion (Apr 12, 2011)

Hi again people ! 

I'm selling my white car and going back to good old black. My metallic Audi TT was a pain in the backside due to water spots and being black, but by God I miss black cars - they're a pain but when they are done they look phenomenal. _And I'm getting a water softener installed so water spots should be a thing of the past now._

Well,... I need advice.

I'm buying a brand new car for the first time ever. It's not a very nice looking car tbh (Tesla - most of their cars are annoyingly ugly) but in black it is just about acceptable to me. Annoyingly the only options they have are black blue red white and grey only the black looks ok, but the black is SOLID black.

I didn't think they even made solid colours anymore I thought everything was metallic nowdays. Why on earth they have decided that the black should be solid I have no idea !!!

But yeah I don't like the other colours but love love black. I am concerned abotu it being solid though, will it look good?

Of course being a DW-head I will look after it, foam pressure mitless washes where possible etc, I have all the kit. But I like it to look deep and glossy and gleamy, like I managed with my beatiful TT. I'm worried solid won't look as good no matter what I do. I was thinking perhaps getting it ceramic coated if that'll help my man hours or help the glossy look.

Any advice please?

i.e. will solid always look ****, can it be as deep and rich and black if x/y/z is done to it etc... should i stay away etc


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## greymda (Feb 16, 2014)

my Porsche CTT is solid black, with some show wax or glassy sealant i am always speechless by it's look. and also, my first solid black car, till now all were metallic.

can't say i am missing those days.


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## samion (Apr 12, 2011)

Interesting thanks. 

You don't miss those days because solid looks better?

Is it a pain in the backside though to keep on top of? More than my metallic black audi might have been?


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## iCraig (Aug 9, 2017)

Do many manufacturers do solid black cars these days?


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## iCraig (Aug 9, 2017)

samion said:


> Interesting thanks.
> 
> You don't miss those days because solid looks better?
> 
> Is it a pain in the backside though to keep on top of? More than my metallic black audi might have been?


I have a metallic black Ford Focus and it's a pain in the **** to keep clean and swirl free! Literally about 30 minutes after Detailing it'll look dusty, I kid you not!


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## greymda (Feb 16, 2014)

samion said:


> Interesting thanks.
> 
> You don't miss those days because solid looks better?
> 
> Is it a pain in the backside though to keep on top of? More than my metallic black audi might have been?


black will always be a PITA for proper maintain, unfortunately. 
will it be metallic or solid, i don't think it will be much of a difference, although i believe a swirly solid black will look worse than a metallic black.

you better go to your dealer and see the 2 colours car one after another and pick a favorite. better to chose now then regret tomorrow.


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## slim_boy_fat (Jun 23, 2006)

I have Sapphire Black on the e60 - looks lovely [when polished & waxed, which hasn't been for a while  ] with a purple/blueish flake through it in bright sunshine. :thumb:

I'm pretty sure I posted a pic on a thread ages ago, but can't find it now - unless it was before P/Bucket threw the toys out of the pram. 

Google images might help you?


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## pxr5 (Feb 13, 2012)

I have metallic 'Mythos' black on my A7. My wife's Q2 is a solid black 'Brilliant Black'. They both look great when just done, but the old cliches with black is certainly true when a little dirty. But between the blacks the solid one looks amazing. Here is her Q2 and my A7:


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## stangalang (Nov 27, 2009)

Tesla blacks are a pain to keep, and their initial presentation is also quite poor. I would expect to need to spend a good amount of time initially prepping the car and allow plenty of regular maintenance. Failing that a detailer to perhaps at the very least polish and coat the paint 

Ive done a few and they are all the same


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## samion (Apr 12, 2011)

greymda said:


> black will always be a PITA for proper maintain, unfortunately.
> will it be metallic or solid, i don't think it will be much of a difference, although i believe a swirly solid black will look worse than a metallic black.
> 
> you better go to your dealer and see the 2 colours car one after another and pick a favorite. better to chose now then regret tomorrow.


Yeah sadly Tesla only the black in solid. For metallic it has to be midnight silver. For sure that'll be easier to maintain but will never have the wow factor of a black car. You are right though, I will need to go down have a look.


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## samion (Apr 12, 2011)

pxr5 said:


> I have metallic 'Mythos' black on my A7. My wife's Q2 is a solid black 'Brilliant Black'. They both look great when just done, but the old cliches with black is certainly true when a little dirty. But between the blacks the solid one looks amazing. Here is her Q2 and my A7:


Wowwwwwwwwww those are nice black cars!

Of course I'm biased as a current Audi owner I think Audi have some of the best car designers in the industry.

But yeah I'm surprised that the solid black on the Q looks so goo. Better than your I'm afraid (in those pics/lighting).

I mustbe a bit confused then because I'm old enough to remember when metallic fist came in (when I was a kid) and I'm pretty sure solid used to be called "coachwork" but I may be wrong and I might've invented the term.

And those coachwork cars looked really awful, pasty matt horrid, not shiny at all.

Maybe the solid paint of thesedays is better than the 'coachwork' I remember as a kid, but yeah that Q looks very nice indeed.


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## samion (Apr 12, 2011)

stangalang said:


> Tesla blacks are a pain to keep, and their initial presentation is also quite poor. I would expect to need to spend a good amount of time initially prepping the car and allow plenty of regular maintenance. Failing that a detailer to perhaps at the very least polish and coat the paint
> 
> Ive done a few and they are all the same


That's interesting. So would a Tesla black be harder to maintain that the Audi black I'm used to? I imagine their clear coat will be softer than Audi (which are quite hard I think).

Yeah the travel from California all the way here to south england will chuck on lots of iron for sure. I suppose I'll have to get it clayed, polished straight away, or get someone to do it for me.

I was then thinking of maybe a ceramic coating to protect it. Would it also make it gleamier?


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## MBRuss (Apr 29, 2011)

Not sure what difference you're thinking there is between solid colours and metallic, but literally the only difference is the little flakes in the paint. Solid colours don't look any "less shiny" than metallic paint, they just don't have the metal flake in them. That's the meaning of metallic - it just refers to the metal flake. Any cars you've seen with matte paint just had really bad paint jobs, or matte paint...!

Only recently have I finally had a couple of cars with metallic paint, before my last two cars they were all solid paint. There are advantages to solid paint - the main one being that it's easier to repair. I imagine solid black cars probably look "blacker" than metallic black ones as well.

Personally whether a paint was metallic or solid wouldn't make much difference to me, although I do look the metal flake appearance in the sun.:thumb:

Which Tesla did you order, and how long is it taking to arrive?


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## samion (Apr 12, 2011)

MBRuss said:


> Not sure what difference you're thinking there is between solid colours and metallic, but literally the only difference is the little flakes in the paint. Solid colours don't look any "less shiny" than metallic paint, they just don't have the metal flake in them. That's the meaning of metallic - it just refers to the metal flake. Any cars you've seen with matte paint just had really bad paint jobs, or matte paint...!
> 
> Only recently have I finally had a couple of cars with metallic paint, before my last two cars they were all solid paint. There are advantages to solid paint - the main one being that it's easier to repair. I imagine solid black cars probably look "blacker" than metallic black ones as well.
> 
> ...


Interesting thanks. I don't know where I get this idea about metallic cars having a deeper wetter shinier look. Weird. Maybe I'm going bonkers.

I've gone for the Model X.

Was going to go black but now I'm having doubts - the only other colour I'd consider is Midnight Silver which is like a dark silver/grey colour and that one is metallic.

Whatever I go for will need chrome delete - far too much damned chrome on those cars!

What do you reckon?


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## MBRuss (Apr 29, 2011)

I like black. Whichever paint you get from Tesla, the prep is apparently not the best, so may need a trip to a detailer when you get it.

What's the lead time on getting one? My company lease goes back in July and I wouldn't mind a model 3 if you could get one for decent money in a decent spec, but with demand far outstripping supply I doubt it'd be here anywhere near soon enough, especially if I was ordering a modest spec.


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## petemattw (Nov 3, 2008)

solid black is the only colour you can get a true mirror finish on, and it's the colour I always go for, looks especially good on BMWs! You have to put the work in to maintain it, but you'll get a beautiful deep glossy finish that looks amazing!


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## samion (Apr 12, 2011)

MBRuss said:


> I like black. Whichever paint you get from Tesla, the prep is apparently not the best, so may need a trip to a detailer when you get it.
> 
> What's the lead time on getting one? My company lease goes back in July and I wouldn't mind a model 3 if you could get one for decent money in a decent spec, but with demand far outstripping supply I doubt it'd be here anywhere near soon enough, especially if I was ordering a modest spec.


Sorry buddy I forgot to answer your second question. May is when they are quoting for earliest delivery. If I try to delay it they don't like it.

They have so few options thesedays (with the X anyway) that it seems like they are just churning out 1000s of the things to cover most orders and so are ready to ship really quickly. That's the impression I got from them.

I don't know if the model 3 has a different lead time as it's so cheap and sought after.

Good luck!

And thanks for your opinion, yeah now I'm swinging back to black again. I've spoken to a detailer who will clay polish and ceramic it for less than the extra cost of going midnight silver so perhaps I can jsut save the extra £1500go with the black and then that'll fund a couple of ceramic coats over the next few years. I don't know about resale though, will it be lower resale value if it is just solid black?


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## stangalang (Nov 27, 2009)

samion said:


> That's interesting. So would a Tesla black be harder to maintain that the Audi black I'm used to? I imagine their clear coat will be softer than Audi (which are quite hard I think).
> 
> Yeah the travel from California all the way here to south england will chuck on lots of iron for sure. I suppose I'll have to get it clayed, polished straight away, or get someone to do it for me.
> 
> I was then thinking of maybe a ceramic coating to protect it. Would it also make it gleamier?


Its a common misconception that Audi has hard paint. "some" of them are very hard, some are painfully soft. So I cant speak to your car in particular, but I can say that the Tesla will be a bit of a pain. But it isn't heart breaking like even some of the Audi paint can be

A coating will help a lot but it isn't the holy grail that some would like you to believe. All things being equal, a coating will help long term yes, and cut out the periodic polishing/waxing. Remember prep is everything if you go down that route


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## MBRuss (Apr 29, 2011)

samion said:


> Sorry buddy I forgot to answer your second question. May is when they are quoting for earliest delivery. If I try to delay it they don't like it.
> 
> They have so few options thesedays (with the X anyway) that it seems like they are just churning out 1000s of the things to cover most orders and so are ready to ship really quickly. That's the impression I got from them.
> 
> ...


Nice. I've often said that if I won the lottery I'd probably get a Model X and Model S on the driveway, but outside of that I doubt I'll be able to afford one. Don't they start at like £60k+?

With regards to the paint devaluing the car, not at all. Like you, some people will just want a black one, and TBH I doubt whether most people would really care if it's metallic or not. Most people just seem to want a specific colour. Whether that colour has metal flake in it or not doesn't really seem to factor into the decision for most people I'd bet.

Just go for whichever colour YOU like best, after all, you're buying the car for you, not the person you sell it to afterwards.

Sent from my LYA-L09 using Tapatalk


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