We are about to order a forester xt , and am unsure as which paint finish to go for. Are there any pro's and con's for one finish over the other ? Thinking about scratching ,fading,[especially the red] etc Hey ,after reading some of the horror stories am I doing the right thing?
My cars look great even when old. Why? Because, I keep in garage. Sun is the worst enemy of paint. Also, I don't wash monthly as owners manual suggests. Abrasion is another enemy. If concerned about this, maybe ask dealer which color has been in use longest. Sometimes a bad paint slips through the cracks and many failures result. I'm somewhat prejudiced against metallics. Heard story of these refective surfaces letting light pass through to bottom of finish causing degradation. This was one specific case but I imagine light passage to bottom not a good thing. Frank
Well - most of the paints are a base/clear combination (all of the Subaru paints, I believe) - so you will be taking care of the clear - as long as you do that (wash it every now and then, wax a couple of times a year, try to keep it in the shade when you can, etc.) the paint will last a long, long time.
As far as pro's and con's - appearance wise, get what looks best to you (you're the one driving it) - but consider this - modern paint jobs are thinner than they were in the past, and more prone to chipping (from rocks, etc.) - a darker color is going to show up the chips than a lighter one - take the WRX as an example - both blue and black look great, but after a year or two, all of the rock chips show up as little white specs, unless you are religious about touching them up (which, unless you are good at it, looks about as bad) - silver and white, on the other hand, hardly show any of the marks as they blend in with the lighter color.
I have an '02 platinum silver metallic WRX - there are definitely some rock chips on the hood, but you can't see them unless you look closely at an angle.
For mica vs. metallic, I think there is more color depth to the "sparkle" off of the mica, vs. a whiter sparkle off of metallics. Mica looks very nice! (on the other hand, they might be the same, and I am just going insane - but that's the color difference I have noticed)
Re: metallic paints. Metallic paints use aluminum flake for the effect. Many industrial corrosion protective coatings also use aluminum in them for purely technical reasons. Even underwater hulls of large ocean going vessels use aluminum pigmented anti-corrosive coatings under the antifouling systems. The aluminum flakes overlap eachother in a way that makes the coating effectively thicker from a molecular point of view. That is, water vapour (a requirement for corrosion process) must travel further around the aluminum flakes to reach the metal surface. Note that no coating is absolutely impermeable to water vapour. Thus from a corrosion prevention point of view, get the metallic.
My credentials for the above comment come from over 25years in the coatings and corrosion industry. I operate as a coatings consultant and QA Inspector for industrial and marine projects.
BTW, I have two Subarus... A 1986 (purchased new) which we still drive daily, It's about to become my sons car. He was brought home from the hospital after his birth in that car! My other is a 1990 Legacy, which is also driven daily (25,000km/year).
I am currently shopping for a new wagon and I am down to a New Legacy GT or Volkswagen Jetta TDI.
Regards, Harry.
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