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Re: Thinking of getting a black car, that crazy?
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”
- Chucky Dickens
And that pretty much sums up black cars. When clean, there is (IMO) nothing that looks better...when dirty, there's nothing that looks worse.
Have been addicted to black cars for the last 15 years:
2004 Corvette - Black
2005 Saturn - Black
2006 Mazda3 - Black
2008 Mustang GT - Black
2013 Mustang GT - Black
2016 Subaru WRX - Black
2017 Honda Accord Coupe - Black
2019 Corvette - Black
Short version (which likely won't end up being very short at all) is that given your circumstances (no garage, gonna drive the car relatively often) I'd stay far away from black if your reasonably OCD.
Even with a garage and another vehicle to drive when it rains or is otherwise nasty out, you're gonna be fighting dust and whatever else settles from the heavens upon your paint. Here's some shots from our garage this morning of the 2019 Corvette. It was washed about 2 weeks ago and since that time has driven about 250 miles in sunny weather only:
Just sitting outside and in the garage, it has accumulated a nice layer of dust and even small bug hits are noticeable. If you happen to get pollen in the Spring, it's about 10x worse *each day*. The Corvette has PPF and is coated and topped with PA Cosmic Spritz, none of which can alleviate the dust that settles upon it.
And if you do have the energy to wash it daily, the more you touch it (no matter how carefully) over time you will get some light swirling/defects even with the most careful of wash methods; you will be washing outside I'd guess and that certainly isn't the cleanest environment to remain isolated from airborne debris when you wash. For our black cars, I foam, bucket wash and air dry with a dedicated air blower which, given all the nooks and crannies in a Corvette, is pretty much a must with a black car. Lacking a blower, you can dry the car to what you think is 100% dry and the next time you drive it, water will find it's way out of a trapped space which will then leave trails down the side of the car and be horrifically noticeable on black. Even air drying this sometimes happens and frankly, it's infuriating 'cuz even the most non-detail-oriented will look at it and think you're a hack...in addition to your own frustration.
If you get a rock hit/chip that penetrates the paint (and I'm assuming the materials are the same as the last generations), the composite panels of the Corvette seem to have a white core/primer and it's very noticeable when breached. In 2017 I just finished completely re-doing our 2004 and not a week later, a rock bounced off of the hood and left a mark:
Contrast that with our 2 non-black cars, a 2016 Aegean Blue Honda Civic and a 2016 Agate Grey Metallic Porsche Cayman; with the right coating, these cars *always* look good (or at least good enough for me)...except for winter when nothing looks good of course. The Civic we've had since new, been coated since new and has spent the better part of it's life sitting outside...and it always looks great. The Cayman I took on a 500 mile trip 2 weeks ago through heavy, blowing rain (both freeway and local driving) and it looked good enough when I got home that I didn't wash it for a few days; it was still pleasing to my eye.
I'm moving more towards the enjoyment of driving cars as opposed to keeping them clean and with that in mind, I'm done with black cars. The technology and products available these days can keep a car looking great w very little effort...as long as it's not black; they haven't solved that riddle yet, at least not enough to satisfy my current combination of OCD-ness and increasing laziness.
We kinda tried to get away from this when we ordered/bought the 2019 Corvette last winter...I tried to like Long Beach Red, one of the gray metallic's or Elkhart Lake Blue but I just couldn't bring myself to take the chance so we ended up with black again. Had Admiral Blue been available at that time, that woulda been the pick as, while still a somewhat dark color, it still would been a lot easier to keep clean.
Black metallic will mitigate it a bit but the Crystal Black Silica WRX had *so* much metallic in it that even when clean, it looked kinda dusty from all the metallic; was weird but also disconcerting at certain angles in the sun.
As with anything YMMV but I'm done with black...or so I say now; sometimes I just never learn and when ya see a new, shiny black car on a showroom floor, bad memories sometimes go out the window.
An unfortunately, much like you mentioned, the only color I think would soften/hide some of the edges and other areas of the C8 that I personally find unattractive would be black. Part of the reason we went with black on the 2019 Corvette was to make some of the black 'accent elements' disappear into the overall look.
Other colors can look surprisingly good though, if ya get 'em right. Right before we sold mothers silver Mazda3 I did it with Polish Angel Master Sealant + Rapidwaxx and it was luscious:
And someone here did a white Nissan Rogue w/ Polish Angel Viking and it was amazing:
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Super Member
Re: Thinking of getting a black car, that crazy?
The biggest thing to remember when owning a black car is you can't let it own you and suck enjoyment out of your life. It will get dirty. Pollen will collect and start to show AS YOU'RE DRYING IT. It will turn gray with salt during the winter months. That's OK. The important thing is when you do need to clean it, be careful.
Black cars look great, enjoy them and celebrate when they look good. Don't get depressed when they don't because you can get them looking good again.
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Super Member
Re: Thinking of getting a black car, that crazy?
Despite my having once owned two black cars at the same time, in the (distant?) future, I may still entertain the thought of owning one again. I’ll have understand it can very rarely be concours perfect.
Treat it like it's the only one in the world.
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Newbie Member
Re: Thinking of getting a black car, that crazy?
Black car parked outside, Don’t do it! My wife has instructions to just kill me if I even think about it again.
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Re: Thinking of getting a black car, that crazy?
You dont own black, black owns you.
No garage? As my as I love my black cars (both garaged) I would never own that color if it was to sit outside.
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Super Member
Re: Thinking of getting a black car, that crazy?
Originally Posted by Desertnate
The biggest thing to remember when owning a black car is you can't let it own you and suck enjoyment out of your life. It will get dirty. Pollen will collect and start to show AS YOU'RE DRYING IT. It will turn gray with salt during the winter months. That's OK. The important thing is when you do need to clean it, be careful.
Black cars look great, enjoy them and celebrate when they look good. Don't get depressed when they don't because you can get them looking good again.
Was a very revealing moment when I looked at a dirty black car and asked myself "Do you own the car or does it own you?"
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Super Member
Re: Thinking of getting a black car, that crazy?
I own three black vehicles. A truck and two motorcycles. All three are garage kept. I love each of them. But that being said, taking care of them is an order of magnitude greater than if they were any other color.
I'm lucky being retired that I can devote several hours per week keeping them nice... It's not easy. Every time one of them is out for a drive or ride they need a cleaning upon return. It's a non-ending cycle and all those cleanings will and do instill swirls regardless of how careful you are. Therefore regular polishings are required.
I've also owned one black metallic bike. It was worlds easier to keep nice than straight black. It doesn't show dust nearly as bad as straight black does and the metallic also camouflages the swirls and other defects to some extent. But, and this is a big but, black metallic is not "black" and never looks as good as straight black when both are in perfect condition.
Truthfully, as much of a glutton for punishment I can be and how much I like black, if I had to park my vehicles outside that might drive me over the edge... I wouldn't do it.
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Regular Member
Re: Thinking of getting a black car, that crazy?
Wow lots of great replies here. Thanks a lot everyone! Trying to distill all this down, I think my summary is:
Owning a black car, particularly outside (even in LA) the paint will NEVER be perfect, or even look perfect from close by. If that’s gonna bother you, don’t get one. If it doesn’t, then enjoy. Fair enough?
Sounds like it all comes down to how OCD I would be with it. Given I have my “OCD” car already (67 Camaro), which I store in a nearby garage, is ceramic coated and covered, I think I’d be alright residing myself to this car being permanently imperfect, but that’s easier said than done... Would just like to be confident that I can keep it looking “good”, even if not perfect.
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Re: Thinking of getting a black car, that crazy?
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Super Member
Re: Thinking of getting a black car, that crazy?
I think you’re crazy for wanting to park a black c8 outside, regardless of location. Id go Elkhart Lake blue, Long Beach Red Metallic Tintcoat, or Sebring Orange. I saw a Sebring orange c8 last weekend and it was awesome.
I hope you enjoy whatever you buy.
2017 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon
1999 Camaro Z28
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