Cars Painted Red

I have a red car and over the past 12 months it has become duller and duller. Some sections (bumpers) are totally shineless. It also looks like it's had a streaky paint job in parts as it seems to have dried dribble marks. In other places there is pitting (I think it's called), where there are white dots.

I'm not a car washerer or polisherer and just take it to the Car Wash around the corner when it needs it. I spoke to them recently and asked about the lack of shine and asked if it needed cutting back and a really good polish and where would they recommend. They said there was no hope for it and it needed a new paint job. They even said the paint was coming off and showed me their white cloths which had red smudges of paint on them!

Except for when it's out and about it's kept under cover and it didn't look like this when I bought it so what's going on?

When I told a friend recently they said red paint always fades - I'd never heard of this before. Is this true? Any suggestions anyone? And what would a new paint job cost? It's a '97 Ford Laser.

Ta
Olly
 
I have also heard that red paint deteriorates - I don't know the reason but it is interesting.

Has it been repainted before?

my 95 Commodore bonnet is faded awfully though it polishes back to new. I suspect it has been repainted sometime by someone who tried to do it on the cheap.

I am not too worried as it is just a $4000 bomb.

I suspect that a professional paint job would not be warranted on a ten year old car like yours but might be worth getting a few quotes.
 
Last edited:
When I told a friend recently they said red paint always fades - I'd never heard of this before. Is this true? Any suggestions anyone? And what would a new paint job cost? It's a '97 Ford Laser.

Paints with higher pigment contents fade faster.. Red has one of the highest I believe..

The problem is that the paint products used these days are really crappy.. take a car from the early 70's with faded paint and with an aggressive cut and polish it can look reasonable.. Take a car from the mid 80's onwards with fading and it needs to be sanded down and resprayed, first with colour, then with clear coats.

The "two pack" products used now are fantastic "off the gun" meaning you can spray colour, then clear and it looks awesome without the need for wet sanding or additional work.. but the awesome off the gun performance comes with paintwork thats not set up to last for the long term and which is difficult to patch if you need to cover small nicks, dents and scratches.. and worse of all, in my experience, just doesn't last as long as a good acrylic paint job thats fastidiously maintained and protected from the sun..

So the cost of respraying a 97 Ford Laser.. well it depends on the quality of job you want.. a backyarder working on weekends could do it for $1000 (if you can find one) and a crash shop could be anywhere up to $15,000.. an average crash shop job would probably be around $3-$5k.. and they'd probably have your car for 2 weeks or more.. and you're the bottom of the queue, they need to pump through their insurance work ahead of your job..

I wouldn't bother personally.. sell it and buy something classic :)
 
Red molecules are smoother, hence less friction, hence red cars are faster.

Higher speeds would mean the outer skin is more likely to come off, thus red cars will fade faster.

The paint comes off faster than other cars because at the higher speeds, there's more heat generated, kind of like a space shuttle entering Earth's atmosphere. Ever notice how they glow red?

The heat is generated by higher friction of the air against the skin at higher speeds...


... Umm, red paint has less friction than other colours. I think Duncans pigmentation was probably more accurate. :)
 
Back
Top