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Does silver paint fade
tiggerfink
Member Posts: 1
My friends are telling me not to get silver paint on a Mercedes SLK320 because it fades real bad. I am wondering if it is true?
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FWIW, my 2000 Intrepid is silver, with about 49,500 miles on it, and sits outside all the time. It also doesn't get washed/waxed as often as it probably should. Of course, NO car should fade after 2 years, so I guess it's not that major of a feat that mine still looks like new, except for a few stone chips and bumper scrapes.
One thing I noticed about silver though, is that other drivers won't notice your car as quickly, because colors like silver and gray just don't register with the eyes as quickly. You may experience a greater number of near-misses and close calls with a silver car...at least I have!
It'll be interesting to see how long my Intrepid's paint holds up. At the rate I'm putting miles on it though, I don't know if it'll still be running in 6-7 years!
But great advances have been made in the last 10 years or so to reduce the amount of fading. Yes, if a car is parked in bright sunlight without protection of any kind, it will fade over time. But it is not anywhere near as bad as it was.
Most people "advising" friends to not get silver due to fading are usually offering an old wive's tale.
Also, the paint on a Mercedes is dramatically different than on most American cars. About the only thing in common a silver Mercedes has with a silver Chevy is the color.
The paint type and application on a Mercedes is one of the most advanced in the world. If an owner takes reasonable care of their car (regular wash and wax, garage parking when possible, etc) they can expect a solid life from a factory paint job.
I cannot imagine any new Mercedes owner not wanting to care for their mega-buck car. So my advice is to thank your well-meaning friends for their comments and buy the silver car if that is what you want. If your friends [non-permissible content removed], don't give them a ride in your new car!!
My silver car had to be completely repainted. I've heard complaints about some metalics not sticking on the Internet sites. Most of those are the silver or gold colors.
If Red is taken care of (waxed regularly) it will not oxydize. I was able to recover from lack of care on my red vehicle. No such luck on the silver.
Sorry, but white is definitely the hardest, longest lasting paint out there. It is impressive.
I just don't want novices to get the impression that silver is a "bad" color. Just because some folks had paint problems on certain cars in the past does not prove that one color is inferior to another.
The '86 Monte I used to own was two-toned, dark gray and silver. The hood and roof were dark gray, and everything else, including the trunk lid, were silver. On that car, the silver held up better than the gray. That car was from the era where paints would fade and get "crows feet' as the metallics burned out and deteriorated. I'm sure if it was a few years newer, it would've done the peeling routine, instead!
As for one color being more prone to fading, wouldn't it almost make sense for a darker color to fade more quickly, since it absorbs more heat? So in that case, I'd expect something like dark blue, dark gray, or black metallic to fade quicker than something like a light blue or silver.
What I don't like about silver is that as it fades it ends up looking like grey primer. If I want my care to look like it is primer than I'll just finish it in primer.
Silver is one of those colors that you get when you have no style.
Nissans are known to have problems with their paint currently, and silver and gold are the most brittle colors.
Otherwise, I'll go with white ext. and grey inside. Any experiences?
Defects happen and if your car has a defective paint job, make sure you get it taken care of by the dealer. Chances are if your car has a problem so do others. A finance company will have a hard time justifying charges outside of wear and tear if hundreds of E320's have documented paint problems.
If this is an issue with you, discuss with the dealer before buying. The finance company may be able to provide you with the lease maturity documentation they provide to leasees that have cars about ready to come off lease. The dealer also may have some of this paperwork for you to review. No harm in asking.
1. Cooler. It reflects more heat and car interiors in the summer are considerably cooler.
2. Paint doesn't get as hot. Simple physics again. I can leave my white car in the sun while I wash the others and it still stays cool. Nothing reflects sun and heat like white.
3. White pigments are harder than other paint coats. I fill in rock chips on a regular basis. Even though it has more road miles each year than my other cars I only have to fill in about a quarter of the chips.
and Ironically, it is the easiest car to keep clean.
the bad side of white is that up here in snow country, you don't see white cars and trucks until the airbag deflates for half the year. but it's a fine base for everybody's corporate signage to be applied over, so that boosts the sales of white a very significant amount indeed. IMHO ought to be a law that white vehicles get vinyl letters and/or stripes before going on the road.