Auto Paint Fade - Trivial Dispute

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slim6y

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Today's trivial dispute is:

Which colour on a car fades quicker - blue or red?

Yesterday when my GF was washing her car at the car washing place (in her bikini) a young man offered to help her (of course). And he struck up a conversation suggesting her red car's paint will fade quicker than say that of a blue car....

Yet... When I was in university, in a chemistry lecture, I recall the lecturer suggesting it was the other way round because the blue colour requires the longest polymer chains and was therefore more susceptible to light...

But so far... I can't find decent information yet... And could my lecturer have been wrong? Did I believe him or mis-hear him?

Please solve my trivial dispute for me... please....
 
red no questions being a spray painter was forever buffing fading red cars if you use clear over base instead of 2pak you wont have any problems
 
Today's trivial dispute is:

Which colour on a car fades quicker - blue or red?

Yesterday when my GF was washing her car at the car washing place (in her bikini) a young man offered to help her (of course). And he struck up a conversation suggesting her red car's paint will fade quicker than say that of a blue car....

Yet... When I was in university, in a chemistry lecture, I recall the lecturer suggesting it was the other way round because the blue colour requires the longest polymer chains and was therefore more susceptible to light...

But so far... I can't find decent information yet... And could my lecturer have been wrong? Did I believe him or mis-hear him?

Please solve my trivial dispute for me... please....


generally as far as i know i think that the red appears to fade quicker because its a more vibrant colour, its more noticable, but it all depends on the quality of paint too, whether you wash and wax (seeing she was in a bikini id guess she knows how to wax regularly lol)
i deal alot with panel beaters i can always ask them next week when i see them too
 
I would say red fades quicker,ive owned several blue cars and none of them have faded.But I think it has alot to do with the quality as mentioned.I previously owned a xy falcon which was blue it had original paint and was in mint condition.
 
being in the automotive industry gone are the days of red being more susceptible to paint fade

back in the day the red would oxidise in 5-10 years though

black blues grey show chips and scratches like there going out of fashion though
 
being in the automotive industry gone are the days of red being more susceptible to paint fade

back in the day the red would oxidise in 5-10 years though

black blues grey show chips and scratches like there going out of fashion though

I had to wade through the myriad of answers till I found this one (the one I like).

But... my question is - how does paint oxidise??? I assume there's iron pigment in the red - but that would probably already be ferric oxide...

Everyone seems to believe red fades quicker... But I can't seem to bring myself to suggest it's true until I can find reasoning!!!

So - should I rephrase - which is more susceptible to UV damage?
 
red no questions being a spray painter was forever buffing fading red cars if you use clear over base instead of 2pak you wont have any problems

Being a spraypainter you should know that you can spray red as a solid colour AND/OR as a clear over base.Whether its 2k or not makes no difference.


Fading or paint deteriation also has alot to do with the elements,how and what you use to wash your car and also where the pigments in the paint were made for.
Australia has a harsh environment and alot of the European paints arent designed to tolerate such a climate.
I only ever use hair shampoo to wash my car as detergeants, even such brands as meguires etc are far to abrasive as they contain strong degreasers and over time combined with polution,sea air etc will break down even the strongest coatings causing them to oxidise fade and go chalky where as hair shampoo is alot more gentle and ph balanced.
 
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Being a spraypainter you should know that you can spray red as a solid colour AND/OR as a clear over base.Whether its 2k or not makes no difference.


Fading or paint deteriation also has alot to do with the elements,how and what you use to wash your car and also where the pigments in the paint were made for.
Australia has a harsh environment and alot of the European paints arent designed to tolerate such a climate.
I only ever use hair shampoo to wash my car as detergeants, even such brands as meguires etc are far to abrasive as they contain strong degreasers and over time combined with polution,sea air etc will break down even the strongest coatings causing them to oxidise fade and go chalky where as hair shampoo is alot more gentle and ph balanced.
yes troy i know that but clear over base does not fade like 2k which is the one that oxidises

also most paints dont go chalky as they are clear over base. ppg and glazurit which almost half of the cars made these days give a 20 year warranty and on there deltron range a lifetime not to fade and is voided if a proper car shampoo is not used. shampoo is for hair car wash is for cars there is acid in most hair shampoos
 
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I can't quantify the amount of acids in shampoos - but from my usual in class chemistry test of "is it an acid?" normally reveals shampoo as a base...

But I would assume that you're right - car shampoos are for cars... and hair shampoos are for hairs... But needless to say, both are detergents and both should remove oils.
 
Slim6y,

Perhaps photos of your GF washing her car would help us come up with an answer.
I can't give you a scientific answer, but when I used to do signwriting, red was always the worst colour in the sun (apart from any flouro colours that is).
 
The point was that hair shampoos are ALOT less damaging to automotive paint finishes than the heavy degreasers found in car shampoo.
 
I am sketchy on the physics of light and visible light, but I'm sure it is true that red fades faster.

I think it is something along the lines of; to see a colour it must be reflected from an object with all other light colours absorbed so they cannot be seen. So to see blue, an object must absorb all light except blue.

In the case of red it absorbs all light except red. I think that the downfall of red paint is that red light is the least intense at around 1500K. A red object must absorb all the more intense/ hotter colours (orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet).
 
Ask a Color Scientist!

jham66 is partially correct though more accurately it is the length of the wavelength which activates the chemical reaction more intensely which degrades colour intensity. UV being a very short wavelength is the main culprit and a simply UV Resistant coating fixes the problem in the short-medium term.
 
Today's trivial dispute is:

Which colour on a car fades quicker - blue or red?

Yesterday when my GF was washing her car at the car washing place (in her bikini) a young man offered to help her (of course). And he struck up a conversation suggesting her red car's paint will fade quicker than say that of a blue car....

...

Mate there is no dispute about it... being that if that is her "standard outfit" when washing said red car.... I would naturally assume that you would be asking her to wash her car often (naturally) or if not at least expediting the accumulation of dirt on said red car... This then therefore would cause the red paint on her car to fade faster (due to the frequency of washing) than the blue paint on the young squires automobile...

I also want to point out well done to the young man, not enough youngsters these days often go out of their way to offer assistance to others......
 
You're right red-ink....

Colour is independent of fade which is dependant on amount of clothing worn....

Colour fade is inversely proportional to maximum attire when washing the car.

That is:

CF = 1 / Clothing

Therefore as my GF wears more clothes while washing the car, colour fade decreases.... I could save a lot of repaint jobs and get more time for other jobs if that was the case... I'll tell her to dress in her overalls next time...
 
Red also seems to oxidize more than any other colour too for whatever reason?? I always thought red was a bad colour for that...shame it also tends (or used to be) one of the more expensive colours to buy as a paint.
 
The inlaws have a 93 Apollo/Camry with blue green paint that is faded to almost white on the roof and boot, it is kept out near Griffith. I have a 91 maroon/red Disco with major fading on the bonnet and roof. The Land Rover range had real crap paint made for chilly Europe but the Apollo was made in Japan and should have had better paint. Both cars have spent a lot of time in the dry inland areas of NSW. Realistically the Apollo should have by far outlasted the Disco. You can draw your own conclusions.
I think it makes more of a difference where the car is kept ( garage or in the open), also whether the car is in the dry country or the more humid coastal areas, frequency of washing, near the beach (salt), even what you wash it with.
 
Ask a Color Scientist!

jham66 is partially correct though more accurately it is the length of the wavelength which activates the chemical reaction more intensely which degrades colour intensity. UV being a very short wavelength is the main culprit and a simply UV Resistant coating fixes the problem in the short-medium term.



do i need to dr karl it on jjj next week lol
 
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