Which color is most difficult to detect

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shagnat

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I have a 2010 Titanium Gray metallic colored car. I have florescent lights in my garage, I have some sun light shining on the rear of the car if I open the garage door. I also have a 22 light LED flashlight. I cannot find swirls!!!!

Do I need to get the "cruelty light" to find swirls and other imperfections, or is my paint really that flawless.

I bought the car in July 2013 and all I've done is clean the interior and wash the exterior with pressure gun and a good car wash soap using the two bucket method.

H E L P Feed back please
 
your car could be that flawless or if you didnt remove the waxes and such that could be hideing it too
try getting the garage pitch black and turn on one of your smaller lights you may have to move your head around till your eyes catches the deffect and imo white cars are the hardest to detect imperfections...good luck
 
Take it in direct sunlight. A car that's 3 years old will show some washing swirls.
 
I'm sure they are there, but silver is hard to detect. As stated before, it's not a bad thing. If you can't find any swirls, that's the point of what we do. You can try different lights and different angles, but if nothing can be seen in direct sun, then I'd say you are gtg.
 
try getting a halogen light, they will show no mercy in revealing swirls and other paint defects
 
Go to the gas station at night when the car is clean. Look at the the paint under the fluorescent lights that are common at the mini-mart type gas stations. The contrast of the night and these powerful lights are the most scrutinizing for me. These lights will highlight glass defects as well. Sometimes too much sunlight can "wash out" minor paint imperfections.

However, if the defects are that minor that you have to look at them under crazy lights to see them - who cares? Don't worry about it. Only crazy people like me worry about such things.
 
Often the angle you look at it makes a difference. I have a grey car that when looked at from most normal approaches looks swirl free. However in sunlight at a very steep angle and moving slowly, I can start to see the swirl marks.
 
I, too, once thought that my vehicles' paints were always flawless...
Excellent looking under any light source...
Beautiful, to say the least!!
{NOTE: I believed this also applied to some of my former Ladies.}

However:
A pair of corrective lens soon put an end to all of this foolishness.

Bob
 
Street/parking lot lighting, which is usually some type of halide, sodium, mercury or combination of all. I have a pewter metallic S10 and can only easily see paint defects in those types of lighting. The best angle is about 45° from your eye.
 
Thanks guys!!! Love the humor as much as the information. This is one of the best forums of which I'm a member. (and lordy I'm a member of tons of 'em)
 
Another +1 to halide, sodium, etc. type lighting.

My wife has a Silver metallic Ford. We owned this car prior to AGO and it shows! (It'll get corrected in the spring). It looks great! Even before AGO I kept it waxed (now it's kept sealed and waxed with better products and washed correctly). Even in direct sunlight it can be SOMEWHAT hard (not at all impossible) to find the swirls and defects. Especially with wax on the car. However, at the gas station late at night with no other light source but those halide/sodium overhead lights? Those swirls show up like CRAZY! Even without moving your head or anything, you step out of the car and see swirl city plain as day. And this car is HEAVILY swirled.

My post-AGO car, my Focus, looks great under those lights, btw :)
 
FUNX725 said:
I, too, once thought that my vehicles' paints were always flawless...
Excellent looking under any light source...
Beautiful, to say the least!!
{NOTE: I believed this also applied to some of my former Ladies.}

However:
A pair of corrective lens soon put an end to all of this foolishness.

Bob
Click to expand...

Reminds me of Seinfeld's "Two Face Girl" who would look good from one side/light - bad from the other:


Defect Free: Swirls & scratches:

7eneby9y.jpg


Bringing your girl to the gas station to inspect her under halide light sources at night may not be a bad idea as well.
 
swanicyouth said:
Bringing your girl to the gas station to inspect her under halide light sources at night may not be a bad idea as well.
Click to expand...
And...Always make sure she fills-up the gas tank before you sign
her up to be the newest member of the K.I.M. Club, (if need be)!

:D

Bob
 
Some of y'all are very helpful and others funny as all get-out..... both ways make it fun!!
Thanks :)
 
I have a Modern Steel Metalic colored car, or metalic gray in English, and that color particularly does a very good job of hiding swirls and imperfections. Some colors are better than others at hiding these imperfections, the metalic grays and silvers are among those.

And for those who celebrate (based on the posts there might be a few on here), Happy Festivus!
 
Jaretr1 said:
I have a Modern Steel Metalic colored car, or metalic gray in English, and that color particularly does a very good job of hiding swirls and imperfections. Some colors are better than others at hiding these imperfections, the metalic grays and silvers are among those.

And for those who celebrate (based on the posts there might be a few on here), Happy Festivus!
Click to expand...
Ok, I'm thinking maybe a trip to the ophthalmologist.

Reason is: I went by a CarMax car lot last night (very cloudy night) with tons of lights. After looking very carefully I finally saw a few minor scratches but no swirl marks. Maybe they weren't the lights that some have mentioned, but, was shocked at how few marks I saw.

One correction that "may" matter. The car is metal flake too. I dunno if that makes a difference or not in being able to detect defects in my paint.

Anyway, I'll keep searching till I find those suckers!! :dblthumb2:
 
HID's shining on a car will show some swirls too, especially on black cars.
 
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