Red Paint

[Fitz]

I've been bitten hard by my old XR3i with red paint fade and it put me off buying another bright red car. I see it on so many makes and I understand it's to do with the pigment.

So whats the opinion? I have seen the odd gen 6 celica fade, but want to know how bad the Toyota suffers. I am brousing autotrader and there are a load of red MR2's.

I like my car to be nice and shiney and paint fade will not do, should I consider a bright red model or ignore?

[BLOODUK]

I have a REV 2 mr2 and its starting to Bleech badly , plus the Battery acid all over the back thanks to chavs! which is getting sprayed up next month... meh £300 for damage someone else did :(

[TheNissanMan]

My old rev 1 didnt have a problem although was the darker red...

As long as the car is looked after you'll have no probs :)

[midmotorsteve]

i've never seen a red one older than a M reg thats not faded.

[Boro Sera]

RED PAINT FADES !

it's something to do with sunlight absorbtion ( the infra red end of the scale ! ) .

There are products that claim to reduce this, but it'll happen eventually .

So your choices are............resprays when needed OR get another colour.

Rich

[yvvan]

I think it's a colour that needs a bit more attention, but that you can keep good.

maybe not the best pic, but the Celica is from 1984 and still has the original factory paint.

Cheers, Yves.

[dawolf]

Most do tend to fade after a while, I've seen some really pink looking MR2's but they're normally rev 1's.

[RedAE102]

The red Toyotas you refer to are the Super Red ones, code 3E5. One of the main reasons you see the red fade is that Toyota does not put a clearcoat on non-metallic/pearl/mica colours. Also, not keeping a sufficient amount of wax on the car will make it fade faster. My L reg '93 Corolla is 3E5, and has faded appreciably (Actually, when it's waxed, it's dull, but not much lighter than the rest of the car) on the roof, bonnet, and bootlid, especially around the edges. The car had belonged to my aunt, and my father had been the one waxing it (not as often as it should have been)... He used an electric buffer on the car, and had used too much pressure, thus wearing on the edges of the body panels. My aunt had parked in a garage most of the car's life, and parked in one of the covered levels of a multi-level car park during the day. One could only imagine what it would look like had it not been garaged for the better part of its life.

On the plus side, no clearcoat means you won't end up with chalky white stripes all over the roof, bonnet, and bootlid!

A couple of pictures of my 3E5 Corolla:

http://members.aol.com/redae102/front1.jpg

http://members.aol.com/redae102/rear1.jpg

[Fitz]

Cheers for the replies. I think I will avaoid bright red then. I know darker reds are generally not so bad as my last car was dark red and was fine.

I was just fed up of waxing the xr3i each week to keep on top of the pink

I'd ideally like a black MR2 but will have to see what turns up at the time.

[Karma Supra]

The reason the red Toyota paint fades, is because it has no laqure layer over it... first it goes flat, then it fades, once its gone flat a good T cut and lots of colour restoring polish can bring her back... once its fading your knackered.

If the car was regularly polished and has always had a thick coat of the stuff on there it will significantly prolong the life of the paint!!!!

My first mr2 (import n/a rev 1) was red and vERY faded, got the car respreyed for £500 and it looked like new!!!

the l;auered ones that don;t fade can suffer from the laquer peeling off :(

[EarL]

...what do you think :(

I quite like pink!

(Not for much longer though :D)

[shaf2000]

here's mine, it's a rev1 and has never had a full respray yet :D

[EarL]

Damn Shaf! You're turning into the original picture !Removed!

Can I buy just your paintwork to fit on mine?

[shaf2000]

Damn Shaf!  You're turning into the original picture whore   

Can I buy just your paintwork to fit on mine? 

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lol, picture says a thousand words...... and all that. cant think of a better way to illustrate my point :D

[BLOODUK]

shaf2000 ive seen those pinks seats a hundred times now lmao

[jaxx]

mines in the shop having a new coat now

it wasnt bad but itll be kept well poished from now as i want it like a mirror

[Hedgehog Dodger]

i've never seen a red one older than a M reg thats not faded.

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I think you will find that my old REV2 K REG Turbo is still in showroom condition!!!!

:P :P

[shaf2000]

shaf2000 ive seen those pinks seats a hundred times now lmao 

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and you stilll love me :P

[EarL]

mines in the shop having a new coat now

it wasnt bad but itll be kept well poished from now as i want it like a mirror

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Jaxx,

What's your paint job costing (if you don't mind me asking) and who are you using?

[BLOODUK]

shaf2000 ive seen those pinks seats a hundred times now lmao 

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and you stilll love me :P

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[jaxx]

mines in the shop having a new coat now

it wasnt bad but itll be kept well poished from now as i want it like a mirror

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Jaxx,

What's your paint job costing (if you don't mind me asking) and who are you using?

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only about £250, but thats because its my best buds body shop :P so i get extensive 'mates rates'

its also having a blemish on the wing sorted and half a dozen dents done after it got battered by golf ball sized hailstones a few weeks back!

rest of its being 'scotched' and then a new coat of SR2 and 20odd coats of laquer :D

then a healthy lashing of Carnurba wax

[BLOODUK]

only about £250, but thats because its my best buds body shop  :P  so i get extensive 'mates rates' 

Only? ITs costing me £300 just to do the rear end boot e.t.c

[EarL]

only about £250, but thats because its my best buds body shop  :P  so i get extensive 'mates rates' 

Only? ITs costing me £300 just to do the rear end boot e.t.c

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I was quoted £1700 for a full job (windows etc out). Hmmm... me suspects a ripoff here <_<

[Karma Supra]

here's mine, it's a rev1 and has never had a full respray yet :D

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No offence mate, but I can see the different colours in it just from that picture!

I has had large bits respreyed ;)

I am very fussy about colour matches... Most of you have seena few decent pics of the supra... fora 17 year old car its in &#33;Removed&#33; good nick!!! I need the front and rear bumpers respreying as I have to lose the stick on corner protectors, and I need the roof doing as I broke it....

as a REsult I am getting the entire car respreyed, for the sake of continuity of colour!

[Missy]

Mine is red and yes it has faded. Rubbed it back with some G60 and it has helped a lot, could still do with a full respray though!