A crisis of Color Choice

[skidd]

Yeah.. I know.. not the first, nor the last person to ask about paint colors.
Just hoping to get a little opinion from others here.
FYI, My car has black rollbars and black side-pipes as well as silver FR500 wheels.

I've been long set on painting my MK4 Pepper Gray, or Dark Shadow gray with black stripes.
Basically, like this one, including the silver pin-stripes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCMlIkq1l_c

Then, a few days ago.. I realized I had totally discounted silver only because my other car is already silver. I thought.. I can't have 2 silver cars?
Uh.. why not? Besides, my other car, a 2000 Subaru impreza is 18 years old, and the paint is getting trashed.. not to mention, it's a pretty meh silver. In other words, it's due for a paint job.. perhaps a different color?
And lets face it.. silver look gooooooood on a roadster.


Anyway.. I'm still going back and forth between Dark Gray with Black stripes.. and now
Lambo Titanium Silver with black stripes... or..

One of my problems with the dark gray and black stipes is.... I really like a Cobra with stripes. I like them a lot... so much so.. that I think I realized that the black on dark gray subdued the stripes too much for me.
Hence.. Silver with black stripes.. Boom! Thats some nice contrast. Those stripes really jump out.

Now.. to add more to my option list.. I found a ford GT painted ford Tungsten Silver with some nice semi-flat color gray stripes.
http://www.automobilemag.com/news/fo...ced-in-canada/


Holy Schmoly! that's all kinds of hot IMO.
I've been googling and googling, and I can't seem to find anybody who has painted a cobra quite that combo.. so.. I don't know if it'd look good or not.

Anybody seen a cobra painted with those colors yet?
Anybody have an idea of what color those stripes might be?
What do ya think? Any options on what that would look like on a Mk4?

Thanks guys.. and sorry for adding yet another "help me pick a color" thread.

[Al_C]

I think the silver with black or gray would look very good. I thought about doing a matte finish for either the car or the stripe, and everything I'm hearing about matte/satin finishes is that they add to maintenance exponentially. Personally, I visited the local Sherwin Williams Automotive Finishes shop and picked up a sample "fan" with all the restoration/performance car colors. I thought I knew what I wanted, but looking at those samples got me thinking about other options. Granted, these are only small samples, but you can play with a lot of combinations that way.

[Jeff Kleiner]

OR.... turn it around and do Dark Shadow Gray with a lighter stripe such as the Tungsten Silver. I'm not sure that the stripes on the GT are matte; look at the light reflections in the stripes on the roof. They would not be that crisp on matte. Personally, even though my own car wears a matte finish I'm over it and have been for a long time. I think it's time has come and gone. I just talked the owner of one I am doing currently out of it yesterday.

Jeff

[skidd]

Thanks jeff.. I think you might be right about that flat gray.. I guess it's more a function of the lack of metalic in it perhaps?
as for "reverse".. you know.. color is one of those major subjective things right... well.. for some reason.. I can't seem to get a "Ooooh.. look at that" reaction out of my brain when I see dark gray with silver stripes.
Though. I can't seem to quite put my finger on why either.

*edit*.. then again.. the 06 GT color combo (tungsten gray, and satin silver) is pretty dang good too! (pulling hair out)

[rich grsc]

Paint like the GT and be done with it.

[Mark Eaton]

I've been planning on silver with smoke stripe, black side pipes, black roll bars and halo headlights. Colors like the GT you show. All metallic. thinking about a maroon pinstripe to accent the smoke race stripe. It would be cool if there was an app to "paint your MK4" and plug in your color combo to see what it looks like. I don't know if anything like that exists.

[RR20AC]

Xbox forza 5 has a car garage and you can choose any type of colors and mods.

[dallas_]

I found choosing the color to be a challenge.
After getting all the bodywork done and getting ready to spray I had narrowed my choices down to silver (like you are looking at), black, blue and red. Keep in mind that I'd been building the car for 3 years already. Once I chose red, I only had about a zillion more options in red. So, unless you are really ready to spray color, don't sweat it. You'll probably change you mind a bunch before you get to that point anyway.

Oh, and come to the TCC meet first week in April in San Marcos. It's just up the road from you. You'll see over 100 cobras in about every color combination you can imagine.

[cgundermann]

I've been planning on silver with smoke stripe, black side pipes, black roll bars and halo headlights. Colors like the GT you show. All metallic. thinking about a maroon pinstripe to accent the smoke race stripe. It would be cool if there was an app to "paint your MK4" and plug in your color combo to see what it looks like. I don't know if anything like that exists.

Essentially what I did; rollbar & side-pipes are satin matte black, my car is a Ford Magnetic Gray with orange pinstripes to accentuate the main black stripes.

image.png

Chris

[skidd]

Does anybody remember when the factoryfive website used to have that "design your cobra" web-app? You could put on different wheels and pick all sorts of different color combos. I think it was way back in '02 that I remember that.

I totally plan to head out to the TCC friday night for the tailgate party. I figure 120+ cobras in different colors will do 1 of 2 things. Help me finalize a color choice, or open my eyes to a dozen more!

Were it not for my love of silver and gray cars... I'm betting I'd be spraying that Lexus Indigo Ink Blue with white stripes.

I'm starting to feel like my kids.. fickle and indecisive. Seems like my list of top color combos changes almost hourly now. It's killing me.
Gray with Black; Silver with Black; Silver with Gray. Gray with Silver.
My current #1 is now this combo. Ford Sterling Gray Metallic (UJ) with Ford Vapor Metallic Stripes (ZY).

http://www.ffcars.com/forums/17-fact...ml#post1799867

I guess I was due for a "I can't pick" incident building my car.. all the choices I've made to date have been pretty easy.

[phileas_fogg]

Does anybody remember when the factoryfive website used to have that "design your cobra" web-app? You could put on different wheels and pick all sorts of different color combos. I think it was way back in '02 that I remember that.

Here it is: http://3dautosports.com/ffr/beta/?b=770ad3eb. It's useful for getting a general idea of how colors will look, but not for actually choosing a color IMO.

Note that you have to download a media player (Unity Player 5.3.8f2 for Safari 11.0.3) that is WAY outdated.


John

[AC Bill]

All silver, no stripes, black pipes and roll bars, dark wheels. I like the look.

[skidd]

DANG IT BILL!!! YOU'RE NOT HELPING!!! Now I have to PlastiDip my silver FR5000 wheels too!!
Totally agree BTW.. that is all kinds of nice right there.
Black quick-jacks too.. which I also intend to do.

[JRL16]

I too struggled with paint choice but in the end decided to stick with the way I envisioned the car before I started. No regrets. Went with my original choice of indigo ink pearl and the stripes in the brightest white my painter could get. I’m sure whatever you decide will look great.

[srobinsonx2]

What about the modern black out look. My initial concept during early planning was something like this and a coyote engine. Just thought I would help with the confusion.

[jwebb]

Getting close!! IMG_1552.JPGIMG_1549.JPG

[skidd]

I knew picking a color would be hard.. I had no idea picking a "shade" of color, and a "shade" of stripe to match would be THIS hard!
For the past 3+ years, I was sure I was going to go with a silver/gray base and a black stripe.. now.. Now.. I'm questioning everything... earth is flat, sky is green, the moon is made of cheese.. and .. .Silver stripes are awesome!!

[Jeff Kleiner]

OOOOH! OOOOH! Shouted while waving my hand in the air!

I can answer this one

Mazda 25G Titanium Gray and Mazda 22V Sunlight Silver

Cheers,
Jeff

[Yama-Bro]

Not to high jack the thread, but is there a way to black out the pipes and still return them to their original stainless look?

[skidd]

@Jeff... you're Killing me Smalls!!
Here I thought that was Ford Tungsten Gray with Satin Silver Stripes, like this one.


but.. Nope... now I need to add another color combination to my list.

and another....
Ford Sterling Gray with Ford Vapor Metalic stripes. (from here http://www.ffcars.com/forums/17-fact...nted-pics.html)
CarShow4.jpg

and another...
Dark Shadow and Silver???
a3a412d191_355.jpg


I need a beer.

[Straversi]

The good news... is that they all look bad ***.
-Steve

[Jeff Kleiner]

and another...
Dark Shadow and Silver???
a3a412d191_355.jpg

Hmmmm, seems like somebody suggested that back at post #3

The color indecision just boggles my wife's mind---she says "These guys sit on your waiting list for months but when they finally bring their cars they still don't know what color they want you to paint it!" Gotta' say she does have a point. I've only ever had one guy have his color absolutely, positively, 100% selected and stuck to it when I got the car. Skidd, you don't have a bad choice in the whole bunch. Here's what I suggested to an owner who was suffering from color analysis paralysis a few years ago after I sent him 5 or 6 spray outs---tape each sample to the underside of the dining room chairs and invite the whole extended family over for dinner. After desert is served draw names out of a hat...whatever color is under Aunt Millie's or Cousin Vern's chair when it's turned over is the color the car gets painted. See how easy that was

Jeff

[rich grsc]

Jeff, can you do that scoop for me?

[Jeff Kleiner]

Jeff, can you do that scoop for me?

I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that.

Jeff

[rich grsc]

Please....
I'll send you more cars.

[Jeff Kleiner]

Jeff

Edit: is your scoop fiberglass (red) or ABS plastic (black)? Oh wait...is it a Mk3 or 4? If Mk3 nevermind, if a 4 then answer red or black.

[shark92651]

Yeah.. I know.. not the first, nor the last person to ask about paint colors.
Just hoping to get a little opinion from others here.
FYI, My car has black rollbars and black side-pipes as well as silver FR500 wheels.

I've been long set on painting my MK4 Pepper Gray, or Dark Shadow gray with black stripes.
Basically, like this one, including the silver pin-stripes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCMlIkq1l_c

Then, a few days ago.. I realized I had totally discounted silver only because my other car is already silver. I thought.. I can't have 2 silver cars?
Uh.. why not? Besides, my other car, a 2000 Subaru impreza is 18 years old, and the paint is getting trashed.. not to mention, it's a pretty meh silver. In other words, it's due for a paint job.. perhaps a different color?
And lets face it.. silver look gooooooood on a roadster.


Anyway.. I'm still going back and forth between Dark Gray with Black stripes.. and now
Lambo Titanium Silver with black stripes... or..

One of my problems with the dark gray and black stipes is.... I really like a Cobra with stripes. I like them a lot... so much so.. that I think I realized that the black on dark gray subdued the stripes too much for me.
Hence.. Silver with black stripes.. Boom! Thats some nice contrast. Those stripes really jump out.

Now.. to add more to my option list.. I found a ford GT painted ford Tungsten Silver with some nice semi-flat color gray stripes.
http://www.automobilemag.com/news/fo...ced-in-canada/


Holy Schmoly! that's all kinds of hot IMO.
I've been googling and googling, and I can't seem to find anybody who has painted a cobra quite that combo.. so.. I don't know if it'd look good or not.

Anybody seen a cobra painted with those colors yet?
Anybody have an idea of what color those stripes might be?
What do ya think? Any options on what that would look like on a Mk4?

Thanks guys.. and sorry for adding yet another "help me pick a color" thread.

I love the color on that GT as well. I even posted a thread asking about the colors a few days ago. Someone said the stripes are "gray". Yup, that was real helpful

[doddmoore]

The good news... is that they all look bad ***.
-Steve

To be totally not helpful, I agree with Straversi

[KDubU]

Everyone knows that grey is a colour without colour right?

[skidd]

.. and.. quelle surprise.. all the way back around to my original choice... which.. I seem to recall someone saying already "stick with your gutt".
That bad-girl already has black-rollbars, side-pipes, quick-jacks and side-vents.. all things I want.
I just need to figure out what gray that truly is. Every time I look at those pics, it reminds me of that Mazda Machine Gray Metallic, or the Toyota Magnetic Gray Metallic.
Good thing the Texas Cobra Club Spring Meet is just a few days away.. 120+ cobras to go check out the color combos IN PERSON.

dark gray awesome.png
Dark Gray Awesome 03.png

[lance corsi]

I think the silver with black or gray would look very good. I thought about doing a matte finish for either the car or the stripe, and everything I'm hearing about matte/satin finishes is that they add to maintenance exponentially. Personally, I visited the local Sherwin Williams Automotive Finishes shop and picked up a sample "fan" with all the restoration/performance car colors. I thought I knew what I wanted, but looking at those samples got me thinking about other options. Granted, these are only small samples, but you can play with a lot of combinations that way.

I was thinking about a matte finish for my 818 but I'm not aware of the problems associated with matte finishes. Could you please enlighten me before I do something I won't be happy with? Thanks!

[Avalanche325]

Everyone knows that grey is a colour without colour right?

I know you are joking.

But to get serious, grey is a VERY difficult color. Here is why. It does have color, and you had better be careful if you are doing stripes that you don't put it with something that clashes. Have a good look and here is what you will find. It either has hints of green, purple, red, or blue. If you can't see it, and some people can't, find someone that can. If you know someone that is into more high end interior decorating, I'll bet they can help. My wife can see the difference between two colors that most people would swear are the same. She is right on the money when you ask the paint shop what pigments are in it.

I also recommend picking colors from high end cars. They are often more complex mixes, which adds depth. I looked at a lot of silvers and greys, when I finally decided on black with silver stripes. My stripes are BMW Dark Silver. I did a couple sprayouts. What I liked about that deeper color, is that the stripes look like they are down inside the black. A couple of light silvers looked like they were sitting on top.

[Derald Rice]

But to get serious, grey is a VERY difficult color. Here is why. It does have color, and you had better be careful if you are doing stripes that you don't put it with something that clashes. Have a good look and here is what you will find. It either has hints of green, purple, red, or blue.

Agreed. I have a sliver base color with a ghosted silver stripe. When I was choosing a color for my ghosted stripe, I used the same paint as my base color, and added 2 DROPS of black into a full gun. Since it was still the same basic formula, there is no clashing of colors, and both colors play well together .

EDIT: it does not matter if the car is silver, blue, red, or any other color. If you are picking 2 colors from the same area of the color wheel, the potential of getting color clash is very real.

Everyone knows that grey is a colour without colour right?

I have often heard the same phrase, but the color that is usually referenced is white. That said, go to the paint store, and I will bet that there are more shades of white than a lot of other colors.

[CraigS]

I know you are joking.

But to get serious, grey is a VERY difficult color. Here is why. It does have color, and you had better be careful if you are doing stripes that you don't put it with something that clashes. Have a good look and here is what you will find. It either has hints of green, purple, red, or blue. If you can't see it, and some people can't, find someone that can. If you know someone that is into more high end interior decorating, I'll bet they can help. My wife can see the difference between two colors that most people would swear are the same. She is right on the money when you ask the paint shop what pigments are in it.

I also recommend picking colors from high end cars. They are often more complex mixes, which adds depth. I looked at a lot of silvers and greys, when I finally decided on black with silver stripes. My stripes are BMW Dark Silver. I did a couple sprayouts. What I liked about that deeper color, is that the stripes look like they are down inside the black. A couple of light silvers looked like they were sitting on top.

I agree. I was looking at silvers many yrs ago. One day in the shop I worked in there were 4 silver cars next to each other. All the same brand but different years and models. They were all different. One way to be sure is to get the paint formula. If there is a color in it, you know to either keep looking or to be sure your stripe color has that same tint.

[simurda]

Following up on Avalanche, I agree with picking high end cars & doing spray samples with multiple selected sample colors. I had success with spraying on glass.

[cgundermann]

Nice!

[skidd]

*edit* due to my failed attempt to try and edit my post on a tablet, I accidently deleted it instead of modified it.
THIS post.. goes above "cgundermanns" post ^.
----
Crisis averted! Spent an hour at the Cobra club meet in San Marcus, spoke to a few owners and builders, and found the shade of Gray I was looking for. Bwooyeah.
it's a BMW color, Sterling Gray 472. Mercedes 040 black stripes. Doug, the owner of the Backdraft car, was more than happy to share the color codes. He happens to also have red pin stripes, where I'll be going with Silver.

[skidd]

Question for the paint experts in here.
I read a post online somewhere, where the guy said the BMW sterling gray is a 3 stage paint. Black base, sterling gray, then clear. Something about the black being the key to this colors depth.

Does that sound right to you? I don't really think I should try and tackle a 3 stage paint job. Though, I'll already be putting down a bunch of black for the stripe anyway. Should I
just spray the black on the whole car? Should I look for a black color sealer coat ?

Am I over thinking this?

[Jeff Kleiner]

What is typically referred to as a 3 stage is base color topped with a clear vehicle carrying a tint &/or pearl, mica or metal. This is then covered with topcoat clear. What you describe isn't generally thought of as a true 3 stage but rather a base that needs a specific color undercoat for coverage and color accuracy. You'll find that the paint manufacturer often specifies an undercoat that may range from light gray, through a few different levels darkening all the way to black. Yes, you can use the dark gray or black sealer as the undercoat or just shoot the whole car with black base. I've done it both ways.

Jeff

[skidd]

Thanks Jeff. Looks like I have a plan!!