Paint

Do you like the non-reflective look of matte finish cars? Well, BMW has gone and given one car the ultimate matte finish paintjob – using an extremely light absorptive paint made by Surrey NanoSystems called Vantablack VBx2.

Fresh from the factory, most cars come with at a shiny clear coating to give it a shine and to protect its painted finish. I’m not sure how many coats OEMs typically apply, but I can say with 100% certainty that they don’t use 35 coats.

Lamborghini has long been known for their vibrant and unique colors, offering up exotic cars in brilliant shades of yellow, orange, green, and other hues. Recently, the Italian sports car (and sports SUV) maker completed the build of a shiny new paint shop, and is so proud of it that they shared footage from inside the facility.

Chevrolet will bring a few Camaros to this year’s SEMA convention, showing off aftermarket accessories that can be added by their dealers. One of those show cars is decked out in a new bright yellow color called “Shock,” that will be offered to buyers of the 2019 Camaro.

Renault has a little city car that it sells in Europe called the Twingo. The car reminds me a lot of the Fiat 500 in size and market position. Renault has something new to appeal to the ladies out there who drive a Twingo that will let them look good while keeping their cars scratch free.

When last we checked in with German graffiti artist Rene Turrek, he was giving a customized paint job to a BMW SUV that when splashed with water revealed an amazing portrait of the The Incredible Hulk that was hidden under top coat.

When most people apply hot water to a swanky ride like a new BMW they’re trying to get it sparkling clean at the local car wash so they can drive around and show it off. Showing off is definitely the aim of German graffiti artist Rene Turrek when he tosses hot aqua onto his BMW SUV, but removing dirt and grime are not the result he is looking for.

We’ve seen our fair share of eye-searing automotive paintjobs that pretty much ruin a good thing, but this Aston Martin DBS in nuclear blue glow paint by Nevana Designs isn’t one of them. In fact, if you’re going to go with popping color, this is how you do it – all dolled up for the 2015 Gumball 3000 rally.

BMW offers a large range of paints for new owners to choose from, but its most exclusive and expensive paint is Pure Metal Silver. The chrome-like finish is available only through the German automaker’s Individual Manufaktur program.

There are times when I’m not crazy about vinyl skins and aftermarket finishes on cars, and times when I think they look great. I think it’s all in the execution and the particular finish – along with the car you do it on.

A while back, we featured a Lamborghini Aventador embellished by French artist Duaiv. Now he’s back with another painted car, a Ferarri FF. This luscious FF has been wrapped then painted with abstract red, pink, purple and orange strokes which conjure images of a sunset.

A recent trend in car finishing is to coat entire vehicles in spray-on Plasti Dip. The guys at DipYourCar specialize in application tools and color additives for the rubberized coating, and are now showing off an incredible finish that can actually change colors as you walk around the car.