Cars To Avoid Buying In Black

Everyone knows black cars are hard to maintain and keep looking beautiful long term, but some are way harder to maintain than others.

Today I’ll give you a list of brands/models to avoid in BLACK to avoid long term heartache.

First – Why do black cars show scratches more visibly? Black absorbs light and rather than dispersing it like lighter shades (white for example), it will tend to show every single imperfection, but not all blacks are the same.

Some manufacturers do black really well by aiding it with metallic flakes that help to disperse the light. Generally you can get away with black on anything euro as they tend to have metallic flake throughout and the paint is generally quite hard and robust.

Brands/Models to avoid entirely in black.

𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐮𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐫𝐬 (GWM, BYD, Chery, Haval, SAIC) – The large scale Chinese car market is still relatively new and they have entered the market as affordable, well built cars, but with affordability comes some cost cutting and as a result, across the board the paint quality does need some improvement.
𝐒𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐊𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐧/𝐉𝐚𝐩 𝐌𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐬 – The entry level cars in the Korean and Jap markets pack enormous value into a very good price, and this shows in the paint work. You’re likely to see this in models. Japanese cars tend to have soft paint, while Korean paint tends to be a bit firmer. So err on the side of caution.
𝐓𝐞𝐬𝐥𝐚 – Flat black, and soft. Pay close attention to the unsupported aluminium bonnet which will VERY quickly scratch and mar due to its lightweight design.
𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐔𝐭𝐞𝐬 – Across the board, all Ute paints are soft, thin and the metallics aren’t very pronounced. The Silverado, Rangers and RAMs are particularly hard to maintain.

If you have one of these cars, It’s not a death sentence. You just need to be extra vigilant in your wash process. I always recommend for flat black paints to foam (5 min dwell) > rinse > foam (5 min dwell) > bucket wash.

Hope this helps!