What's the *2ND BEST* color to hide dirt?

Ok, here's my declaration: I hereby have decided that my black Boxster S is not for me. It is way too much upkeep for a car that I use maybe once every other week. One rain, one spash of "hard water" and it's all over! Hours of Dawn, Zaino and elbow grease then follow My TARGA is Seal Grey. Dang, that hides dirt way better than black. But heck, although I love it, I don't see myself trading my Boxster S for another Seal Grey car. So my question to you: Given that Seal Grey and Arctic Silver seem to be the best for hiding dirt, What color is the 2nd best for hiding dirt? tmc

To be honest the best color for hidding dirt is White. I know that sounds hard to belive but it is true. It is hard to show water spots as white reflects al colors of the spectrum. I hope this helps.

Hmm. That's interesting. I've heard the downside of white is it never, ever can show a shine.

i love my Arctic Silver, never have to wash my car, until it rains.

I have found red isnt too bad, nor is lapis blue (i am speculating here).

True and false. I'm a professional detailer and while owning a white car is a bit of a cop-out for me...it's my favorite color. In the bright sun you're never going to get the satisfiaction of that deep, wet look you'll get from darkers colors...but you almost don't get that from silver anyhow. From the right angles and in the right light white will still show off a nice shine. For me white is an ultra crisp color that really will show off the lines of the car and show it's natural beauty. Silver is just a dirty white car in my eyes. (everyone has their own opinions) Of course I own black too but now that the black car lives outside 24/7 it's a real pain to keep after. Andy

From many years of experience and 37 cars owned white or silver. Although I drive red

My wierd flip-flop gold (can't remember the name) hides dirt like you would not believe....I have not washed it for a month & drive it every day, only the rims (brake dust) give it away, lol.

So far Guards Red has been fairly easy to maintain for me.

Artic silver is nice as well

a few years back we had a very high pollen situation. Every color looked terrible except for yellow. It hides water spots well, has good shine like red and seems to stay clean like silver a long time. p.s. Try FK 425 as your last step product, its cut down my cleanings dramatically and leaves a dewey slick feel. Has those anti-static dust repelling teflon like ingredients. I get it by the gallon.

DITTO ALL MY PORSCHES AND SPORTS CARS HAVE BEEN RED. BUT MY DAILY DRIVERS HAVE BEEN SILVER. SILVER WITH DIRT LOOKS LIKE GREY

Paladio Metallic or sometimes also know a Mirage Metallic. Yes I also agree hides dirt well.

It sure as hell ain't midnight blue. I promised myself that I'd never buy a black car again, then I fell in love with a dark blue car. It's a great color that changes depending on light conditions but it's a bitch to keep clean. Audi has (or at least used to have) a pearl white that was simply gorgeous to behold and I bet it would hid dirt almost as well as white. Not sure if it would look good on a 996 though.

Thanks for all the ideas, keep them coming! My only issue with Guards Red is it's too "orangey." I had an M3 in Imola Red. For all its faults, the car color was just perfect. Speed yellow-- cool idea! I've always heard though that yellow cars are a b*tch to resell.

I had a speed yellow 993. It hides dirt really well. If you can live with the "hey look at me" color it is an excellent color as far as dirt, rock chips and swirls are concerned. However, it does attract the bugs. As for resale. I think it depends. People either love it or hate it, there is no "well it does have the options I want so it would be a good choice and I can live with the color" type of rationalization. So it is either pretty quick or very slow. Price usually doesn't effect the desirability like on other colors, so arguably it is "easier" to get what you want out of it. When I was looking for speed yellow I couldn't find one (took me well over 6 months) but when I went to sell there were quite a few for sale so it really just depends on what is available. Unlike a color like silver where there are always lots of cars for sale with varying options.

I love speed yellow. It is one of those colors that despite it being one of my favorites I do not think I could own. Weird, but the look at me thing is an issue for me.

Oh, and I will never, ever, ever own another black car.

I know what you mean. I really liked my speed yellow car. It was what I wanted. However, the "hey look at me" factor was one of the reasons that ultimately lead to the sale. I don't buy cars to impress or attract the attention of others (instead I buy them for me and how they drive) but it seemed the yellow was attracting too much attention.

Dunno about Lapis blue, but midnight blue is much less hassle than black while still having a nice deep shine.

Porsche's new color Terra Fimus should do it.

Hmmm...I disagree with the color white being good at hiding dirt. I've owned a couple and while it looks pristine when cleaned and polished, every little speckle of dirt is magnified against the lightest hue. The color white draws out any color on top of it. That's why stationery and artist's canvas are typically white, as it produces the most contrast. It may hide dust well, but it certainly doesn't hide dirt well. I second the colors arctic silver and seal gray as being the best at hiding dirt, followed by guards red.

My Lapis Blue isn't too bad to keep looking nice. While all colors will show dirt, the darker colors will show it the most. Cobalt Blue is probably in the middle of the dark/light scale and Lapis is a notch more toward the dark part of the scale.

1. White 2. Silver period end.

1. Silver or any of the greys (you might consider meteor grey which is different than slate) 2. White (but I wish Porsche would brighten up the Carerra White)

Wife's Boxster is Glacier White and looks clean all the time. I gave it a good wash about 6 weeks ago and wash the outside of the windows every week or two. When its just been washed and waxed it has an absolutely beautiful reflective luster that few colors can match. Her Lexus and my Carrera are Silver and they can go weeks without a wash and look presentable. Just clean the windows and headlights and they look pretty good. I full fledged wash and they look awsome. My Jeep is a Metallic Desert Sand and because its the color of dirt, same thing, it always looks clean. So all my current vehicles look really good if I just keep the windows clean and spray the wheels off a couple of times between washes. My color choices were specifically for the reason of not having to wash them often.

Some people seem to have lost track of the fact that this thread's about looking for the 2nd best option-- I ruled out Arctic Silver and Seal Grey already....

Hi, I have a Acura that is Gold and it hids rain spots. Gold is the best color. White cars get dust on the rain spots and then it is time for a wash. Besides it is a Porsche and some of the most fun you can have is washing the car. I love washing the car knowing that it will just get dirty again. Paul

Hi, You could do as I did and order speed yellow gages. Then you have the look and the speed. Paul

White is not much better than black IMHO. That gold-silver tan metallic that is popular with non-sports cars is generic but great. It IS the color of dirt and can be absolutely disgusting and not look bad. Medium metallic colors are not too bad such as a red (carmon) or blue (cobalt) or that copper targa metallic. I'd give my Arena Red a "fair"--way better than black or white but not as good as a tan/silver metallic: http://www.porsche.com/all/skydriving/usa.aspx For non-standard colors, there have been a few great threads with colors that I bet would be even better such as mirage metallic, pearlessence white, baltic blue, and turquoise blue. https://rennlist.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1188500 https://rennlist.com/forums/997-forum/278611-help-with-paint-to-sample-color.html There's been some great colors in the recent past. It's kind of like we're in a color rut.

Whatever the color, if there is dirt, wash it off! Why would you want to hide dirt? Dirt will reduce the shine quality on your car, whatever the color is.

This is my first white car and I can say that it is very good (surprisingly!) at hiding dirt. Pretty puch always looks clean, even when it's not. I'd say that unless you've owned a white car, then you really cannot appreciate how well it stays clean.

Of course I wash my car. With Black, though, you wash it, wash it again, polish and wax... and one day-- one DAY -- later the sun shines on it and there is a veritable fossil deposit of hard water spots and infinitely-circular spidey web swirls.

grey is the best color to hide dirt...I had a BMW (about 10 yrs ago) and this was a (kind of) metallic seal grey......instead of dirty it just looked a couple of shades darker. Now I have a black X5 and a black P....what a pain....each scratch stand out like a collision..and there is no way to get ride of it!! Sunlight show it all 100fold.

Uhm brown. White shows dirt easy.

Before I bought my Porsche I owned a black car (NEVER again!) so the ability to look good even when dirty was a key criteria in my colour selection. You've stated that you're looking for the "2nd best" colour to hide dirt so you'll have to rule out Mirage Metallic since it is the best in my opinion. Once its been Rejex'ed it can go for months without washing and really doesn't look that bad even after driving on dusty/gravel roads. The dirt and dust down here in Florida has a whitish-cream hue so its almost invisible on a this paint. The other big benefit over white is that since it's a metallic colour you can really get a deep almost luminous shine when it's clean and polished. At night under certain lighting conditions the car almost looks like it's glowing from within. To me that's the best of both worlds. The other benefit is that this is a very low-key colour and doesn't attract a lot of attention.

Black is by far the best color on the road, for one hour or 20 miles which ever comes first. White is the second best. I have been detailing cars for around 15 years as a hobby. May I suggest this polisher for those with black cars. It is a polisher not a buffer. Can be used often for touch up's, gentle on finishes. NO SWIRLS the best part. http://cyclotoolmakers.com/cyclopoli...polishers.html

I agree that white is best. Sounds counter-intuitive, but it's true.

It isn't Lapis Blue!

Yup, until you've owned a white car you've really no clue at how good it is at hiding dirt.

2. black 1. all other colors tie for first. hope that helps.

After a black on black boxster I too swore I would never own another - until the black metallic 996 came into the picture and here I go again!- I made my wife get a silver 4runner when she wanted a black one because god forbid she have to go to a carwash and the silver has been super easy- IMO the lighter colors are easy and the dark show every flaw.