Living with flat black?

[Y-TRY]

I love the look of old (and new again) Mopars with the flat-black stripes and stuff. What is it like living with it, though?

Does it stain too easily, leaving water spots and stuff, since it can't be polished?

Is it hard to apply and get the same, or similar, depth without having edges?

Is it prone to fading without any sun protection? Are there any real durability issues?

Or are the new paints formulated for all this? The new Chargers and Rams are using it but haven't been around enough for me to determine how they hold up.

[parsonsj]

The painter at Road Killer Kustoms who painted my car uses a satin black for those situations. It's glossier than flat black, but is much more durable.

Just tossin' out options for ya.

jp

[wiedemab]

We used Dupont Hot Hues - Hot Rod Black on the hood of my mustang. It's not really flat looking, more low gloss, but I really like it. It's not as easily stained (You would still want to keep wax away from it if possible).

The bad part is that it's not cheap, but for doing a hood or stripes it wouldn't be too bad.

Here is a pic of what is looks like on my hood.


https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif

[astroracer]

I would use a flattening agent in some gloss black topcoat. Experiment with ratios to get the "look" you want. Flattened top coat will be much more durable and stain resistant then any primer you could use.
Mark