You’ll love your new car, but that love can start to fade if you discover that it gets dirty again almost as soon as you’ve cleaned it. Not good!
We’ll examine what colors are best if you want to enjoy your car without having to wash it every weekend or pay someone else to clean it for you. In brief, though, before we examine this topic in more detail.
A grey or silver color car is the best choice. It hides watermarks and swirl marks very well. This color also blends in any dirt or mud well too. These colors perform well in dry and wet conditions.
The problem is that people judge people – often unfairly – based on how they maintain their car. There is some logic here. Some people may think that if a person can’t keep their car in a clean well-maintained condition what does it say about other aspects of their life. It’s not nice but it happens.
Here we’ll break down the ten common car colors, start with the worst, and finish the list with the best. Like a music chart countdown. So let’s get to it and examine which is the best car color to keep clean,
Easiest Color Car To Keep Clean – In Reverse Order
10. Black
I found this quite surprising when I did my research. I mistakenly thought that dirt would surely show up less on the darkest color as dirt is normally dark. Well, there are other considerations.
Well, dirt or mud is either a brown or a gray color which still shows up on a black car.
The main downside of a black car is that unless you or the detailer rinses and dries your car perfectly, you’ll get water marks and spots on it. Your car will be clean, but it may not look like it.
During hotter weather, the water spots will often dry in situ before anyone can dry the car thoroughly. Black absorbs heat too, so the paintwork gets hotter, exacerbating the problem.
As a side note: Any scratch or swirl marks will be more visible on a dark-colored car.
9. Burgundy
The darker-colored cousin of a red car – which we’ll get on to – may look refined and classy but can also mean you’ll have a sponge in hand on your drive every weekend.
As with black, it’s a color that you might think would not look too bad, but it really fails in dusty areas. Burgundy is a dull and less vibrant color that looks even duller with a layer of dust.
This can make even a newer burgundy car look older than its years.
It’s probably not what you want to happen when you’ve just parted with thousands of dollars.
8. Red
Ah red! A red car conjures up different images to different people. To its fans, it portrays the owner as passionate, vibrant, and living on their terms.
To its detractors, it shows a youthful, impetuous, reckless, and dangerous side.
It’s a better color than burgundy as it’s sharper and more vibrant, but its inability to cover swirl marks or minor scratches let it down.
All vibrant colors lose their sharpness over time and may, after a few years, look very different from the color they rolled off the production line.
7. Blue
Most blue cars are painted in a darker shade of blue, so that’s what we’ll concentrate on here.
A car color that exudes seriousness, stability, and expertise, a dark blue car will have you think seriously about whether you need to clean it again after only doing it the last weekend.
Not as downright needy in the cleaning department as a black or burgundy car, it’ll still take time to clean that you may resent after a few months of ownership.
6. Yellow
On the plus side, a yellow car is great for hiding minor scratches and swirls from cleaning but fares badly with mud.
If you live in a predominantly drier part of the country, then yellow could be a good choice. It also seems to cope well with dust and shouldn’t need frequent cleaning.
During rainy spells, either park it up or be prepared to clean it a lot!
5. Orange
Orange-colored cars are becoming more popular and common for buyers of sports cars looking to get noticed.
As with yellow cars, they’ll take a fair amount of dust and pollen in their stride and won’t show mud around the panels as much as a yellow car would.
Still prone to show-up scratches, though, which means it occupies 5th place on our list.
4. Brown and Gold
I’ve decided to place these two colors together. They are both similar-ish in appearance and have the same good and bad points.
Good points are it’ll take mud and rain splashes from the road in its stride. In some cases, you’ll hardly notice these.
In drier climates, dust and pollen can make this rather reserved color look duller than it normally is—a color for wetter areas, perhaps.
3. Green
We’re now getting to the cars that require less cleaning.
Green is a good all-around color. It doesn’t cover all marks, dirt, and swirl marks perfectly, but none of these stains or marks are too obvious.
Only 5% of the cars on the road today are green, but I’d imagine their owners spend less time getting their cars detailed than other cars on the road. Well, almost any other car!
As you’ve probably realized, a darker shade of a certain color is normally better.
2. White
Did you know that white is the most popular car color choice in the USA? These cars need less cleaning than almost all other car colors, whether through car cleaning time research or just plain luck.
Forget about watermarks and swirl marks, as you won’t see them on a white car. Pollen? Nope, you won’t see that either.
You may think that it performs badly with mud. A white car in normal rainy weather may pick up mud, but often -unless you’ve been through a deep puddle that has splashed up around the wheel arches- it will be no more apparent than most of the other colors on the list.
1. Gray/Silver
Equal first place goes to Silver and Gray.
A perfect choice for all weathers.
Whether you live in a rainy state like Louisiana or Connecticut or a drier one like New Mexico or Wyoming, a gray or silver car won’t have you reaching for a bucket and sponge most weekends.
Light enough to hide swirl marks and water spots yet dark enough to stop mud and grime from becoming too obvious
Being a mid-color, they don’t absorb as much heat as a darker-colored car, so you’ll get a chance to wipe off the water before they dry and turn into marks.
Again, a very popular choice of color by drivers across the country. These colors are second only to a white-colored car.
In summary
In a climate with rain and sun in equal measure, the best car color choice is silver or gray. It hides scratches and watermarks and is very good, making even the muddiest car appear acceptable.
For rainy weather, a darker car will hide mud the best and a lighter car the least.
For desert climates, then consider a lighter-colored car. There is no need to worry too much about rain and mud, and the lighter colors will still shine through dust and pollen. A bonus is watermarking won’t be that obvious too.
