The only true matte finish on a normal car that I know of is the Hyundai ionic 5. The wet in wet putty is the glossy coating. On matte paint, there is no gloss. It’s also a pain to maintain https://manuals.plus/hyundai/ioniq-5-matte-finish-paint-manu...

Most of the luxury brands offer true matte paint finishes. For example, if you want matte paint ("Frozen" as they call it) on a BMW, you can order through this program:

https://www.bmwusa.com/innovations/bmw-individual.html

Like you said, these true matte paints don't have a clear coat, so they are a pain to own.

On the other hand, these "Putty" finishes that the blog is talking about are likely an attempt by the paint companies to offer a matte-like look that is still easy to maintain, and that's why they do employ a clear coat. The PPG paints use a special matte clear coat, and axalta paints use a matte additive to the base color and a matte clear coat product. Those are the two main automotive paint suppliers, but I expect the other suppliers have a similar approach.

> always test products in a hidden area

maybe they should provide you with a 1'x1' square of painted metal to test on, I'm not sure where on a car is hidden and still painted.

Open any door and you'll find plenty of spots. Including in under the hood or behind the fuel door.

Double edged sword - less annoying during the day but now they’re harder to see at night.

Every visible angle of a car has multiple lights on it so I don't think that's actually a double edged sword???

Multiple lights that can all be turned off - except for the so called "daytime driving light", but that's also a double edged sword: many drivers seem to think that if they have these they can get away with leaving the "real" headlights off for longer, but forget that there is no daytime light at the rear of the car. So yeah, a murky-matte-gray car in murky gray weather at twilight is the worst situation for visibility I can think of too...

I only really see this issue on old vehicles. Most vehicles have lights set to automatically turned on when it gets dark. I very rarely see a new vehicle that doesn't have this enabled and/or daytime running lights. Even newer Honda civics have a feature to automatically turn on high beams when no oncoming traffic at night

That’s not the only setting. I’ve seen many modern cars running around after dark with only DRLs.

In my case, I frequently bump the light knob with my knee as I’m entering or exiting.

Cars are also festooned with retro-reflectors in case the lights are off, including the license plate.

Reflectors glow only when somebody else lights them up. Background-colored cars makes it a lot easier for two unlit fools to connect. Head on.

Black suffers from this somewhat, but less since backgrounds on the road are rarely black until the hour when headlights become essential. Muted grays are a handicap all day long in any form of suboptimal weather.

The ones that are also blacked out?

That's not accurate, so many designs of cars are hard to see the side profile of even with lights. Even if it were, it's not bourne out in studies of paint colour and crash risk. Grey/silver represents an increased crash risk, especially at night.

Something I think hinders visibility is also that cars are often amongst dozens of other lights, especially at intersections where it matters most.

Actually the Australian study you quoted earlier showed that the difference in crash risk was largest during daylight hours, as in Australia many people drive with their lights off during daylight.

But yes, I suspect if you were to redo that study in a country where people always have the lights on (perhaps due to local law if nothing else), you'd see the biggest difference in poor lightning conditions.

Plus tons of reflectors that manage to work well at night without also blinding people during the day.

I swear to god, this is such a prototypical comment for HN.

There is no angle in which you cannot see the headlights of a vehicle.

If the vehicle is parked, there is no angle you should be using that wouldn't illuminate the vehicle.

driving without your lights on after dark is illegal and black colored vehicles have existed for years without these problems.

Don't worry, everyone is using massive high beams as soon as the sun sets now so you'll spot them a mile away.

Daytime too curiously enough. Though I suspect some of it may be the proliferation of cheap LED replacement “bulbs” being put into housing meant for halogen bulbs and never being aligned/aimed to mimic the factory cutoff.

For the most part, the cutoff is in the reflector. However, you can be really obnoxious with bulbs that are too bright.

In most the the aftermarket LED bulbs that I’ve seen, the location of the diode(s) causes light to emit from different point(s) that it would from a halogen bulb, thus reflecting differently than intended.

https://ledlightinginfo.com/led-headlights-in-reflector-hous...

> “To put it simply, yes. LEDs can be used in reflector headlights BUT (and it’s a big but) if you’re upgrading the bulb, you also need to upgrade the reflector bowl. Failure to do so can blind or dazzle other people. You see, no two reflectors are the same. Each reflector headlight design is meticulously crafted based on the precise specifications of the halogen bulb it intends to use. This ensures there’s a good throw and spread of light.

Replacing a halogen bulb with an LED, therefore, throws the reflector off balance. Even minute changes will alter where the light hits the reflector and gets projected out to. Essentially, the light will end up in places it was not intended to. This is exacerbated by the fact that LEDs are a directional light source, whereas halogens are omnidirectional. Unlike halogens, an LED will not illuminate the reflector surface evenly. This has two consequences:

Firstly, by shining light only at the reflector’s sides, there’s likely to be blank, hollow, or hot spots in the light beam.

Secondly, by failing to illuminate the upper portion of the reflector, the headlight will have reduced distance projection. Instead, the light will scatter above the cut-off point and blind other drivers.“

Hopefully the lights mounted on every side of the car will combat that.

Exactly this. I don't have many opinions or preferences on car finishes, but the now-standard retina-searingly-reflective finishes ought to be illegal for safety reasons. If TFA is complaining about a move away from that, then I hate TFA.

[EDIT] I'm not 100% sure what TFA is complaining about because I'm pretty sure I haven't seen this in the wild yet. Must be a regional trend. Coasts usually get stuff way sooner than us so maybe I'll know what it's about in a couple years.

In the Dallas area, not quite a coast, this trend has been bugging me for roughly a year, and the 2023 models of many cars seem to feature non-metallic colors even more than 2022 did.

Well I think the author makes a good point - the flat finish looks a lot better with more interesting colors (and more gloss). The abundance of de-saturated blues and green will age like milk.

I wish they could tune down those bight LED back lights (and brakes and turn signals) I hate driving at night because of this. Audi is particularly blameable for this.

I think they should be regulated the same way as low/high front beams.

The reflections are overwhelmingly a result of glass. The paint is basically anecdotal by comparison.

I disagree with your last sentence. Here's my ordering of best things since the assembly line:

  A/C  
  Aux jack  
  Bluetooth audio  
  Backup camera  
  Adaptive cruise control  
  Matte finishes

The backup camera would not be such a big deal if cars had smaller pillars.