I'm narrowing down my color choices for a 2007 Cooper S and one thing to consider is how hard a particular color is to keep clean. I'm not posting this in the detailing forum because I'm not really talking about how to clean the car, but rather how its gonna look when I don't wash it.

I rent and with neither driveway nor garden hose washing the car myself is completely out of the question. I get the car handwashed every three weeks or so at a pretty nice place. If I'm busy, it might be longer between washes; ideally I'd get it washed every two weeks, but I'm just trying to be honest with myself about how past habits are likely to transfer to the new car once I've owned it awhile.

My current car is silver and it hardly shows dirt at all. I'm bored with silver and its iterations and want something with color in it for my Cooper S, and my strong favorites are Chili Red and British Racing Green.

I've read that BRG is almost as hard to keep clean as black, but I've also read that metallic colors are better at disguising dirt than non-metallic. Given those competing principles, which of these two colors is going to look better two weeks after its been washed?

 

I like the CR. Of course, I do--I have one! Seriously, though, I've found it pretty easy to keep clean. And it's red, really, really red. It's a glowing, vibrant color that hides the dirt, IMO.

I have had my share of silver cars, too. Did I tell you my MINI's red?

 

I have had my BRG for almost 5 years now. Let me tell you this. Its hard to keep clean. Its dark, like a black so it shows all swirl marks. IT also tends to show nicks and scratches a little more. With any color your going to have issues. Im a fan of CR, but I dont like the fact that its non-metallic.

 

That's another thing--I DO like the fact that it's non-metallic. It's easier to fix.

 

I have a CR/W as well and it hardly shows any dirt compared to my black Civic I was driving before. I barely get the civic washed, and the next day you could see so much dust/dirt on it. I'll never buy a car that has a dark color ever again. :P

 

if you go with BRG, i'd say go with a black top with black bonnet stripes, otherwise go with CR/W (pics in the gallery)

 

I love my BRG. It hasn't been as hard to keep clean as I had feared but the CR I believe would be easier. Got a little bit bored with red though - in my 21 years of driving, only 5 of them have been in any cars that weren't red.

 

Well, I have a BRG, and I am an OCD detailer. For me, BRG is a PAIN to keep clean, I find myself outside twice a week giving my MINI a good scrub down to get all the nastyness off the boot :(.

 

Red.

 

They will both take exactly the same amount of effort to keep clean.

Now, as to which one will show the dirt or dust faster? Probably the BRG (which I have). Darker colors always show the dust faster. The same amount of dust and dirt will be on the Red though.

 

daffodildeb,

BTW I was just wondering. What color is your car????

 

Heh, heh. I always said I wanted to have a red car. More specifically, a red MINI. Got 'er now!

BTW, that's been a dream since I used to watch them race in the 60's and 70's. It's been a long time coming. Surprisingly the red hasn't been the ticket magnet I'd imagined. Knock on wood.

 

I'm in the market and am at the same place deciding colors. Love metallic! Love the red with the stripes, too. It might depend on if you want stripes and or chrome accents. If you want stripes, go red. I think this little speedster is really crying out for red, though.
Ever hear of the term "arrest me red"? Not true at all. It's your behavior that gets you the ticket and not the color at all. I can attest to that with another car I own that is red.
Now that I've actually thinking this through, I might just go red myself!
olcorral.

 

I can't speak for BRG & while I do wash my CR once a week... every now & then something happens & she goes 2 weeks without a wash. I will say that even in week 2 the CR still looks pretty darned clean

 

+1

It takes a hell of a lot of dirt to make CR look bad...of course, I'm a bit partial and biased.

 

I went for red, and after a month of bugs and dirt, I think it was a good choice.

 

I think Gromit801's got it wrong. It's plain to see that the CR has an umbrella-effect going for it. Bugs and dirt CAN'T make it dirty!

 

Shhhhhhh! That's not an umbrella...it's the super secret, decoder-ring-required for unecryption, Force Field that CR owners have developed to keep dirt outside a 30ft barrier of our MINIs. But now everyone knows

 

Sorry! My MA forgot to tell me. Maybe that's why he's not an MA anymore?

 

RED!!

 

Sounds like Chili Red wins hands down on the "looking good while unwashed" front. Thanks for all the responses. I'm definitely not completely ruling BRG out just on this count, by the way, it's just one of many things to take into consideration. FWIW, after driving a silver car for 7 years, there's something appealing about a non-metallic color just as a change of pace.

 

My Monte Carlo was silver metallic and you couldn't tell it was dirty until after you washed it. =o) My Cooper is jet black and shows dirt if you breathe on it wrong, but I wanted black, so I put up with it. And wash it a lot. =o)

To me, what makes a car look especially dirty are the wheels. If I am in a rush I'll give the wheels a quick scrub down and the whole car looks better (for a while).

My advice to you is to pick the color you really love looking at the most. Me, I'm a fan of BRG, and red is one of my least favorite colors for an auto or (motor) bike. But that's my opinion and really shouldn't have any bearing on your decision.

Zip

 

Let's see, for a MINI they would be clean for, what? a whole day????

 

I would pick the color that you think looks best. If I were chosing, I'd get BRG. Having said that, there were 2 BRG MINIs parked at the Metro this morning, one clean and the other not. The dirty one looked very dirty. But, it looked like it was not exactly a detailer freak's car in any case. The clean one was not pristine, just not what I'd call dirty, and it looked very good to me.

 

If you don't drive at all that day