Here in Houston Ike came through and ravaged most of the town and the surrounding areas. Me and my family were remarkably unhurt but when i inspected my mini later after all the drama had subsided i found that the whole right side of the car's paint had been etched with some sort of lime-scale. I contacted my insurance company and they came out to assess the damage. The nice lady wrote me a check on the spot. Then after crunching the numbers i realized that the check enabled me to re-paint my whole car. I have always wanted a matte/flat black paint job on any car i have ever owned and after talking with some paint guys i found out that this was an option. So the main question i pose to members of NAM

Fix the damage keep it Astro Black

Repaint the whole car Flat black

 

Thankfully only the paint was damaged! Although flat black looks great on some cars, I think that astro black looks much nicer on a mini.

 

Thank you for replying. I agree Astro looks a a lot nicer on the mini but phantasms made flat look so good

 

Go Flat and don't look back.

 

Perhaps you should re-paint the damaged part astro black and then get a flat black car wrap. That way, if you ever get sick of flat black, you can go back to astro black!

 

Nows your chance.. go flat black. If you don't do it now you probably never will!

 

don't you love getting to milk the system?

I think flat black looks good big SUVs with sharp angles...makes 'em look like an F-117.

If you DO go flat black, I think EVERYTHING needs to be flat black...like the batmobile, or an F-117. Logos, trim, wheels, and all...

My final verdict: DO IT. I'm really curious to see pictures...

 

once you go flat you'll never go back.

 

Garage 419 i think it was did it, it looks sick, do it! i can pretend your car is mine haha

 

The way the process was described to me, they sand off the clear coat, do touch-up paint, then respray the clear coat with a flatter in so i can still do basic paint maintenance with out using a rattle can of krylon. (ei waxing and washing) If i do the respray i might even have some money left over for exhaust or ecu. (bonus)............ But this is my grown-up car?

 

Go flat and post photos!

 

Ehh who cares.. as long as your not driving clients around or something it doesnt matter.

 

Going flat black will kill the resale value (if that's a concern).

 

IMHO, I don't like the Astro..... Go flat!

Besides, it makes it easier to run from the cops at night with you lights out

 

I've got an AB/AB myself and I've always been intrigued with Flat Black after seeing what Fireballed Tim did. I think if you did do it, you'd end up doing other things as well. Like blackening out the chrome, maybe flat red stripes, who know where it could lead. Could be lots of fun ...

Go for it. It's all about having fun isn't it ?!

 

I love the Astro, but flat has many more graphical advantages. Astro is a tricky color to put stripes or any type of graphic on.

You have the money. Change it up! Maybe even two tone it. Flat black body, another flat color roof?

 

Flat Black

 

Astro Black is the colour that's really a dark metallic blue, right?

If the paint shop is just talking about scuffing the clearcoat and spraying a new clearcoat with flattening agent added to it, you won't end up with matte black - you'll end up with a flattened version of the colour you have now.

Before you have the car re-painted at all, you might want to check with a professional detailer. If the lime scale (or whatever it is) hasn't etched very deep into the clearcoat, you might be able to have it polished out for a few hundred dollars and just pocket the rest of the check. Check the terms of both your insurance policy and your car loan (if you have one), but generally, you're not required to spend the entire amount of the insurance payout while having the car repaired if you've found a cheaper way to repair the damage (or are just willing to live with the damage).

 

Hey thanks Scott. I didn't know if it sounded right either.

 

OK so i talked to my guy and he said that yes the original color is still underneath but when you add a black flatten to the clear coat it acts like another layer of paint so if i ever did want to go back to astro all i would have to do would be just remove the clear coat the re spray a clear-clear coat. Apparently most cars have a 2 stage paint system, base and clear. The only way to make a flat/matte job come out ok is to do just a single stage. This would be a pain every time you pick up a small scratch or little rock chip. It would be like he added another color to the clear coat to give a mult color effect like a chameleon paint job but the top coat doesn't let the other layer show through. It is diffidently a new concept to me http://www.rodandcustommagazine.com/...obs/index.html but hot rod guys make it work for their rides.

 

And even still a flat blue/black paint job would kinda kick *** still

 

definitely no.

if you're going to get it repainted, satin black.

the best option imo would be to repaint the car a normal jet black.

 

i agree - paint it a real black - i dont like the astro black much IMO.


although..... matte black is pretty sick. i saw garage 419s mini - it looked really sharp in the matte.

 

is Orange an option?

 

Do Jet black w/ a phosphorescent pearl overcoat (something like House of Kolor's KLG)