I need a good low maintenance colour that is going to look good. Nothing fancy, just fairly basic colours. I might just go for flat black or olive drab/camo (spray gun not cans) but I would prefer something a bit more eyecatching, but not blinding like orange or lime green. This is going to be a "hardcore" 4x4 that is mainly for off-road, with little highway use. Ideas?

Try astral gold, it catches the eyes yet it is not overly flashy.

I'm painting mine Xterra orange. It happens to be the subtractive opposite of the dark blue that my interior is made of. Try to pick something that will complement your interior color.

 

GD

Always liked a dark Gunmetal grey metallic.

Perhaps a Forrest Green?

Dark colors are high maintaince, though Ie; they show dirt & scratches.

If this a trail rig, you might consider a line-x type bedliner paint job. comes in many colors, but is much pricier than paint.

 

My .02

Prerunner trucks usually use white or grey because it doesn't show scratches as much. Probably a light blue would do the same thing.

Hmm

 

-gunmetal and bedliner or aluminum plating

 

-White w blue stripes, blue wheels

 

-Flat black

 

-Camo

 

-Olive drab

 

So far these are my thoughts, btw I have a grey interior

I'm also a big fan of flat black. Nearly half the vehicles I have owned have gotten sprayed in it.

Flat black is nearly impossible to keep looking good, like it does after it's newly painted. However, IMO, the patina it takes on after use/abuse is attractive in it's own right. Like Olive Drab, it almost looks better the worse it gets. Currently, my soob is camo'd and it is holding up very well. Dirt and scratches get lost in the field. Also a somewhat less than professional spray job looks much better in a flat color. Ie; you can make a few mistakes, and get away with it.

 

Luckily, the grey interior will go well with most any color choice.

Eyesore, do you have more pix of your Wagon? I'd love to see some.

 

-Brian

I have old photos when it was flat black, but most are to big for the boards size posting limitations (too many bytes). If someone can give me a crash course in how to re-size them, I'd love to post them up!

Somewhere on the old board, pics of the midwest gathering were posted, and there were some good shots of it in her current camo paint. Perhaps the owner of those photos could re post them for me? (don't remember who took them...McBrat? Tim? Shawn? )

If you upload them to the USMB gallery, they will be resized automaticly. Let me know if you want a login and an album.

 

-Brian

Yes, please!!

I'm rather fond of Mica Red Pearl, but it scratches badly. Perhaps something like Harvest Beige or Cream Yellow would hide scratches while showing mud...if you're going for a not-so-subtle off-roader look. I think Mild Yellow, WR Blue and Sonic Yellow are probably the most, er, provocative colors Subaru has come out with, and the olivey-grey stuff on the new Legacies the most boring (aren't most Camrys that color beige?)

If I go for color I'll be custom mixing the colour myself from marine enamel, which has shown itself as very durable and very cheap. So I doubt I'd be able to figure out Subaru colors. I too have painted many cars flat black. The trick to getting it clean is to wash it with wd 40. Leaves it a nice deep flat black, though the smoothed and slightly grayed finish that the paint wears to does look nice too.