chromedome

I've seen a few new ES cars in a shade I've never seen before. It's like a light gray with a touch of copper and an amazing sheen that makes the paint look liquid. I played with the online configurator and the color looks closer to Atomic Silver than Nebula Gray.

I thought the Starfire Pearl on my car was shiny but this new color makes the ES stand out a mile away. Anyway, I'm also wondering if Eminent Pearl replaces Starfire.

jollick

Yes, Atomic Silver is awesome and a great sheen. Starfire was replaced with Eminent Pearl.

chromedome

Such a gorgeous paint. I wonder if it has even more layers than Starfire because it has so much depth, even on an overcast day. It's like the kind of paint you'd find on a Ferrari or Audi R8 than a plain ES.

jollick

I believe that Starfire is a 3 step and Atomic is a 5 step paint process. Others here can correct me if I am wrong.

lesz

Yes, that is correct. It is a 5 stage color.

It really is a gorgeous color. The depth and liquid-like look are spectacular, but it is a nightmare color if you ever need paint work, whether major or minor.

I've talked with the body shop technician who has done work for me for years, and, when I mentioned the Atomic Silver to him, he immediately expressed dread with regard to the possibility of having to do work on an atomic silver vehicle. Three stage white pearls are hard enough to work with, but, with the 5-stage Atomic Silver having a base color coat, multiple metallic coats, and the clear coat, every stage has to be perfect to get a decent color match. Not only does each stage need to exact right color, but applying a bit too much or a bit too little paint in each stage will make the final color look like a completely different color. More often than not, getting an even acceptable match requires multi-stage blending of the new color far into adjacent panels. And trying to use touch-up paint to repair even tiny stone nicks is, more likely than not, going to result in a repair that sticks out like a sore thumb. While we all think/hope that we are never going to need paint work, things do happen, both major and minor, and the Atomic Silver is definitely not a color for anyone who has a good eye for paint color matches and who, if paint work is needed, will only accept a virtually undetectable repair.

There was a thread on this board several months ago started by someone who, with an Atomic Silver ES, had hail damage that required some new panels and paint refinishing and who ended up with a real nightmare in trying to get the repairs done satisfactorily.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/es-...amage-and.html

bc6152

Found an interesting factoid on Edmunds. Put in my car - 2013 Lux edition ES 350 - for a trade-in appraisal amount and found that my color - Satin Cashmere - DEDUCTS from it's value but Nebula Gray and Atomic Silver ADDS to it's value. So apparently the gray/silver is very popular whereas the Cashmere isn't...

SAPD was the member with the hail damage and ongoing problem with paint matching. Don't know how that turned out.

TechNut

We love our Atomic Silver but the paint seems to be a bit more delicate than the Nebula Gray was on our former RX. It scratches very easily. Highly recommend the clear bra for anyone considering that color.

I do agree that it is a unique color, not the typical silver. In certain lighting, you really see the earth tone hue come out.

chromedome

Maybe the clear coat is just as hard as other colors but the underlying dark, metallic layers make it easier to see scratches. I have some swirls on my pearl white car that can only be seen up close under bright light. I saw an Atomic Silver ES at sunset and it gleamed like gold... Gorgeous. Just don't scratch it

As for the painting process, how is it done by robots if there's no set recipe for each intermediate layer? Wouldn't each Atomic Silver car come out looking slightly different?

lesz

I'm sure that there is a set formula for each stage with a 5-stage finish, but there are a couple of factors that make refinishing a 5-stage color (or even a 3-stage color, such as a pearl white) much more difficult than a 2 stage metallic or, especially, a non-metallic color.

First, even if the paint for each stage is a perfect match for what it should be, applying a bit too much or a bit too little of the paint in any stage can make the color and the depth of the finish look quite different. In the factory, obviously, there is much more control with regard to applying the proper amount of paint in each stage than there is at a body shop.

If you buy paint to paint a room in your house and if you buy multiple gallons of paint and if some came from a different lot than others, there can be color variation from one gallon to the next. Similarly, even with paint used when a vehicle is being painted in the factory, there can be small variations from one batch of paint to another. That is why body shop paint technicians paint a test sample on a small piece of sheet metal before applying any paint to the vehicle. That tells them if they need to make any adjustments to the formula to get a good match. With a 2-stage metallic, it is much easier to make proper adjustments, if needed, than it is with a multi-stage finish. And, even if the test sample looks good, there is no guarantee that the exact same amount of paint is going to be applied in each stage on the vehicle as was applied on the test sample