It seems that the colors for the exterior of the cars I amt interested in do not come in a solid color paint. For example ultra white is reserved for I believe it's called the GS 350 F.

Even the color red has Mica in it.

I wanted to get a GS 350 in ultra white but that color is not used for the car want. I am of the mind that

I am of the opinion that if I get a new car it should be the way I wanted Colors and options and all. Yes I'm living in the past because it doesn't seem to work that way anymore. Of course if it's a used car you buy the deal and if you don't particularly like some the colors that's to just too bad but with a new car I'm really like to have the options I want.

I should also mention the cars with Micah in the paint can be much harder to touch up and difficult to match if you are spraying a large area. It can also be much more expensive to have a paint with Mica in it because you have to do a number of test shoots to get an acceptable match.

I understand the mica paint is generally referred to as a three stage paint. Color coat, clearcoat with Micah, and clearcoat.

 

Welcome to the world of cost-cutting. In the 1950 through the 1970s, you could get literally dozens of different colors, sometimes with two-tone and even three-tone patterns. Then, the bean counters took over, and the available number of colors and patterns began to drop. It should be noted, though, that, to at least partially-compensate, today's paint jobs are far better in quality than they were back then, having modern clearcoat layers, more smoothness in texture, and resist deterioration and oxidation much better.

If you are looking for solid colors and/or non-metallic/non-mica paint, BMW and Mercedes, among others, still offer some.......and they don't charge extra for them like they do for metallics.

 

The Lexus Ultra White has metallic flakes in it as well.

 

Just get a wrap. There are tons of high level wrap jobs available today that look great, any color/finish you could want.

 

Paint quality in the 1950s through the 1970s was complete and utter crap. Car companies have invested heavily into improving their paint, which coupled with environmental concerns has driven up costs and risks.

So they produce a select palette of colors to please the majority of buyers.

 

The old baked-enamel paint jobs used by Ford and Chrysler had more shine and luster than the acrylic enamel used by GM and AMC, but tended to chip more. The GM and AMC paint jobs didn't chip as easily, but had no durability...they often started to fade in less than one year if not religiously waxed. And ALL of the paint jobs came off in your hand, and on the rag LOL, if you used abrasive wax-cleaners....that was before the days of clearcoat.

 

I'd rather get fewer choices and better paint.

 

I'm not sure that it has ever worked this way. What you seem to want is a bespoke custom built car just for you, and manufacturers really just can't do that on a mass produced car...and never have been able to. As long as I can remember cars have had options in packages, colors and body varieties only available in specific trim levels, etc.

Remember what Henry Ford said? You can have any color you like as long as its black.

The reality is that these are not bespoke or custom cars, they're built on an assembly line according to specific packages and availability, the lines are set up to produce that and its just not feasible for them to deviate from that. Toyota/Lexus as a company is all about efficiency. Customizability is the enemy of efficiency.

Every carmaker other than say, Rolls Royce, or Bentley is this way to a large extent. Mercedes and BMW allow a greater level of customizability and are less rigid about custom orders (Toyota/Lexus doesn't want to do them at all). Maybe you should explore that...

 

As late as the early-80s, "ordering" your car optioned the way you wanted it was still more common from American makes. Of course, now it's extremely rare to "custom" order, and most dealers don't want you to do it. I remember my dad shopping for a car, and looking at Honda and Subaru, and was really annoyed at Honda that he couldn't order the car without an FM radio, or whatever it was, and it was really the "take it or leave it" process of choosing from whatever Honda decided the builds should be--it was his first non-American car.

My dad never let go of that "I don't want a package because I don't need a sunroof" mentality. And yet, he loved buying Hondas--there were no "packages"; they fooled him by calling them "trims."

But the bottom line is, as you note, that building cars this way makes them more affordable overall.

 

1st new car I bought for my wife was a 1986 Honda Prelude Si. Chose between black,red,white or blue, manual or automatic trans. We got black, 1st Honda ever in black paint. Best car we ever owned also, zero problems sold 8 years later with130,k miles & original clutch,starter,alternator.etc. I did replace CV boots.

 

Audi does allow custom paint ordering to a certain extent. A few years ago, there were so many shades of silver and gray it was mind-boggling. Some were standard. Some were custom order. I ordered my '11 S5 Cab in Daytona Gray, which was at that time a $2,500 custom order option. Of course, now they offer it on every model at no cost.

 

Metallic paint is a 2 stage paint. Base is already mixed with metallic particle.
Non-metallic paint is also a 2 stage paint, but no metallic particles are mixed with the base.
Pearlescent paint is a 3 stage color that consists of a solid color base, then a pearl layer, then clearcoat. I believe you are referring to this paint?

You are correct in that old-school colors are much easier to color match for body shops. As far as I know, Lexus doesn't have any solid colors besides their jet black (I believe it's currently called Obsidian and prior to that, Onyx). Due to varying curing temperatures, size of the metallic flakes, and different substrates, metallic paint will almost never match to the original paint (to the trained eye). That's why even on a full car respray, sometimes plastic panels come out looking a different shade due to metal and plastic having different temperatures which effect how deep and how quick the metallic particles settle into the paint during the baking stage.

On the plus side, metallic and pearl paints are alot easier to maintain since they are harder curing than solid paints (provided the same brand of clearcoat is used). Harder paint means it's more resistant to swirls and scratches, not to mention the metallic itself hides a ton of surface imperfections that you would otherwise see on a solid color.

Lexus doesn't have the choice of colors of Ferrari, but talking to a long time client who has owned many Ferraris over the years and ordered many in custom metallic colors said a matte black factory paint on a standard Ferrari costs $50k....so more than some Lexus models. Pretty crazy huh.

 

My old man is the same way. Since I've been alive(I'm 32), he has driven 4 Toyota trucks.

1. A 1985 2wd Xtra cab stripper. 22R, carburater, 5 speed, cloth tilt seat, rubber floor, a/c, manual steering were the options. Drove that to well over 200k when he sold it in 1998. Only reason he sold it was that the kids had grown up and couldn't sit 3 across in this old truck. I learned to drive in that truck.

2. A 1998 T100 Xtra cab. 2wd, auto, V6, red, bucket seats, all the options. Sold it 3 years later because he hated the payment and thought it was dumb to put 25k miles a year on something that wasn't paid off.

3. A 1988 2wd Reg cab. 22R, carburater, carpet, 5 speed, a/c, cloth seat, power steering, chrome trim, cool bright blue metallic paint with SR5 stripe. Great looking, running truck. Bought with 80k miles on it, sold with 150k on it to a family friend. His estranged son ran it into a ditch, right after it had a brand new paint job. I about wanted to strangle that kid, as I was about to buy it back from them.

4. 2004 Tacoma. 2wd, reg cab, 5 speed, 4 cylinder, stripper. Standard is a/c, power steering, carpet, cloth seat, and not much else. He's still driving it, 170k miles.