What color car stays cooler, white or silver?

[BABAR]

We had two cars die on us and are shopping. I have always preferred white as it seems like the best color to keep a vehicle cool. But my wife thinks silver looks better. Currently looking at Accord LX.

 

[Kaycee]

Silver absorbs and white reflects. As far a visibility to others is concerned, silver is close to gray, the same color as the roadway and not as visible as white. White is second only to yellow.

That said, get your wife whatever she wants....

 

[Sooner Boomer]

Look at the older white and silver cars in your area. The other concern I would have is "how long do these colors last?". I had a '97 Honda Accord in silver, and the paint started to "blush" after it was about 5 years old. I've now got a 2003 Saturn with white paint and it's in great shape.

When I was growing up, we had a sail boat. For some reason, Dad got a "bug", bought a gallon of Imron in "Strobe Black" (I think the color was...). He painted all the office furniture and some odds and ends, then painted the sail boat several coats, top and bottom - inside and out, with what was left. This was a very glossy, very deep black, almost like a black hologram, if you can imagine such a thing. You'd think it would make a sail boat impossibly hot (seeing as how you only sail on bright sunny days...), but it was actually cooler than other boats.

 

[ThirstyBarbarian]

I'm not sure a white or silver car is ever really "cool."

 

[Peter Olivola]

Color is immaterial to interior temperature. Air conditioning can keep ahead of anything short of Death Valley.

 

[JMZawodny]

It is not simply the visible color that matters. Ideally, you like to reject absorption of light in the visible and radiate in the infrared. The gasses in the atmosphere block out much of the incoming IR so direct solar heating in the IR is reduced. I'd aim for white in the visible and black in the thermal IR. It would also help if the surface had a low conductivity and mass so it would respond quickly to changes in lighting and not transfer the heat to the bulk of the vehicle. We generally use silver Teflon and MLI. The latter makes a lot of noise going down the road at 65MPH, but it is quiet going 17,000MPH on orbit. You may wish to contact the guy who wrote this.

 

[Zeus-cat]

That said, get your wife whatever she wants....

The best advice on this thread.

 

[BobH48]

I'm not a car washing fanatic and have both a silver car and white pickup. The white one always looks cleaner and unless you park it next to a white car that has been washed, you really can't tell that it's dirty.

 

[DizWolf]

The glass is going to be more important than color.

 

[Oldschool77]

The question should be.. ''What color interior is NOT going to burn my bum when I sit in it after baking in the sun all day!'' Glass tinting/polarizing helps. Other than that, get whatever color exterior you want. Unless you want to fondle your car after baking in the sun, then color makes a little difference.

 

[RocketT.Coyote]

IIRC, radio talk show host Bruce Williams once said that silver is probably the worst color for a car.

 

[K'Tesh]

I'm not sure a white or silver car is ever really "cool."

Sorry, but I'm going to have to disagree with you Thirsty...

 

[GDJ]

In my experience, the colour won't do much to drop the heat, even white.

Best thing you can do is get a real dark tint in the rear windows, and maybe a 5% tint on the side windows directly adjacent to the front driver's and passenger side (if it's legal to do so). Also one of those reflective panels you can put on the dash that go on the inside of the windshield. That will do more to knock the heat down than any colour you get on your car.

 

[belfert]

We did some testing at LDRS at Blackrock this summer with an infrared thermometer. I have a converted bus painted white, gold, and dark green. The dark green sections on a 107 degree day were up to 175 degrees. The white sections were much cooler, but I don't remember the number. We had problems with the air conditioners shutting down around 4 pm when the temperatures peaked. They would start pulling over 20 amps and tripping the breakers.

I won't buy a white car here in Minnesota. They can look real dirty in the winter. I actually like silver vehicles as they don't look quite as dirty in the winter.

 

[boomtube]

All I know is that silver and gray cars are virtually invisible on a foggy day and what with so many idiots on the road that don’t turn on their lights. . .

There was a run of GM products around 1998-2000 where there was some incompatibility between the primer and the white paint GM was using. Many vehicles built during that time frame using that particular white started shedding the paint in big sheets around about the ten year mark.

 

[JPVegh]

White.

 

[GregGleason]

"Black", but only if you are cruising a M 3 at 85 K feet:

The Blackbird is painted with a black paint that consists of a pigmentation containing minute iron balls. These dissipate electro-magnetically-generated energy and effectively lower the chances of the plane being picked up by radar. The special black finish also wards off heat caused by high speeds and actually radiates significantly more friction-generated heat than it absorbs at cruising speeds of Mach 3.

cite: https://www.aero.com/museums/us_space_and_rocket/wmuusr04.htm

IIRC, an engineer said in one of the books I read on the Blackbird something to the effect that "black may be a good heat absorber but it is also a good heat emitter." I guessed it worked well enough in that application.

Greg

 

[bobkrech]

No brainer. Other than the convective and conductive heat transfer due to the ambient air, absorbed sunlight raise the cars temperature.

White paints absorb <10% of sunlight so the heat input is limited. Grey or silver paint absorbs ~ 30% of the sunlight. Black paint absorbs >85% of sunlight. All paints have an emissivity >80% in the infrared.

Tinted glass also prevents sun light from getting inside and reduces the interior heat load. White or light interior colors also reduce the temperature.

Want a cool car? Get a white car with tinted windows and a light color interior.

Want an oven? Get a black car with a black interior and untinted windows. Put your sunglasses on the dash and they will melt.

Bob

 

[Getmore]

Black cars in Florida don't rust.

 

[BABAR]

Thanks guys. Got the white.