Is it true that white car paint will eventually turn yellowish?

Question

I have heard that white car paint turns a bit yellowish, but never really saw a convincing evidence or explanation for it.

So, is it true? And why?

If you're not whitening, you're yellowing! – cnst Jun 22 '13 at 05:43 — cnst, Jun 22 '13 at 05:43

score 6 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 16 '12 at 11:33

6

With any paint, there will be a degree of fading and yellowing from the UV radiation present in sunlight.

If you look at old cars which have been left in the sun, they look uneven in colour and often quite faded. This is normally repaired by cutting away the "dead" and faded layer of paint.

With modern paints this effect is reduced compared to older paints, but they will still fade over time. This gives problems when cars are resprayed after accident damage, as there is normally a visible difference in the colour between panels.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UV_degradation

answered Jul 16 '12 at 11:33

Diamond

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Are you kidding me? I thought today's modern paints don't degrade or if they do it takes like 10 years before you can see any difference??? – Dan Jul 09 '15 at 16:32
They do take a long time, but depending on the quality of paint used it might be as little as 5-10 years. – Diamond Nov 19 '15 at 11:02

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 08 '22 at 19:58

Yes, overtime this is will happen as UV will change color of your car over the years. Some are formulated with pigments to hold out longer. Some technologies with certain resin/pigment combinations will hold out better. It's all relative to exposure location as well.

Is it true that white car paint will eventually turn yellowish?

2 Answers2