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Gen 4 Black Shiny Dash

Discussion in 'Gen 4 Prius Main Forum' started by padroo, Dec 21, 2017.

  1. padroo

    padroo Senior Member

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    My 2016 Prius 4 is Midnight Black Metallic paint on the outside.

    My wife noticed the other day that the shiny black dash trim isn't just black, it looks like the same color paint on the outside of the car. It you put a light right up to it it actually has dark blue metallic in it. Is it just mine because that is the exterior color or not.
     
  2. alanclarkeau

    alanclarkeau Senior Member

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    I've a friend who is an artist - he maintains that PURE Black is impossible to achieve. I suspect that "gloss black" is also a contradiction of terms to a Physicist.

    I'm neither an artist, nor a physicist though.
     
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  3. goldfinger

    goldfinger Active Member

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    To bad dust is white.

    A black hole comes close to perfect black body. Hawking radiation screws this up. Your best earthly approximation to a black body is carbon black. I would just stick with the glossy finish.
     
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  4. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    The piano black trim looks black to me but I've never taken a flashlight up to it so I can't confirm.

    However, I can confirm that Midnight Black Metallic is not pure black. It looks dark blue or dark green under certain lighting conditions because of the metallic flakes.

    Toyota's flat black paint is simply called "Black" or "Obsidian Black". The other blacks are metallic or pearlescent. (e.g. Black Sand Pearl or Midnight Black Metallic/Attitude Black Metallic).
     
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  5. alanclarkeau

    alanclarkeau Senior Member

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    True - but they're quite rare down here - one hasn't turned up in my lifetime. And I don't think I want to be around if one does.

    I remember when LED TVs came the discussion about the superior blacks of PLASMA compared with LCD - to me I couldn't see much difference, but then, I don't watch much TV.

    I understand PURE black wouldn't reflect anything at all with flash photography.

    This article is about a material which is only 99.96% black - somewhere else I read that they suspect they'll never achieve a full 100% black, and that ".. To stare at the "super black" coating ... is an odd experience. It is so dark that the human eye cannot understand what it is seeing. Shapes and contours are lost, leaving nothing but an apparent abyss ...".

    'World's Blackest Black' Outdone By Even Blacker Black

    Meanwhile - back to the PRIUS - I don't like the black. I much prefer the WHITE console - it hasn't shown any dust in 18 months, whereas the black needs dusting at least twice a week.
     
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  6. Since2002

    Since2002 Senior Lurker

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    Very black car paint exists, but the pigments are very expensive, and of course to achieve the blackest color possible it contains only the expensive black pigment. Thus this type of paint is very expensive, mainly used for black racing stripes and such.

    The more common lower cost pigments can have a bit of brown in them, which you don't see as brown but it does reduce the blackness somewhat. In fact I have heard the term "dirty" to describe black paint that has a little bit of brown in it.

    TV's also have always struggled with black, and you pay extra for TV's that produce the deepest blacks. The new OLED TV's have remarkable capability in this regard, do a side by side comparison next time you are in a store that has an OLED set on display and you will see what I mean. Yes we digress but it's an interesting topic, the technical challenges of something which seems like it would be simple
     
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  7. kithmo

    kithmo Couch Potato

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    As far as I'm concerned:
     
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  8. padroo

    padroo Senior Member

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    WOW, I forgot why I started this thread. lol
     
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  9. alanclarkeau

    alanclarkeau Senior Member

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    Wait till you get old - I can walk to the kitchen, get there and ... WHY am I here.
     
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  10. tucatz

    tucatz Active Member

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    The panio black trim around the center console and the two wings does indeed have flecks of blue mixed into The lasting It’s only noticeable under certain bright light conditions. The white tray also has some sort of pearlesence.
     
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  11. Diemaster

    Diemaster Active Member

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    i noticed this too in my prime. as soon as there is a black apllicate for the steering wheel and shifter on ebay (or elsewhere) that has these color specks in it and replicates the same color specks in the dash, THEN i'll get the ebay units to swap out the white.

    i might have a way to make the stock white pieces black. im working on the details. just not to the point im ready to tear my 2 month old prime apart yet. :notworthy:

    as for the true black. they have made a true black, or as close as i believe were ever going to get, called Vantablack.
     
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  12. padroo

    padroo Senior Member

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    This is the answer I was waiting for. I didn't notice the white tough. I am not noted for my keen powers of observation. lol
     
  13. padroo

    padroo Senior Member

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    How old are we old one? Not in dog years. lol
     
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  14. alanclarkeau

    alanclarkeau Senior Member

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    64. My older friends tell me it's a case of increasing returns - returning to where you started to work out why you went there.
     
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  15. padroo

    padroo Senior Member

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    64 is just a number. It could be worse if it were your IQ. lol
     
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  16. RCO

    RCO Senior Member

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    It's the reverse of Valentino Rossi's racing number, not that that helps in any way!
     
  17. alanclarkeau

    alanclarkeau Senior Member

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    As long as my last 20 years aren't like:
    upload_2017-12-28_22-20-40.png
     
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  18. RCO

    RCO Senior Member

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    How dare you! Where did you get that sketch of me? :ROFLMAO:
     
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  19. padroo

    padroo Senior Member

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    Yea, I thought only old people drove a Prius but there are exceptions.

    When I get old I might buy another one.
     
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  20. kithmo

    kithmo Couch Potato

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    Wisdom comes with age ;)
     
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