POLL: Wrapping a 2018 Clarity

I received my 2018 Honda Clarity Touring from CarMax with a pristine interior about 10 days ago. Unfortunately the exterior paint has had a few bumps along the way. This Saturday my good buddy is doing a full paint reconditioning to clean it up...but here's the thing. There are 4 silver cars parked in my driveway today, and it's too darn many!



Due to the lackluster nature of the paint, this car was ~4k less than its comps in the inventory I could reach. As a former CM employee, I know if something sits in their inventory more than 45 days, they start listing it for less... and I'm pretty sure I got it for cost or below. Hence, I am paying that extra dough forward to giving this car its second life, and I'm going to wrap the whole car in a new color.

I want something blue or green, or a little bit of both. I've asked my work friends to help me narrow down my choices, but I figured since I am now a part of this lovely community, y'all can help as well.

SO, the Tesla (not mine) is wrapped in 3M Satin Thundercloud. It's a nice grey with a bit of blue, just like a...thundercloud I really like the subtle blue... My Prius Prime was Magnetic blue, which was a little too bright for me.


The Infiniti (again, not mine) is wrapped in ORACAL Moonlight Matte Metallic. This is a darker grey, and in the light the metal flake catches stronger blues and subtle greens.


Finally, Oracal makes a straight hunter green gloss called Juniper (and I really wish the Deco Chevy was mine). I feel a little more on the fence with this color, but I really do like green. Maybe it's because it looks less like a 'custom' color? There aren't enough green cars in the world!


So what should it be? I'm sure I'd be happy driving it with any of these and it's a tough call.

 

Already did! The photo's a few days old, sorry.

 

Thanks everyone, I'm digging the feedback!

Juniper is the darkest green I could find! There is also green fir tree metallic, which I've considered.

Soft lighting makes the rolling corners look kind of grey-green. It also seems to pick up much more blue in direct sun. While it isn't like the more psychedelic flip colors, the subtle differences kind of what made this a 'finalist' for me.

See my comments on the first one above. The midnight metallic also seems to act really different in direct light. Rvinyl describes it as 'so dark blue that it looks black'. But it looks more like a charcoal gray in the sample pic. Then again, here it is under stronger lighting.


Fwiw, the 'gloss' version looks even more blue than this.

 

Satin thundercloud:


Moonlight metallic matte:


Juniper:


Bonus fir tree metallic:

 

I don't think any wrap will make it look like that!

I remember why the fir green wasn't in my list of original picks: it's out of stock everywhere.

 

I just found out about Hexis vinyl wrap, a friend in the industry recommended it if I am looking to DIY. It is about 1/3 the cost of the other options. I found a nice dark green that I really like. To be thorough, I am ordering a piece of all 5 colors. I'm going to wrap some small items before I tackle a whole project, I'll post results here.

 

If I goof, at least the goof comes off pretty easily.

Mild disclaimer here: my original post may be misleading...as I am not spending $4k to get the car wrapped professionally. When I buy an appropriate-sized roll, it will cost $500-$1200. I'm not going for the really expensive color-shifting or simulated candy/chrome wraps.

I have never wrapped a car... about ten years ago I did work for a sign shop and most of the work we did was 2D/flat. I did get some experience there wrapping some small and medium items. I will probably experiment with wrapping some of the small parts first, such as door handles, trim pieces, logos etc. and if goes well I will go for wrapping the full car. I have friends in the industry who have been nothing but encouraging; we're all makers, hobbyists and general DIYers.

After rubbing shoulders with the buyers at CarMax for a couple of years, I learned that repainting your car equals instant depreciation. We had bought a few wrapped cars, and they neither depreciate or appreciate in value, except for certain cars. Tesla may be good, Porsche may be bad for the value etc.

I just want to assert that I'm not going in blind or in a huge hurry. And, I'm not wrapping it in purple!

 

From left to right, in direct sunlight: juniper, moonlight metallic matte, Sherwood green, fir green metallic, satin thundercloud.


Indirect incandescent light:


Direct light (flash):


I'm glad I bought small pieces. The fir green isn't as dark as it looked in pictures and video. The Sherwood is darkest green, is more saturated, and I didn't expect it to be metallic as well!

So the juniper ends up being the only 'flat' color in the mix. Also there isn't as big a difference in person between gloss, satin, and matte colors as I thought there would be.

 

I was leaning toward that, even though it wasn't among the original 3 picks, they do look different in person.

Really it's down to the fir green or the Sherwood, but I think the Sherwood might be a little easier to position and apply. Tomorrow I'm going to hunt around for small things to wrap!

Found another pic of a Sherwood green car that seems to be truer to what my eye sees: