-
Want to remove ads? Register an account and login to see fewer ads, and become a Supporting Member to remove almost all ads.
Yeah considering white is the most popular colour in Oz, only about 25% are white so far. Weighting may increase as the rest are unloaded.
I'm sure there will be a decent amount of White with Black interior Gemini MY LR's in the first LR shipment to make up for it.
Last edited:
Whilst white is popular as it’s the only no additional cost option, only the red and white are multi coat paints. Everyone will have their own reasons for their colour choice. For me it’s between red and white due to the multi coat paint.As I like the white and not the red it’s white for me plus it’s a good safe colour, reflects heat and won’t be polarising at resale time. That’s said it’s a shame there are so many white ones so if there are less in this shipment that’s good.
Variety is good and I don't have any issues with white, it's a nice pearl white, I suspect there will just be a heavy weighting towards the white with black in the first batch of MY LR's due to the Fringe Benefit Tax exemption limit - it's the only cost option that fits under the threshold for those leasing until the ZLEV LCT threshold is revised up with indexation (possibly in July) to allow for different paint, wheels or interior and still fit under the limit.
Personally went blue/white which might be why mine arrived so early after order.
Yes most LR will be white due to tax concessions on novated leasing unless Tesla drops the price or lct limits rise.
I think the white looks nicer up closer than it does from further away from what I've seen. It's a bit like my Mrs white car, from a distance it looks like a plain flat white until you get closer and see the pearl when light hits it. I did consider the white but was concerned about the claims of it being softer paint that stone chips easier and I personally just have a habit of buying blue cars over the years. I suspect the white isn't really any softer than any of the other colours (other than red), it's probably just noticed more on the white and because it's likely the most common paint colour you hear the complaints about it from owners more often than the other colours.
This guy just leaning on the car. I’m at the wharf at the moment, they’ve got 10 people moving the cars so it’s working out to be a car a minute atm
I'm just going to pretend the blue/white at the end of the row is mine.
Actually looks quite good from a distance without the gemini caps on.
Not sure where the idea that the white paint is soft came from? Its a multicoat paint so it like the red paint, has an extra layer compared to black, blue and grey. My M3P is a white multicoat and I have had no issues with it.
Multi coat paint actually has another layer before the clear. There is a very small increase in cost and labor but more room to extract additional charge to the end customer. Often referred to as Pearl. Painting the multi coat white is basically a nonmetallic white base-coat, then a metallic white and then the clear. You basically use 2 separate paints then the traditional clear.
I didn't say it was, has just been a complaint I have read where some people think it's softer for some reason because they "think" it chips easier when in reality it's probably just showing deeper chips more obviously than may be noticeable on a darker paint. I can't recall seeing many chips on my darker cars but I always noticed the chips more on my white cars - that's possibly where some people get this Tesla soft paint idea from.
The story regarding the white paint is supposed to be that flat black was to be the base (no additional cost paint and is in many Asian countries) however Tesla Engineers convinced Elon in the early days (when the M3s were coming out of Freemont USA) that white was better at hiding defects than black and so it was better to produce white cars rather than black ones and have heaps of warranty claims. We are lucky that Tesla has not changed this policy for Australia (as in Singapore) as the pearl white is a higher cost option than the flat black.Multi coat paint actually has another layer before the clear. There is a very small increase in cost and labor but more room to extract additional charge to the end customer. Often referred to as Pearl. Painting the multi coat white is basically a nonmetallic white base-coat, then a metallic white and then the clear. You basically use 2 separate paints then the traditional clear.
The major issue with the pearl white paint has been colour discrepancies (shade and tonal mismatch) between bumpers and metal painted parts and as you said with paint chips on bumpers that are produced in the native dark grey/black plastic . FWIW M3 production originally included a light silver metallic and a black pearlescent colour but these were dropped to the five colour options we now have to rationalise production costs early on. They never made it to Australian M3 or MY production.
Yup, plenty of YouTube videos showing that, is it more of a Fremont/Texas issue than Shanghai and Berlin though?
Black paint standard in a hot climate like ours and forcing people to pay a lot extra for white would not have won any friends.
Sorry - dragging thread OT.
The original "soft paint" concerns arose from the early production builds out of Freemont along with all of the panel gap mismatch critiscms. However I am not sure this was really that true as there was lots of 'Tesla bashing" going on and there seemed to be a resonable amount of 'noise" about the same sorts of issues from other car makers. Tesla was just the new kid and was always going to cop lots of criticism from ICE manufactures and fans. Certainly my Freemont M3 arrived in impeccable condition and if anything I was more critical at delivery (on the back of a flat bed then) than I would have been if not for all of the "poor quality " babble. However that said I may have been lucky as I did see some with bad panel mismatches around doors etc.
With the change to Chinese production for Australian cars quality complaints (including paint issues) have largely died down due to improved quality control and a far superior factory and manufacturing process from the largely "handbuilt" cars out of Freemont.
Blue heaven
Fair Dinkum Tesla
Some early cars from California had less than satisfactory paint, those In the business of milking every last dollar out of gullible Tesla owners selling aftermarket treatments are keen for that narrative to continue. Cars should be driven and enjoyed, if not they‘re just a money pit.
Filling in time whilst we wait for next exciting installment from the docks. Roll on drone shots and car carriers please. Its exciting times.
Similar threads
