What if I could paint a car Vanta-Black?

[60six]

Vanta Black is a paint which absorbs 99.9% of light - making it the blackest black in the world.

Any picture of it just looks like someone cut out the object from the picture - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vantablack

Now I really have to have a car this colour - but apparently there would be problems.

It would get knocked into all the time as you wouldn't be able to see the edges anywhere - and not only that, you wouldn't see any damage either - you could only feel that it's there. Park it somewhere at night and you may have to wait until morning ....

Nobody has painted a car in this colour yet, but I have no doubt that it will be copied by someone in China and then sold cheap.

Apparently it would be like an optical illusion - in the video below a crumpled piece of tin foil has been coated. Can you imagine a car in this? It's gotta be done.

[waveman1500]

Sounds like the spaceship which crashes into the sun from The Restaurant at the End of the Universe.

"‘It’s the wild colour scheme that freaks me out,’ said Zaphod, whose love affair with the ship had lasted almost three minutes into the flight. 'Every time you try and operate these weird black controls that are labeled in black on a black background, a little black light lights up in black to let you know you’ve done it.’"

[mashedpot8er]

You might have to wait a while to get your hands on it

Artist / sculptor, Anish Kapoor has got exclusive rights to it apparently. Its in good hands though, expect something big and epic using it in the future.

www.dezeen.com/2016/03/02/anish-kapoor-exclusive-rights-vantablack-blackest-black-pigment/

[wagoneer]

I think I saw a Ferrari painted with this. When I say 'think' that's because it looked more like a Ferrari shaped hole in the universe. Weird.

[Littlepixel]

Sounds a bit like the space-invader aliens in 'Attack the Block'
I for one would love a whole barrel of this paint (if Anish would allow us mortals to use it) - sooo many applications - not just murdered-out cars

[lufbramatt]

Don't think it's something you could stick in a rattle can!

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vertically_aligned_carbon_nanotube_arrays

[Deleted]

^^
Guess covering your car in acetone and parking it in the freezer is just the first step then.....😁😁😁

[Colonelk]

Love to see how hot it gets inside in summer as well haha, absorbing all that light energy

[fad]

I think you would be very disappointed with the result of painting a car with it. You would lose every single detail of it. It would just be a black hole where your car should be.

[Littlepixel]

SF5 Forester would look super-mean tho...

[Del]

There is now a sprayable version of Vantablack - www.surreynanosystems.com/vantablack.
But in their FAQ:

Can I apply Vantablack to my car?
Though this would undoubtedly result in an amazing looking motor, unfortunately the limitations of Vantablack in respect of direct impact or abrasion would make this an impractical proposition for most people. It would also be incredibly expensive.

[awoo]

be good for details at least

[Littlepixel]

Just a follow up on this - seems there's a competitor to Vantablack coming out
www.dezeen.com/2017/08/16/nanolab-releases-singularity-black-paint-rival-anish-kapoor-vantablack-design-news/

Would love some of this one day - so good for painting behind grilles / engine bay / door b-pillars

[fad]

"the paint itself is somewhat fragile, and also requires several coats and baking at high temperatures in order to bind the paint to its surface. This makes its potential usage is limited."

Booo

[madmog]

I think carbon nanotubes might be very dangerous to inhale.

In the meantime, as Anish Kapoor annoyed lots of artists by getting exclusive rights to artistic use of Vanta black, other artists have fought back.

stuartsemple.com/projects/black-v1-0-beta-worlds-mattest-flattest-black-art-material/

[strikey]

guarantee you will see a bugatti or lambo done in this by some arab or other with more money than taste.....just because they can!!

*would it make rust invisible to an mot tester? ... just a thought!

[andyborris]

Mar 27, 2017 9:59:33 GMT fad said:

I think you would be very disappointed with the result of painting a car with it. You would lose every single detail of it. It would just be a black hole where your car should be.

Saw a car, (Porsche SUV, I think!), painted in this type of paint today. On the M25 no less!

Very strange, basically a set of lights and windows on a flat hole, actually hurt my eyes! I also wonder how easy it'd be to find the door handles......

[hillbilly]

Mar 27, 2017 17:54:11 GMT @automatik said:

Mar 27, 2017 15:08:15 GMT Littlepixel said:

SF5 Forester would look super-mean tho...

grizz´s prozingo wouldn´t really win tho...

A cheap version would be a black fuzzy felt wrap. That’s what the Prozac looks like in this photo. Or that dash flock stuff

[Littlepixel]

I think the best use on cars for vantablack would be for all the bits you don't want to see - so imagine painting the ancillaries behind the radiator grille, inside the wheel arches, even the shocks and springs - yes they'd get dirty but when clean the bright work and things you want to see - rims, chrome etc would really pop.

ie: the red bits behind this anglia grille would look 'correct' if painted in vantablack as the visible hole for the actual radiator would extend to the edges as the designers clearly intended.

[Del]

This thread popped into my head last night while I couldn't sleep, and a couple of things came to mind.
Firstly, it appears that, like so many other things, Douglas Adams foretold of something similar to Vanta Black in The Hitch-Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy:

Zaphod's attention however was elsewhere. His attention was riveted on the ship standing next to Hotblack Desiato's limo. His mouths hung open.

"That," he said, "that ... is really bad for the eyes ..."

Ford looked. He too stood astonished.

It was a ship of classic, simple design, like a flattened salmon, twenty yards long, very clean, very sleek. There was just one remarkable thing about it.

"It's so ... black!" said Ford Prefect, "you can hardly make out its shape ... light just seems to fall into it!"

Zaphod said nothing. He had simply fallen in love.

The blackness of it was so extreme that it was almost impossible to tell how close you were standing to it.

"Your eyes just slide off it ..." said Ford in wonder. It was an emotional moment. He bit his lip.

Zaphod moved forward to it, slowly, like a man possessed - or more accurately like a man who wanted to possess. His hand reached out to stroke it. His hand stopped. His hand reached out to stroke it again. His hand stopped again.

"Come and feel the surface," he said in a hushed voice.

Ford put his hand out to feel it. His hand stopped.

"You ... you can't ..." he said.

"See?" said Zaphod, "it's just totally frictionless. This must be one mother of a mover ..."

And secondly, you'd have to constantly be quoting Nigel Tufnel from Spinal Tap: