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What causes the colour to fade on cars, especially red?

What causes the paintwork on a car to fade? Red seems to be particularly bad for this.

Asked on 21 November 2017 by Andrew Bennett

Answered by Honest John
Oxidation of the surface of the paint. This was much more common before solid colours such as red were clearcoated to help prevent surface oxidation, but, as you know, it's quite common for the surface clearcoat lacquer to peel off and for the paint to fade. All colour coats now have to be water-based paint. The EU 'environmental' rules on this have created a huge business in aftermarket wax and ceramic coating of cars the environmental effects of which are not clear.
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