We can change the color of our cell phones in an instant. Surely we can do the same for our car. Any way this could be done on the fly? Perhaps thermo-chromic paint?

Situation: I love my red convertible. But like everyone else around me, I'm driving 10 mph (about 16 kph?) over the speed limit. Who do the cops stop? Me. Simply because my car is red. If I could hook up the color-change to a police radar detector, it could instantly change to a more cop-friendly green or blue. As soon as I'm out of range, I'm back to red. Never having to change speeds.

Other uses: Blind date. tell them you are arriving in a blue sedan. Arrive in a white sedan and check her out. If she's hot, you circle back around and arrive in the blue sedan.

Many wonderful possibilities, why do we not have this ability yet?
-- globaltourniquet, Apr 18 2001

Existing Thermochromic Car Paint suggestion. http://www.halfbake...20Sensitive_20Paint
[jutta, Apr 18 2001]

Helicone Pigments http://www.nrc.de/c...e/presse_aktuell/05
for absterge. Unfortunately, the link is in German, and discusses only the pigments, not car paint, and has no pictures, but that's the best I can do for now. [beauxeault, Apr 18 2001, last modified Oct 21 2004]

BASF are on this. http://web2.iadfw.net/robmu/colors.html
Here is an announcement for paint that changes with the lighting. [jetckalz, Apr 29 2002, last modified Oct 21 2004]

Trippin' LLC's Trippin' Color Changing Paint http://www.trippininc.com/
A very interesting link from [cegallo]. [bristolz, Oct 17 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004]

Alsa Corp's Xposures® Heat Reactive Chameleon Paint http://www.alsacorp...epaint_prodinfo.htm
Not quite the same as the offering from Trippin', but interesting, and expensive. The other products they offer are fanciful as well. [bristolz, Oct 17 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004]

(??) Color Changing Thermochromice & Chameleon Paints http://www.thecoatingstore.com/
This company has affordable chameleon paints and thermochromic powders that looks really nice. [KustomKat, Oct 27 2010]

"BMW unveils car that can change color" (2023) https://techxplore....mw-unveils-car.html
Concept car with color changing panels. The 6+ minute video completely fails to do anything with that. I mean, anything at all. They had zero ideas. They had negative ideas and needed to add Arnold Schwarzenegger in a Zeus costume *and* David Hasselhoff just to get to zero ideas. [jutta, Jan 06 2023]

I don't think its unfeasible, [x]2. Maybe an electrosensitive paint that changes color when you tickle it with a small AC current at a particular frequency? Heck, GlobalTourniquet, figure out how to make artificial chromatophores like those in octopods, chameleons, etc, and you're halfway there. Or use some variant of phosphor-dot technology.

And I love the idea. Techno-aesthetically sweet indeed.
-- Dog Ed, Apr 18 2001


There are companies which will shrink-wrap your car in advertising material. They then pay you to drive around in your car normally, with their ads on it. This same shrink-wrapping technology could be used for one-time color changes --- you'd have to stop, get out, and peel off the old color. Not as good as the chromatophore-type implementation but a step in the right direction.
-- wiml, Apr 18 2001


Baked around the edges but not to the core. There is a relatively new, very expensive paint technology that changes color depending on the viewing angle. I've seen cars painted with this stuff, and they're generally one color as they approach and another color as they pass. I've heard (though I don't really believe it) that the paint is not legal for use on cars because cops don't know how to describe the color for their reports.
-- beauxeault, Apr 18 2001


Get a white car, go _really_ fast, and let the doppler shift take care of it?
-- jutta, Apr 18 2001


The last sentence there smacks uncomfortably of urban legend, don't you think, beauxeault?
-- globaltourniquet, Apr 18 2001


Yes, gt, that's exactly what I think.
-- beauxeault, Apr 18 2001


the SMART car, available in europe, can have its panels snapped off like a cell phone cover, so you can mix and match if you want. but, i do like the idea of changing-on-the-fly.
-- tkeyser, Apr 19 2001


hey, beaux, can you link that paint? I'm going to *have* to get my '85 Sentra painted like that before it becomes unavailable!

UB, no, none of us have seen the two of them together. And I'd bet money that there was an invisible plane parked right outside the corral in some of the photos on Susen's site, too...

update: well, bother. It seems that this is all over in Germany somewhere; every search I did led me to the same things, eventually. No chance of getting my car there... *sigh*
-- absterge, Apr 19 2001, last modified Apr 20 2001


//I've heard (though I don't really believe it) that the paint is not legal for use on cars because cops don't know how to describe the color for their reports.//

I'm pretty sure from everything i've read its legal, and i've seen one driving on the streets normally, so it must have made it succesfully through the registry
-- peterippe, Dec 23 2002


There is a company that now sells color chaning automotive paint. It's called "Trippin' Paint" and can be found at www.trippininc.com. Can be painted on any vehicle, and changes with temperature. You can choose any color combination AND you can select the temperature you want it to change at. They also can make a vehicle change colors ON DEMAND. Check it out, pretty cool.
-- cegallo, Jun 12 2004


I would have thought Carmeleon was the all too obvious name for this.
-- xenzag, Aug 24 2007


//Who do the cops stop? Me. Simply because my car is red.// No. It's because it's red AND it's a convertible.
-- BJS, Aug 26 2007


[jutta]; I think all the actual car designers have left the industry, & all that's left are artists & web developers. Particularly with electric vehicles, there is some utter rubbish on show; especially the ergonomics.
Colour-changing panels:
Police: unmarked car <-> black & white & badged
Taxi: "normal car" <-> yellow & phone number etc
"Boy racers": non-descript grey <-> cool stripes or whatever kids are in to these days
"Where in the parking garage is my car?" -> switch to bright pink
Just off the top of my head. And I'm not even a "car guy"!
-- neutrinos_shadow, Jan 08 2023


If the colour can be changed electrically from inside, then logically it can also be changed electromagnetically from outside. There will be a thriving market in electrostatic "pens" which can be used to draw on the outside of parked cars. I see swear words and cocks all the way down the street...
-- pocmloc, Jan 09 2023



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