jinotown

I can't decide what color to paint the interior of my race car ('83 944). I just finished the full cage. There is nothing in it now. What is the best color use. I think white would be nice for the heat but it would reflect on the windows. Black would be the other way. Any help?

SeaCay

Paint it the major color of your exterior paint scheme. Any other color will look like you cobbled the job together.

Bryan Watts

A flat gray works well for both staying cool and preventing glare.

Geo

At one time I was strongly considering using grey speckle paint (like they used to use in the trunks of older domestic cars). The grey would go with virtually anything, it's flat so it doesn't reflect, and the speckle keeps it from looking like primer. It also allows you to change the exterior color without it looking silly.

That said, on mine I've decided to paint it the same color as the main exterior color.

Adam Richman

For a street car, I agree. On a racecar, I think most folks will recognize the reasoning for painting it a non-glaring color inside plus I personally would prefer buying a racecar that looked clean inside without much effort. Going with gun-metal gray this go round myself (previously had a flat version of the exterior red inside). I have also noticed that some paints can make welds look much less/more attractive.

DAR951

While glare and heat build up are important considerations, you most want to choose a color that will show any structural defects (from fatigue or impacts).

Lighter colors work much better at displaying the contrast of a crack or metal tear than do dark ones which can actually serve to mask problems, especially black.

kary993

Most of the Porsche GT3RS(R) come with white interior, same as exterior.

Greg Fishman

True, but I have seen a factory painted Speed Yellow GT3RS that was also SY on the interior. I have heard it is pretty rare.

JCP911S

Passion Purple is just tho in this year ...

JCP911S

Seriously.... white should produce the least amount of passive solar cockpit heat... a no brainer IMHO

SeaCay

Lets not forget the aspect of cleaning the interior. It's going to get dirty, if you paint it in a flat based paint, good luck on cleaning it. White will show every mark of your shoes every time you crawl in or out too. IMHO, paint it with a good glossy paint that will hide some of the dirt, and will allow easy cleanup with a rag soaked in simple green. my car is red, I painted the interior to match, no complaints. As long as your dash isn't painted a light color, you won't get too much glare onto the windscreen. Heating of the cockpit isn't much of an issue, you're not going to have your windows up.

Geo

This morning I wrote this.

This afternoon I went to the Houston Auto Show and there was a 1970 302 Trans Am car with an interior and engine bay painted......

Grey speckle!

Looked pretty good too.

But I agree that a flat paint would be a bear to clean.