Paint Selection

I am choosing a paint color for my 2006 Acura RSX today and I want to know, what color covers body filler the best? By that I mean which shows less waves, dips, or generalally poor putty work. The amount I did on this car was small and it is pretty good, but I want a good color to make sure that the putty looks as smooth as possible. I have heard that white is the best. But is a metallic or pearl better? BTW I used Tamiya Basic type putty. Thanks

[hirofkd]

What you need is primer, because paints aren't meant to hide putty. Primer fills scratches and normalize different surface colors and textures.

But in case you can't use primer for some reason (like age restriction of nearby stores or simple budget issues), you may use paint as primer.

In that case, you want dark colors like black, dark blue, dark green etc. They have to be solid colors, because metallic and pearl are translucent and won't hide dissimilar textures very well. Lighter colors like white and yellow aren't recommended either, because they are less effective in hiding putty, and require too much paint, which will kill surface details .

Some colors are opaque enough to be used like primer though. My standard practice is to use tan as the base coat for yellow body color, and pink for red.

When you use paint as primer, I'd recommend sanding the surface with fine sand papers like 1500 or 2000 grits after a few coats of paint. That should smooth the surface and prepare it for few more coats of paint. Make sure each coat is thin and uniform.

Good luck.