Why do cars look better when they're still wet?

BigglesPiP

BigglesPiP

BigglesPiP

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Took it through Grizedale forest on Saturday. Was weeing it down so no photos of the rally, sorry :(.

But cleaning the forest off it on Sunday got me wondering why these car things look so good wet.

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Of course now I've driven back to Southampton it's mucky again.
 
Water increases the gloss and hides paintwork imperfections. An immaculate, polished car looks better dry, a normal car with wear and tear will always look better wet.
 
They don't, a dry polished car looks better. There was a phase where Fox used to post pics of his cars wet and thought they looked good:D
 
danza said:
Ah, but would a dimpled car be more aerodynamic than a matte finished car? :p
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No idea but I'll suggest maybe. The dimpled surface grabs that additional layer and pulls in airflow with it thus it tidies away drag very efficiently (according to this vid by almost half), which a gloss smooth surface apparently does not. I guess a silk or matt finish would in principle be the same but operating on a smaller scale locally.

 
Most the airflow over a car is tubulant rather than laminar so the local surface is covered by pretty thick boundary layers making the surface finish pretty insignificant. Same thing with a dirty car, its no more aerodynamic than a freshly waxed one.
 
Jonnycoupe said:
Most the airflow over a car is tubulant rather than laminar so the local surface is covered by pretty thick boundary layers making the surface finish pretty insignificant. Same thing with a dirty car, its no more aerodynamic than a freshly waxed one.
Click to expand...

I'll add that to the huge list of funny things I have read in my lifetime. lmao thank you :)
 
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