Matte black vs Flat Black

XPTB

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(Dennis Leary) Am I the asshole here? (/Dennis Leary)

I ordered some matte black racing stripes and got, what I would call, gloss black stripes. It looks like your standard black vinyl. The company said if I wanted the ones that look greyish, that is called flat black. They are taking care of it so no bashing. I'm just curious if I'm dumb or if they are speaking in too technical of terms for the average person who doesn't know colors.

Here is a pic of the stripes I got sitting on my black car.

decalkit.jpg
 

CobraBob

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Matte black is not glossy. It is not even a semi-gloss black. Matte black is more of a satin black, with just a touch of gloss. And then you have flat black that has no gloss at all. But matte black is definitely not a glossy looking black.

It is difficult from your photo to tell how much gloss is in the stripes. It looks more like a very deep black with a slight gloss. Could very well be matte black. Your flat black stripes will have absolutely no gloss to them. You'll notice this right away in sunlight.
 

flS/R

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you may have received the matte black as ordered, it might just be that you not fully understanding the difference had you order the wrong item. Think of gloss being as smooth and shiny as your car paint when it was new. Flat black would be similar to what a chalkboard finish is like. Matte finish is similar to semi-gloss and these two are often confused. Matte finish can be likened to what leather interior looks like before it is conditioned. You can see a little shine, but it is not as shiny as it would be with conditioner. It has a less than smooth finish but not as rough as the flat would have.

next time you are in a place which sells spray paint, feel the caps for the appropriate versions. The caps on most brands, krylon for one, will have the appearance of the finished product.

it is good to hear that the seller is handling this. Post some pics of the finished product
 

XPTB

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you may have received the matte black as ordered, it might just be that you not fully understanding the difference had you order the wrong item. Think of gloss being as smooth and shiny as your car paint when it was new. Flat black would be similar to what a chalkboard finish is like. Matte finish is similar to semi-gloss and these two are often confused. Matte finish can be likened to what leather interior looks like before it is conditioned. You can see a little shine, but it is not as shiny as it would be with conditioner. It has a less than smooth finish but not as rough as the flat would have.

next time you are in a place which sells spray paint, feel the caps for the appropriate versions. The caps on most brands, krylon for one, will have the appearance of the finished product.

it is good to hear that the seller is handling this. Post some pics of the finished product

yeah what you said is what they told me. flat black is what i'm looking for since I want racing stripes on a black car. They did send me matte black, I'm just didn't know it was different from flat. Buyer's mistake here. Learn something new every day

I'll post up the flat black stripes when i get them
 

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