Paint color & wheel combination ?

[Chuck99]

I’m getting ready to order a CT4-V Blackwing & thinking about getting the Radiant Red Tintcoat color. However I’ve never seen this color in person, only in pictures. I’ve been playing around on the Cadillac build-it website & think the Satin Graphite Finish wheels look good with it. But don’t think red calipers add anything & may be a pain in the butt to keep clean.

Anyone here with a Radiant Red Tintcoat car that can comment on wheel & caliper choices?

I should also ask how difficult is it to keep looking clean? FWIW I do hand wash my cars, but some colors just don't show the dirt as easily as others.

Thanks.

 

[jwolf99]

I have a 2022 infrared tintcoat (2022 and 2023 red color) with satin graphite wheels and red calipers. Infrared was sunset at the end of the 2023 MY for the red tintcoat starting in 2024 MY. The main difference in the colors is that the infrared has some pink and orange fleck added to the base red paint where as the red tintcoat just has orange fleck. One thing to note is that both reds are a bit Jekyll & Hyde. In the sun and under bright lights (think gas station and parking lot LED lights), the paint pops. It almost looks on fire. It's pretty insane looking. But in the dark and on cloudy days, it's a deeper red .... almost crimson given the flecks don't have any light to do their magic.

Here are some photos where you can see the contrast on a sunny vs cloudy day. The red tintcoat is similar as I have seen it in multiple levels of light though in the sun there orange highlights come out rather than pink highlights. I also included a photo of the red calipers contrasted against the red paint and satin wheels.

These were the closest representations that I could capture on my Galaxy phone as the pink fleck came across nearly as it does in person where the color is slightly more saturated when seen by the naked eye. I would try to go see one in person if you can, on both sunny and cloudy days.

 

[Chuck99]

Thanks for the photos. Car looks great !
My current car is a darker red & looks great when clean but easily shows dirt & rain spots.
The car before that had red that was more like yours. If it got rained on while sitting in a parking lot it almost looked like it just got washed.

What tires do you have on the car, summer or all season, run flats?

Thanks

 

[ngoni]

View attachment PXL_20250524_184547399.jpg
2025 Radiant Red with black rims and red calipers. Pictures don't really do it justice because the metal flakes really react to direct sun and create a ton of interesting depth between the highlights and shadows.

The bronze wheels would also probably look good, but they're harder to clean and the stock pads create a ton of dust. Lazy people like me get black rims with ceramic coating.

Radiant Red seems about average with respect to looking dirty. Not nearly as difficult as a black car but also not as forgiving as other colors either.

 

[jwolf99]

Thanks for the photos. Car looks great !
My current car is a darker red & looks great when clean but easily shows dirt & rain spots.
The car before that had red that was more like yours. If it got rained on while sitting in a parking lot it almost looked like it just got washed.

What tires do you have on the car, summer or all season, run flats?

Thanks

Thanks. My car is ceramic coated (no PPF), and water does repel to help cut down on the dirt after rainy driving. But when it does get a good build up of dirt, it's still masked pretty well until you're up close to it (5-7 feet away).

As for tires, I have the stock PS 4Ss that I use April thru November. For winter, I bought another set of the stock black satin wheels and put on Michelin PS A/S4s.

 

[jwolf99]

2025 Radiant Red with black rims and red calipers. Pictures don't really do it justice because the metal flakes really react to direct sun and create a ton of interesting depth between the highlights and shadows.

THIS^^^ I've never been able to capture in a photo the depth of the color created by the sun or LED lights reflecting on the metallic flakes. All the more reason to see these reds in person on a sunny day. You can definitely see the pink and orange hues in my sunny photo, but it's way deeper when seen by the naked eye.

 

[ngoni]

Here's a video of Radiant Red with the bronze wheels:

 

[brewski]

The radiant red with red calipers looks great. Seen it in person and it looked like the red calipers were the same paint (in showroom).
Personally I think the bronze wheels look better on the red car, but I like the simple design of the CT4 base wheel (polished and dark are the same wheel). My CT4 I got the "black" wheels, but I'm not a big fan of black wheels on cars because its hard to see the wheel definition.


On race cars black wheels look good because the black doesn't reflect light as well and then for photos you can see the calipers and rotors better.