SPA Yellow Question

smithk3933 · 1 June 2009

Went to look at a perspective 97 in Spa Yellow that the dealer said had been repainted due to car being keyed.

This is the first Spa Yellow I've seen in person and was surprised that it has a pearlescent look. I guess I thought it was a flat yellow. Is this correct?

Thanks.

RPM217 · 1 June 2009

Yes Spa yellow pearl definitely has some snap to it, certainly not a flat color. One of the prettiest colors IMHO!

wheelsup69 · 1 June 2009

The pearl in the yellows is amazing. Rio Yellow Pearl is my color and my favorite!

YellowHaze · 2 June 2009

Yellow NSXs had two Honda color codes. Not sure of the exact difference between the two. Nomenclature varied between Spa Yellow, Daytona Yellow, and Rio Yellow Pearl. I believe "Spa" and "Daytona" are the proper Honda names.

The NSX yellow paint jobs all employ a 3-stage paint process. RPM217 and Wheelsup69 already attested to the awesome finish. Imola and Long Beach Blue are two other 3-stage paints that were also used.

The finish will have a different look depending upon the lighting. On a cloudy day, the finish will look flat. On a sunny day, it will show a pearlescent shine. Cool.

theman1990 · 2 June 2009

Spa has a "buttery" look in the sun and Rio has a more glittery/pearly look... Rio was not available until 01/02 or so, though.

slamstrom · 2 June 2009

smithk3933 said:
Went to look at a perspective 97 in Spa Yellow that the dealer said had been repainted due to car being keyed.

This is the first Spa Yellow I've seen in person and was surprised that it has a pearlescent look. I guess I thought it was a flat yellow. Is this correct?

Thanks.

Which part of the car was repainted? If the repainted panel is next to the front or rear bumper, you may notice a slight difference in color. Spa Yellow Pearl is hard to match perfectly. Spa Yellow Pearl has metallic flakes;in daylight, there should be a greenish hue along with the metallic glow.

Tom239 · 2 June 2009

theman1990 said:
Spa has a "buttery" look in the sun and Rio has a more glittery/pearly look... Rio was not available until 01/02 or so, though.

Rio Yellow Pearl (Y-65P) started in 2004 (in the US market).

wheelsup69 · 2 June 2009

I've also seen Spa Yellow listed as Indy Yellow Pearl and the Rio Yellow listed as "New Indy Yellow Pearl" with the same code, Y-65, although that may be the designation they used when they put Rio Yellow Pearl on the S2000 to differentiate it from the NSX....

YellowHaze · 2 June 2009

As far as I know, the two Honda color codes used for the NSX are Y-65 (as was already noted) and Y-52P. When I decided to repaint my front lip spoiler, I did some research on color codes to bring to the paint shop. After cross referencing multiple websites, that is what I found. However, the names varied which I found interesting.

My $64 question is, is there a cosmetic difference between both paint codes for NSX pearlescent yellow? I haven't seen a yellow NSX I didn't like (call me partial

) as any NSX looks great in that color.

slamstrom · 2 June 2009

wheelsup69 said:
I've also seen Spa Yellow listed as Indy Yellow Pearl and the Rio Yellow listed as "New Indy Yellow Pearl" with the same code, Y-65, although that may be the designation they used when they put Rio Yellow Pearl on the S2000 to differentiate it from the NSX....

I think the touch up paint says Indy Yellow for Spa Yellow touch up.

wheelsup69 · 4 June 2009

YellowHaze said:
As far as I know, the two Honda color codes used for the NSX are Y-65 (as was already noted) and Y-52P. When I decided to repaint my front lip spoiler, I did some research on color codes to bring to the paint shop. After cross referencing multiple websites, that is what I found. However, the names varied which I found interesting.

My $64 question is, is there a cosmetic difference between both paint codes for NSX pearlescent yellow? I haven't seen a yellow NSX I didn't like (call me partial ) as any NSX looks great in that color.

There is absolutely a difference between those two paint codes. The Spa Yellow is lighter and more "banana" colored as mentioned before. The Rio Yellow, for lack of a better analogy, almost matches the yellow paint stripes used on the highway or for highway signs (at least in this state). That being said, they are beautiful colors. My 93 is painted Rio Yellow Pearl so I'm a little partial to that color. Definetly not corvette yellow or Pontiac Solctice yellow.

It may be that the Indy Yellow designation is for US Honda cars like the S2000 and it's Rio Yellow for the NSX, but they are the same paint code.... We only have a Honda dealer here, and no Acura dealer, so I'm just speculating :redface:

YellowHaze · 4 June 2009

wheelsup69 said:
There is absolutely a difference between those two paint codes. The Spa Yellow is lighter and more "banana" colored as mentioned before. The Rio Yellow, for lack of a better analogy, almost matches the yellow paint stripes used on the highway or for highway signs (at least in this state). That being said, they are beautiful colors. My 93 is painted Rio Yellow Pearl so I'm a little partial to that color. Definetly not corvette yellow or Pontiac Solctice yellow.

It may be that the Indy Yellow designation is for US Honda cars like the S2000 and it's Rio Yellow for the NSX, but they are the same paint code.... We only have a Honda dealer here, and no Acura dealer, so I'm just speculating :redface:

Interesting. Thanks for sharing that.

I was at a recent multi-marque car event last Sunday. My car was parked next to a yellow C5 Corvette. From a distance, both yellows look similar. Close-up, the Corvette yellow looked more like a taxi cab- much more orange and without the pearlescent glow. There is no comparison to the NSX paint quality, color, and depth sans German and Italian cars.

SPA Yellow Question

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