The simplest method to create a Car Paint is to use the standard Raytrace material. Simply select a colour (216,0,0) for diffuse and set raytrace to Fresnel.

By using Fresnel we are basically using a fall-off map for the reflectivity - so the paint is more reflective at higher angles to the viewer (at the edges).

To control the reflectivity fall-off we can simply adjust the Index of Refr. The default value of 1.55 is OK, but increasing this to about 1.75 will increase the reflectivity.

Another setting to adjust is the Glossiness - for normal paints this should be quite high (in this example 90), lower values can be used for silvers.

The Environment setting is where we define the environment map - which will be reflected in the paint. Here I am using the same Fake HDRI we created in the previous section.

Rendering with this setup we get the image below:

The Front Colour is the same as above (216,0,0) and the Side Colour is set to (40,0,0) or Black.

The Falloff Type is the default Perpendicular / Parallel. this will give a smooth blend from the Front Colour facing us to the Side colour when on an edge at 90 degrees to us.

Another option is to select Fresnel for Falloff Type. This will enable a control of the Falloff between Colours through the Index of Refraction settings in the Mode Specific Parameters section. At the default 1.6 setting the Falloff is less linear than Perpendicular / Parallel.

Adjust the Specular Level to 90 and the Glossiness value to 20. This will create a large soft specular area (presently white).

We will adjust this specular highlight to mimic metallic flakes.