2016 Chevrolet Touch Up Paint (138 OEM Colors)

The 2016 Chevrolet Vibe

By 2016, Chevrolet was feeling a bit poetic-or maybe they just let the naming department have a three-martini lunch. We're tracking a massive 138 colors for this year, ranging from the corporate-cool Abalone White Tricoat to the "who let the interns name this?" favorites like Black Meet Kettle Pearl, You Drive Me Grazy Pearl, and the ironically named Tin Roof Rusted Metallic. Whether you were hauling drywall in a Silverado, dodging traffic in a Spark, or pretending you were at Le Mans in a Corvette, Chevy had a high-tech pearl or a cheeky metallic for every personality. It was a year of peak variety, but as any salty painter will tell you, the beauty was often only skin-deep.

Paint Health Check

Welcome to the peak of the Thin Paint Era. By 2016, the factory robots had been calibrated for "maximum efficiency," which is a polite way of saying they applied the absolute minimum amount of paint required to cover the metal. If you're looking at a 2016 Malibu or Tahoe today, you're likely seeing the consequences: the "Road Rash" effect. Because these layers are so lean, a single pebble on the interstate doesn't just leave a mark; it often takes out a chunk of clear coat and color in one go. We've also seen "checking" or micro-cracking on horizontal surfaces like hoods and roofs where the sun has been particularly unkind to those thin coats. If you see a small chip on your Cruze, don't wait-the clear coat on these modern Chevys doesn't have much "meat" on its bones, and once it starts to lift, it's a race against the elements.

Restoration Tip

Since we're dealing with robot-thin factory applications, the "glob-it-on" method is your worst enemy. If you're touching up a chip on your Equinox or Traverse, you need to think like a surgeon, not a mason. Build your layers slowly. For high-pigment metallics like Son Of A Gun Gray or Blue Me Away Pearl, apply 2-3 paper-thin coats rather than one big drop. If you blob it, the metallic flakes will sink to the bottom like lead weights, making your repair look darker and muddier than the rest of the panel. Let it dry flat, then add your clear coat just a hair higher than the surrounding surface before leveling it off. Patience is the only way to beat the robots at their own game.