2014 Mercedes-Benz Touch Up Paint (76 OEM Colors)

The 2014 Mercedes-Benz Vibe

By 2014, Mercedes-Benz was in the middle of a serious identity shift. You had the brand-new CLA-Class trying to win over the youth, the G-Class still looking like a brick with a permit, and the SLS-Class gullwing doors making everyone at the valet stand feel inadequate. With 76 colors in our database for this year, the factory was busy. While half the world was ordering Iridium Silver Metallic or Palladium Silver, some brave souls were opting for the deep Northern Lights Violet Metallic or those high-maintenance "Magno" matte finishes like Magno Platin Metallic. It was a time of "Modern Luxury," where the paint looked like a million bucks-provided the robots at the factory didn't get too stingy with the spray.

Paint Health Check

Welcome to the Thin Paint Era. By 2014, the Legend of German over-engineering had met the reality of "Robot Efficiency." These cars were sprayed with precision, but that precision meant the paint was thinner than a summer intern's paycheck. If you're looking at a 2014 today, you're likely seeing "road rash" on the hood and front bumpers of those E-Class and GLK-Class cruisers.

The real headache of this era, however, was the Mars Red (590). If you've got a red one and it looks like it's sunburned and peeling, you aren't alone-that specific pigment had a rocky relationship with its clear coat, leading to some famous bubbling and delamination issues. Even on the non-red cars, Mercedes used a "Ceramiclear" technology-a scratch-resistant nano-particle clear coat. It's tough against car wash swirls, but it's brittle. Once a rock breaks that hard shell, the clear coat wants to lift away from the color coat like a bad scab.

Restoration Tip

Because this is thin factory paint, you have to build your layers slowly; don't blob it. When you're filling in those stone chips on a C-Class or M-Class, don't try to level the crater in one shot. The factory finish is remarkably flat, and a big "mountain" of touch-up paint will stick out like a sore thumb. Apply several paper-thin layers of color, letting them dry in between, until you're just a hair below the surface. When you apply the clear coat, it will "melt" into the repair. If you're working on a Mars Red car, make sure you've sanded back any loose, "crispy" clear coat edges first, or your new paint will just peel off with the old stuff.