2013 Audi Touch Up Paint (42 OEM Colors)

The 2013 Audi Vibe

Welcome to 2013-the year Audi decided every car in the fleet needed a grille big enough to inhale a mid-sized sedan and enough LED "eyeliner" to be seen from the moon. Whether it was the futuristic R8 with those iconic Side Blades, the roaring RS-5, or the "I have three kids but I'm still cool" Allroad, the vibe was pure German precision. With 42 colors in our database for this year, Audi wasn't exactly playing it safe. They gave us a buffet of 50 shades of sophisticated gloom like Oolong Grey Pearl and Dakota Gray Metallic, then slapped us awake with the occasional flash of Samoa Orange Pearl or the deep, delicious Teak Brown Pearl. It was a time of peak luxury where even a base model A3 looked like it belonged on a red carpet.

Paint Health Check

Now, listen close, because we're deep in The Thin Paint Era. By 2013, the robots in Ingolstadt had become masters of "efficiency," which is painter-speak for "spraying just enough to look pretty but not a micron more." While the finish looks like glass, it's notoriously brittle. If you've spent any time on the highway, your Daytona Gray hood likely looks like it's been hit with a blast of birdshot. We call it the "peppered" look. Solid colors like Brilliant Black are the worst offenders-they're soft enough to swirl if you look at them wrong, and those rock chips go straight through to the primer before you can say "Vorsprung durch Technik." You might also notice some clear coat tension around the edges of the plastic bumpers on the Q5 or Q7 where the flex doesn't always play nice with the thin factory shell.

Restoration Tip

When you're fixing a 2013, you've got to respect the robot. Build your layers slowly; do not blob it. Since the factory paint is so thin, a single heavy drop of touch-up will stand out like a mountain on a flat plain. Use a fine-tipped brush or even a toothpick to dab the color into the chip. Let it dry for twenty minutes, then come back and add another layer. You're trying to match the depth of the original finish without creating a "speed bump" of paint. For those high-metallic shades like Monsoon Gray or Ice Silver, a light touch is the only way to keep the flakes from clumping together and looking like a dark smudge.