1996 Cadillac Touch Up Paint (19 OEM Colors)

The 1996 Cadillac Vibe

Welcome to 1996-the year the Macarena was unavoidable and the Northstar engine was the talk of the country club. This was a crossroads for Cadillac. You had the Fleetwood Brougham making its final rear-wheel-drive stand for the "old guard," while the Seville and Deville were trying to hustle into the high-tech future. While the rest of the mid-90s was busy drowning in metallic teals and "Dark Polo Green," we've focused our database on the two colors that actually mattered: Black and White. In '96, if you weren't driving a tuxedo-clad Caddy, you were just renting a boat.

Paint Health Check

If your 1996 survivor is still wearing its original factory skin, you're likely fighting the "Great Delamination." This was the heart of the Peeling Era. GM was still refining their high-solids basecoat/clearcoat systems, and by now, most of these cars are showing their age with what I call the "clear coat sunburn." It starts as a faint cloudiness on the horizontal surfaces-hood, roof, trunk-and quickly turns into a flaky, white mess where the clear lifts right off the base. Once that bond breaks, your paint has about as much protection as a convertible in a car wash.

Restoration Tip

The secret to keeping a '96 Cadillac from looking like a shedding lizard is to seal the edges. If you spot a tiny rock chip or a spot where the clear is starting to "bridge" (look like a small air bubble), do not wait. Use a dab of our color to fill the void, but the real hero here is the clear coat topper. By sealing the perimeter of a chip immediately, you lock down the edges and prevent air and moisture from getting under the clear and "lifting" the rest of the panel. Once the clear starts to flap in the wind, you aren't detailing anymore-you're repainting.