2011 Cadillac Touch Up Paint (58 OEM Colors)

The 2011 Cadillac Vibe

Welcome to 2011, the year Cadillac decided that "sharp enough to cut glass" was the only acceptable design language. Between the knife-edged CTS, the looming Escalade, and the literal end of an era with the DTS, Cadillac was busy proving they could still out-chrome the world. With a staggering 58 colors in the catalog that year, they weren't just selling cars; they were selling 58 different ways to tell the neighbors you'd finally made it. From the glittery depths of Black Diamond Tricoat to the earthy, boardroom-ready Mocha Steel Metallic, the 2011 palette was all about high-tech metallics and those expensive-looking multi-stage pearls that made a car look like it was dipped in liquid jewelry.

Paint Health Check

Now, here's the cold, hard truth from the spray booth: we are firmly in the Thin Paint Era. By 2011, the robots at the factory had become surgically efficient. They figured out exactly how little paint they could get away with while still making the car look like a million bucks on the showroom floor. The result? There's no "meat" on the bone. These factory finishes are thin-often hovering around 90 to 110 microns total-meaning that gorgeous clear coat is a shallow shield. If your Cadillac has spent its life outside, you're likely seeing "delamination" (the clear coat lifting) on the horizontal surfaces or those pesky black door pillars starting to flake like a bad sunburn. One aggressive pebble on the highway is all it takes to punch right through to the primer because those robot-applied layers just don't have the thickness of the old-school tanks.

Restoration Tip

Since you're working with a "High Efficiency" finish, your mantra needs to be build, don't blob. When you're repairing those inevitable rock chips on an SRX or STS, do not try to fill the crater in one shot. If you go heavy, the metallic flakes in colors like Crystal Claret will sink to the bottom and look like a dark bruise instead of a shimmering match. Apply your color in two or three whisper-thin coats, letting them tack up in between. This mimics that tight, robotic factory spray and keeps your flake orientation correct. And whatever you do, go easy on the sanding-you've only got a few microns of clear coat to play with before you're staring at bare metal and calling me for a full respray.