2012 Ferrari Touch Up Paint (16 OEM Colors)

The 2012 Ferrari Vibe

2012 was a hell of a year for the Prancing Horse. You had the 458 Italia screaming its lungs out at 9,000 RPM and the FF trying to convince the world that a Ferrari hatchback was a "lifestyle choice." In our database, we've cataloged 16 shades that define this high-revving era. While half the guys in Maranello were still painting everything Rosso Scuderia or Yellow, the sophisticated money was moving toward Blue Tour De France Metallic and the icy Avio Metallic. It was a time of transition-Ferrari was getting more adventurous with the palette, but the application was becoming a whole different beast.

Paint Health Check

Welcome to the Thin Paint Era. By 2012, those painting robots in Italy had become models of "efficiency," which is just a fancy way of saying they got real stingy with the clear coat. This was the peak of factory "orange peel"-that bumpy texture that makes a quarter-million-dollar car look like the skin of a citrus fruit. Because the clear is so thin and relatively soft, these cars are absolute magnets for rock chips and swirl marks. If you try to buff out a scratch too aggressively on a Black Metallic or Argento Metallic 458, you'll find out exactly how little "meat" is on the bone before you hit the basecoat.

Restoration Tip

Since the factory was so lean with the spray, you can't go in heavy-handed. When you're fixing a chip, build your layers slowly; don't just "blob" it and hope for the best. If you put down a massive drop of paint, you'll never get it level without sanding through the paper-thin factory clear coat surrounding it. Use a fine-tipped applicator, apply a thin layer, let it shrink, and repeat until it's flush. You're trying to match robot precision with human patience-and trust me, the robots didn't leave you much room for error.