2012 Honda-Motorcycle Touch Up Paint (7 OEM Colors)

The 2012 Honda-Motorcycle Vibe

By 2012, Honda wasn't just building motorcycles; they were hosting a rolling red-carpet gala. If you were looking at a Gold Wing or a CBR that year, you weren't just picking "red"-you were deciding between Cabernet Red Tricoat, Candy Alizarin Red Tricoat, Candy Ruby Red, or Magna Red. Honda's palette was a masterclass in depth, obsessed with those multi-stage pearls and tricoats that made the bikes look like they were dipped in liquid gemstones. It was the peak of "high-tech shine" before everything turned matte and utilitarian.

Paint Health Check

Welcome to the Thin Paint Era. By 2012, factory robots had become surgically precise-and unfortunately, that meant they were instructed to use as little paint as humanly possible. While these finishes look deep, the actual film thickness is lean. You've likely noticed that while the White Tricoat or Maroon Tricoat fairings look spectacular from five feet away, they are magnets for "shatter" chips. The clear coat is hard and brittle; instead of denting, it tends to flake off in tiny, sharp-edged pieces because there just isn't enough "meat" in the layers to absorb an impact.

Restoration Tip

When you're touching up a 2012 finish, you have to fight the urge to "fill the hole" in one shot. If you blob a heavy drop of Candy Ruby Red into a chip, it's going to sit higher than the factory profile and look like a dark, bruised grape. Because this is thin-coat factory tech, your repair needs to be just as disciplined. Build your layers slowly. Apply a thin whisper of color, let it flash off, and repeat. You want to sneak up on the level of the surrounding paint, not crush it with a heavy hand. This is how you match that "robot-applied" depth without making the repair look like an afterthought.