1997 Honda Touch Up Paint (36 OEM Colors)

The 1997 Honda Vibe

Welcome to 1997, the year the first CR-V hit the streets and everyone was convinced the Y2K bug was coming for their bank accounts. While you were listening to Chumbawamba on a Discman, Honda was cranking out legends like the Prelude and the Delsol. Our database tracks the six colors that actually defined the decade-the heavy hitters that survived the "great peeling." We're talking about Granada Black Metallic for the stealthy Accords and the iconic Vogue Silver Metallic that seemed to be on every third Civic in the grocery store parking lot. It was a time of simple, clean lines and colors that didn't need to shout to be noticed.

Paint Health Check

If you're driving a 1997 original, we need to have a talk about "The Peeling Era." By the late '90s, the industry had fully committed to the basecoat/clearcoat system, but Honda's recipe back then was... let's call it "spiritually temporary." If your roof or hood looks like it's suffering from a bad sunburn, you're dealing with classic delamination. The clear coat starts to cloud up, turns brittle, and eventually flakes off in sheets, leaving the base color underneath to die a slow, chalky death. And don't even get me started on Milano Red-it's famous in the shops for turning into "Milano Pink" the second it sees a week of direct sunlight.

Restoration Tip

The golden rule for this era: Seal your rock chips the second you see them. On a '97 Honda, a chip isn't just a cosmetic blemish; it's an entry point for moisture and air to get underneath the clear coat. Once that bond is broken at the edge of a chip, the clear will start to lift and "run" like a crack in a windshield. Use a precision touch-up pen to seal those edges immediately. It keeps the clear coat anchored to the base and buys you another five years of looking respectable before the "Honda Peel" takes over.