1996 Hummer Touch Up Paint (10 OEM Colors)

The 1996 Hummer Vibe

It's 1996. Independence Day is the biggest thing at the box office, Arnold Schwarzenegger is the unofficial brand ambassador for the H1, and the Hummer has officially jumped from the front lines to the suburbs. This was the year the beast decided to play dress-up, moving beyond basic military drabs into a surprisingly diverse palette. Our database tracks 10 distinct shades for this year, ranging from the rugged Tan and Green Metallic that honor its tactical roots, to the loud and proud Poppy Red or the sophisticated Bright Burgundy Metallic. Whether you were traversing a desert or just a very large mall parking lot, the 1996 Hummer was a six-thousand-pound statement piece.

Paint Health Check

Here's the cold, hard truth: 1996 falls right in the middle of what I call The Peeling Era. Back then, manufacturers were still perfecting the bond between the base color and that protective clear coat. On a Hummer, this problem is doubled because you aren't just dealing with standard sheet metal; you've got an aluminum-bodied monster held together by thousands of rivets. If you look closely at your H1 today, you're likely seeing "delamination"-that's when the clear coat starts looking like a bad sunburn and begins to flake off in sheets. Between the aluminum panels and the steel hardtop, you've also got the constant threat of "rivet rash," where the paint fails around those fasteners and lets oxidation move in like a squatter.

Restoration Tip

When you're dealing with 1990s clear coat, procrastination is your worst enemy. Once that clear starts to lift, the UV rays will eat your base color for lunch in a matter of weeks. To keep this legend on the road, seal your chips immediately. If you see a rock chip or a tiny fracture around a rivet, don't wait for the weekend. Clean it out and get some fresh pigment and sealer on there before the air gets under the clear coat and starts lifting it. Once the clear "delaminates" (lifts away from the color), there's no "buffing" it back to life-you're looking at a full respray. Keep it sealed, and you'll keep it original.