2007 Hyundai Touch Up Paint (67 OEM Colors)

The 2007 Hyundai Vibe

Welcome to 2007-the year Hyundai decided they weren't just the "budget choice" anymore. They were rolling out the Veracruz to hunt Lexuses and giving the Tiburon a final, sharp-edged hurrah. This was the year of the silver obsession; if your Sonata or Santa Fe wasn't Bright Silver Metallic, it was probably Sleek Silver or Continental Silver. With 68 colors in our database for this year alone, Hyundai was clearly throwing the entire palette at the wall to see what stuck. From the electric punch of Tidal Wave to the executive hum of Blue Onyx Metallic, they were dressing these cars to impress a crowd that was finally starting to pay attention.

Paint Health Check

We've officially entered the Thin Paint Era. By 2007, the factory robots had become masters of "efficiency," which is just a polite way of saying they learned how to stretch a gallon of paint across three times as many cars. If you own an Arctic White or Captiva White model, you might already know the pain of "sheet peeling," where the top layers decide they'd rather be anywhere else but on your hood. For the rest of the fleet, the clear coat is notoriously thin. It doesn't take much more than a stray pebble or a harsh winter to punch right through to the primer. If you see "ghosting"-that cloudy, dull look on the roof or trunk-your clear coat is gasping its last breath.

Restoration Tip

Because these factory finishes are so thin, you have to be smarter than the robot that sprayed them. Build your layers slowly. When you're filling a stone chip, do not-I repeat, do not-try to fill the entire crater with one big "blob" of paint. It'll never level out right, and it'll look like a zit on a prom queen. Apply a thin layer, let it flash off, and add another until you're just slightly below the surface of the surrounding paint. This era of paint responds best to patience, not volume.