1989 Isuzu Touch Up Paint (26 OEM Colors)

The 1989 Isuzu Vibe

Nineteen eighty-nine was the year Isuzu decided to stop being the "underdog" and start being the "cool kid." Between the boxy, go-anywhere Trooper and the "I can't believe it's a truck" Amigo, Isuzu was leaning hard into the lifestyle market. We've got 34 colors from this year in our vault, and let me tell you, they weren't shy. From the shimmering Brittany Blue Metallic to the flashy Golden Glow Yellow, Isuzu was offering a sophisticated palette that made the competition look like they were still painting with house primer. This was the era of the legendary two-tone setups-like the Seaside Beige over Walnut Metallic combos-that defined the "imported ruggedness" of the late eighties.

Paint Health Check

By 1989, Isuzu had largely transitioned to the basecoat-and-clearcoat system, especially for those high-end metallics like Romanesque Silver or Ivy Green Mica. It gave the cars a deep, glassy shine when they rolled off the lot, but it ushered in what we painters call **The Peeling Era**. These early clear coats were notoriously susceptible to UV delamination. If your Trooper spent three decades sitting in the sun, you're likely seeing "the ghosting"-that white, flaky haze where the clear coat is physically lifting off the base color. Once that clear starts to bubble or flake at the edges of a rock chip, it's not just an eyesore; the protective barrier is gone, leaving your color coat defenseless against the elements.

Restoration Tip

When you're dealing with 1989 factory paint, your mantra is: **Seal the edges.** If you have a small chip in a metallic finish, do not wait. In this era of paint, a tiny chip is an invitation for moisture to get under the clear coat and start "creeping," which leads to massive sheets of clear eventually peeling off. When you apply your touch-up, make sure you overlap the surrounding factory clear coat slightly to "bridge" the gap and lock the edges down. It acts like a surgical stitch, preventing that delamination from spreading across the entire hood. Catch it early, or you'll be sanding the whole panel back to the metal before you know it.