1998 Lotus Touch Up Paint (2 OEM Colors)

The 1998 Lotus Vibe

Welcome to 1998-the year the Spice Girls were everywhere, the Esprit V8 was proving it could finally play with the big boys from Maranello, and the Elise S1 was redefining what "adding lightness" actually meant. In '98, Lotus wasn't chasing the silver-and-beige trend that was beginning to infect every parking lot in the suburbs. We've focused on the one color that truly mattered: British Racing Green. It's more than just a pigment; it's the uniform of a car that's happier in a damp hairpin than a climate-controlled garage.

Paint Health Check

Now, let's talk shop. This car was born right in the heart of the "Peeling Era." By 1998, Lotus was using a basecoat/clearcoat system, but they were spraying it over Glass Reinforced Plastic (GRP) composite bodies. It's a marriage of convenience that doesn't always age gracefully. You're likely staring down the barrel of delamination-where the clear coat decides it's tired of being attached to the basecoat and starts lifting like a bad sunburn. On these composite bodies, you also have to watch for "star crazing" in the fiberglass, which can shatter your paint job from the underneath. If your clear coat looks like it's flaking off in sheets, you've got a classic case of 90s clear coat failure.

Restoration Tip

Listen close, because this is the difference between a quick fix and a total respray: seal your stone chips the second you see them. On a metal car, a chip is a rust risk; on a 1998 Lotus, a chip is a "lifting" risk. Once the edge of that clear coat is exposed to the elements, moisture and air will start to "creep" under the layer, causing it to delaminate from the color coat in an ever-widening circle. When you're touching up that British Racing Green, make sure you level the repair and seal the edges of the clear coat immediately. If you stop the air from getting under the clear, you stop the peeling in its tracks.