2002 Lotus Touch Up Paint (3 OEM Colors)

The 2002 Lotus Vibe

Welcome to 2002, the absolute peak of the "Silver Revolution." Back then, if you weren't driving a car that looked like a brushed-aluminum kitchen appliance, you weren't trying. Lotus was leaning hard into the high-tech aesthetic with the Elise S2 and the aging-but-legendary Esprit V8. While the rest of the world was drowning in a sea of grayscale, we've focused on the survivors that kept the soul of the brand alive: the tech-forward Arctic Silver Metallic and the "never-say-die" British Racing Green. In 2002, these cars weren't just transportation; they were precision instruments wrapped in a thin, glossy skin of early-millennium ambition.

Paint Health Check

We are deep in The Peeling Era here. By 2002, factory clear coats were the industry standard, but they hadn't quite mastered the "forever" part of the formula yet. On a Lotus, you've got the added drama of a fiberglass (GRP) body. Unlike steel, fiberglass doesn't rust, but it does "breathe" and flex, which is a nightmare for 20-year-old clear coats. You're likely looking at Delamination-where the clear coat starts to lift away from the base color like a bad sunburn. If you see a milky edge around a stone chip, that's the clear coat losing its grip. Once the air gets under there, it's only a matter of time before the wind at highway speeds starts peeling your finish off in sheets.

Restoration Tip

The golden rule for 2002 paint: Seal your chips immediately before the clear lifts. On these fiberglass bodies, a tiny nick from a pebble isn't just an eyesore; it's an entry point for moisture and air to undermine the bond between the color and the clear. If you spot a chip, don't wait for the weekend. Clean it, dabs it with a precision applicator, and seal that edge down. If you catch it while the "halo" around the chip is still small, you can stop the delamination in its tracks. If you wait until you can fit a fingernail under the clear, you're looking at a full respray, and trust me, nobody wants to sand 20-year-old fiberglass if they don't have to.