2016 Lotus Touch Up Paint (1 OEM Colors)

The 2016 Lotus Vibe

By 2016, the automotive world had largely surrendered to a sea of "safe" greys and whites, but Lotus was still playing by its own rules. This was the year the Evora 400 started screaming down the backroads, and while the production lines were getting more "efficient," the spirit was still pure Hethel. We've focused our attention on the survivors of this era, specifically the color that defined the brand's loud-and-proud ethos: Chrome Orange Tricoat. It's a complex, high-energy finish that reminds you these cars weren't built to blend into a supermarket parking lot-they were built to be seen at 140 mph.

Paint Health Check

Welcome to the Thin Paint Era. In 2016, the robots in the paint booth were tuned for maximum efficiency, which is just a fancy way of saying they sprayed the absolute minimum amount of clear coat required to pass inspection. On a composite car like a Lotus, this presents a unique headache. Unlike metal, these fiberglass panels don't rust, but they do flex. That thin, hard factory clear coat is brittle; when it takes a rock chip at speed, it doesn't just dent-it cracks and shears. If you look closely at your front clam, you'll likely see "star-cracks" or edges where the paint is so thin you can almost see the substrate peeking through.

Restoration Tip

When you're dealing with a modern tricoat like Chrome Orange, patience is your only friend. Because the factory coats were applied with "Robot Efficiency," you cannot just blob a heavy layer of paint into a chip and expect it to level out. You need to build your layers slowly. Apply your base color in thin passes, then the mid-coat pearl, and finally the clear. If you rush it and go too thick, the repair will look darker than the surrounding panel because the light can't bounce through those "thin" factory layers the same way. Light coats, long dry times-that's how you beat the robots.