2012 Mazda Touch Up Paint (27 OEM Colors)

The 2012 Mazda Vibe

Welcome to 2012-the year the world was supposed to end, but instead, Mazda gave us a "smiley face" grille and a rainbow of 27 different ways to stand out in a parking lot. Whether you were tossing a Mazdaspeed3 into a corner or hauling the kids in a CX-9, Mazda wasn't shy about color. We're talking about everything from the eye-searing Spirited Green Metallic and Sunflower Yellow to the classy, high-tech shimmer of Aluminum Metallic and Crystal White Pearl Tricoat. It was a time when "Zoom-Zoom" meant looking fast even while sitting at a red light.

Paint Health Check

Here's the cold, hard truth from the spray booth: you're firmly in The Thin Paint Era. By 2012, those factory robots had become surgically efficient at applying the absolute minimum amount of paint required to cover the metal. It looks great in the showroom, but out in the real world, it's brittle. If a pebble so much as glances off the hood of your MX-5 or Mazda3, it's likely taking a chunk of paint with it. Because these coats are so thin, those chips turn into tiny "rust freckles" faster than you can say "rotary engine" if they aren't sealed up quick.

Restoration Tip

When you're fixing a chip on a 2012 Mazda, remember the golden rule of the thin-coat era: Build layers slowly; don't blob it. Since the factory finish is so shallow, a giant drop of touch-up paint will stick out like a sore thumb. Use a fine-tipped applicator to place a tiny amount of paint inside the chip, let it dry, and repeat until the level matches the surrounding area. It takes patience, but it's the only way to make that Velocity Red Mica or Stormy Blue Pearl look like the factory actually meant to put it there.