2016 Mercedes-Benz Touch Up Paint (72 OEM Colors)

The 2016 Mercedes-Benz Vibe

Welcome to 2016, the peak of Stuttgart's "Sensual Purity" era. It was a year where the brand-new GLC-Class started taking over suburban driveways, the CLA-Class was convincing everyone they could afford a "four-door coupe," and the S-Class Maybach was making ordinary luxury look like the economy section. Our database has 72 colors for this year-which sounds like a lot until you realize 20 of them are essentially different ways for German engineers to say "Silver." But then you see the spice: Northern Lights Violet Metallic, the retina-burning Solarbeam Yellow, and the rise of the Magno mattes like Designo Selenite Grey. It was a time of high-tech precision and enough Obsidian Black to coat a small moon.

Paint Health Check

We are firmly in the Thin Paint Era now. Back in the day, a Mercedes looked like it was dipped in a vat of liquid glass; by 2016, the robots in the factory had become so efficient they could stretch a thimble of clear coat across a whole hood. This "Robot Efficiency" means your GLE or C-Class is likely a magnet for rock chips-the clear coat is hard but brittle, and it doesn't take much more than a stray pebble to reach the primer. If you're driving a Mars Red (590) model, you've probably already heard the horror stories about bubbling and peeling. For everyone else, the enemy isn't oxidation-it's the highway. Those thin layers mean that once a chip starts, it has no "meat" to hold onto, and it'll grow faster than your lease payment.

Restoration Tip

When you're touching up a 2016, you have to fight the urge to be "efficient" like the factory robots. Because the factory finish is so thin, a big "blob" of touch-up paint will stick out like a sore thumb against the flat, laser-leveled surface. Build your layers slowly. Instead of one thick drop, use a fine-tipped brush to apply two or three paper-thin layers, letting them dry in between. If you're working with those tricky Magno mattes or high-metallic shades like Hyacinth Red, patience is your only friend. Don't over-fill the chip; you want to match the depth of that slim factory clear coat, not create a mountain on your fender.