2018 Mitsubishi Background Info
The 2018 Mitsubishi Vibe
By 2018, Mitsubishi was leaning hard into the "bold and bright" strategy to keep the Mirage and Outlander standing out in a crowded parking lot. We've got 20 distinct shades in our database for this year, ranging from the dignified Alloy Silver Metallic to the "you can't miss me" Sunrise Orange Metallic. Whether you were driving the rugged Pajero or a zippy hatchback, 2018 was a year of high-definition pearls and deep metallics like Infared Metallic and the sophisticated Diamond White Pearl Tricoat. It was a time when the colors looked like they belonged on a much more expensive car-at least when they were sitting on the showroom floor.
Paint Health Check
Welcome to The Thin Paint Era. By 2018, factory robots had reached peak "efficiency," which is a polite way of saying they learned how to stretch a gallon of paint across a whole fleet of cars. These finishes are stunning, but they lack the "meat" of the old-school lacquer or thick 90s clear coats. The reality is that the factory clear coat on your 2018 Mitsubishi is likely thinner than a post-it note. If a pebble so much as glares at your Labrador Black Pearl hood on the highway, you're going to see a chip that goes straight to the primer. This era is notorious for "Robot Efficiency" issues-thin coats that look great but offer very little sacrificial material for heavy buffing or road debris protection.
Restoration Tip
Because these factory finishes are so thin, you have to be surgical with your repairs. **Build your layers slowly; don't blob it.** When you're filling a chip in that Octane Blue Pearl, resist the urge to fill the entire crater in one go. If you drop a giant bead of paint into the chip, it'll dry unevenly and stand out like a sore thumb against the flat, robotic factory finish. Instead, apply a thin layer, let it flash off, and repeat until you're level with the surface. You're aiming to mimic the factory's precision, not erase it with a heavy hand.