1988 Pontiac Touch Up Paint (64 OEM Colors)

The 1988 Pontiac Vibe

Welcome to 1988, the year Pontiac was trying to prove it had "Excitement" built into every weld. You had the Fiero GT finally getting the suspension it deserved just in time for GM to pull the plug, and the LeMans trying to convince us that "imported" meant "sophisticated." While the brochures showed a rainbow of metallic options, we've focused our attention on the ultimate survivor of the era: White. In 1988, a crisp white Pontiac was the gold standard of the corporate parking lot-clean, sharp, and supposedly "modern." But as any salty painter will tell you, what looked like a fresh coat of snow in the showroom didn't always stay attached to the metal once the 90s rolled around.

Paint Health Check

If you're staring at an original 1988 finish, you're looking at a prime specimen from The Peeling Era. This was the Wild West of automotive finishes. Pontiac had fully committed to the basecoat/clearcoat system, but the chemistry hadn't quite caught up to the marketing. The biggest threat to your '88 is Delamination. That's a fancy word for when the clear coat decides it's tired of being married to the color coat and starts lifting off in giant, flaky sheets. On a White 1988 model, this often starts as a "chalky" look or tiny bubbles on the roof and hood. Once the UV rays get under that clear, it's not a repair anymore-it's a rescue mission.

Restoration Tip

Since you're dealing with first-generation clear coat technology, your motto should be: "Seal it or lose it." Because the bond between the color and the clear is notoriously fickle on these late-80s GM builds, a single rock chip is basically an invitation for the wind to start peeling your paint like an orange. The moment you see a nick in that White finish, seal it immediately with a touch-up pen before the edges of the clear coat have a chance to lift. If the clear has already started to cloud or "flower" around a chip, you'll need to lightly sand the localized area to solid paint before applying your fix, or you're just burying a problem that's going to grow.