2016 SEAT Touch Up Paint (1 OEM Colors)

The 2016 SEAT Vibe

By 2016, SEAT had finally stopped being "Volkswagen's quiet cousin" and started acting like the life of the party. With the Leon SC hitting its stride and the Ibiza FR looking sharper than ever, the vibe was all about sharp creases and "hot hatch" energy. In a world increasingly obsessed with fifty shades of grey, the only color that truly mattered for these Spanish rockets was Bright Red. It was the signature look-the kind of red that looked like it was moving even when parked in a supermarket lot. We've focused our attention on this survivor because, frankly, a 2016 SEAT just doesn't look right in anything else.

Paint Health Check

Welcome to the Thin Paint Era. By 2016, the robots in Martorell had become masters of "Efficiency." Back in the day, you could sand a panel for a week and still have paint left; by 2016, they were measuring clear coat in microns thinner than a cigarette paper. The finish looks spectacular coming off the line, but the reality is that these coats are shallow. If you've been following a lorry on the motorway, your bonnet likely looks like it's been hit with a shotgun blast. The paint is brittle and prone to "pinhole" stone chips that go straight through to that light-colored primer, making every little hit look like a glaring white scar.

Restoration Tip

When you're dealing with paint this thin, you have to fight the urge to "blob and go." Because the factory finish is so shallow, a big, thick drop of touch-up paint will sit on the surface like a mountain. Instead, build your layers slowly. Use a fine-tipped brush or even a toothpick to fill the chip in thin stages, allowing it to flash off between passes. You want to match the robot's stingy efficiency-layer by layer-rather than trying to fill the crater in one shot. If you blob it, you'll spend more time sanding it down than you did applying it, and with paint this thin, you don't have much room for error before you're through the clear coat.