2013 Tesla Touch Up Paint (12 OEM Colors)

The 2013 Tesla Vibe

Welcome to 2013, where the Silicon Valley elite were trading in their German luxury sedans for a high-tech promise on four wheels. Back then, the Model S was the new king of the carpool lane, and believe it or not, the palette was surprisingly adventurous. We're talking about an era where you could actually get a Sequoia Green Metallic or a Sycamore Brown Metallic-colors that have since become unicorns in the wild. With 12 colors in the lineup, including the show-stopping Signature Red Tricoat, Tesla was out to prove that electric didn't have to mean "refrigerator white" (though Cataline White looked pretty sharp too). It was an era of optimism, heavy touchscreen usage, and the beginning of the "Quiet Revolution."

Paint Health Check

Here's the cold, hard truth from the spray booth: 2013 falls squarely into the Thin Paint Era. While the robots at the factory were remarkably efficient, they were also remarkably stingy. By 2013, automotive manufacturers had mastered the art of applying the absolute minimum amount of clear coat necessary to pass inspection. On these early Teslas, the paint is notoriously "soft." This means that while it looks like a mirror on delivery day, it's a magnet for road rash. If you've been tailgating on the 101, your hood likely looks like it's been through a light gravel storm. The clear coat is thin enough that a heavy-handed buffing job can burn through to the basecoat before you can say "ludicrous mode."

Restoration Tip

When you're touching up these modern, thin finishes-especially those tricky multi-stage colors like White Water Pearl Tricoat or Sunset Red Tricoat-patience is your only friend. Because the factory finish is so lean, you can't just "blob" a giant drop of paint into a chip and expect it to level out. The "Robot Efficiency" of the original coat means the surrounding paint is very flat. Build your layers slowly. Apply a thin skin of color, let it shrink and dry, and repeat until the crater is filled. If you try to do it in one shot, you'll end up with a "volcano" effect that sticks out worse than a dead battery. Treat it like a surgical repair, not a finger-painting session.