2015 Volkswagen Touch Up Paint (46 OEM Colors)

The 2015 Volkswagen Vibe

By 2015, the boys in Wolfsburg were hitting their stride with the MK7 Golf and a Jetta that finally felt grown up. It was a year of "refined maturity," where you could find a Beetle in a shade as loud as Sunflower yellow or a CC looking like a boardroom meeting in Black Oak Brown Metallic. Our database tracks a staggering 46 colors for this year alone-a far cry from the days of "any color as long as it's black." Whether you're rocking the aggressive Carbon Steel Grey on a GTI or the sophisticated Harvard Blue on a Passat, 2015 was the peak of the German "clean look."

Paint Health Check

Welcome to the Thin Paint Era. By 2015, the robots in the factory had become a little too good at their jobs. They perfected the art of "efficiency," which is just a fancy way of saying they shaved the paint layers down as thin as a bratwurst skin. While the finish looked like glass on the showroom floor, these coats are notoriously brittle. If you've spent any time on the highway, your Tiguan or Touareg likely has the "VW Speckle"-dozens of tiny, sharp rock chips on the hood and roof line that go straight through to the primer. If you leave those chips open to the elements, the German steel underneath starts to get restless, and surface rust will be your next uninvited guest.

Restoration Tip

Since 2015 paint is applied so lean, the biggest mistake you can make is "blobbing" your repair. Because the factory clear coat is thin, a giant dome of touch-up paint will stick out like a sore thumb. Build your layers slowly. Use a fine-tip applicator to place a tiny amount of color in the center of the chip and let it flow to the edges. Wait for it to tack up, then add another thin layer. You're looking to fill the crater, not build a mountain. Once the color is level, hit it with a high-quality clear coat to seal the deal and give it back that deep, "just-off-the-Autobahn" luster.