2018 Yamaha Touch Up Paint (2 OEM Colors)

The 2018 Yamaha Vibe

2018 was the year Yamaha finally decided the American market was ready to drop the "FZ" badges and embrace the "MT" (Master of Torque) moniker for good. While the MT-07 and MT-09 were busy popping wheelies in every suburban cul-de-sac, the massive Star Venture was out there proving that a couch could, in fact, handle a corner. We've focused our collection on the true survivors of this era, specifically that deep, brooding Raven black and the lustrous Black Cherry found on the big tourers. These weren't just colors; they were the visual personality of a lineup that was trying to look meaner than your ex and twice as fast.

Paint Health Check

Welcome to the peak of the Thin Paint Era. By 2018, the robots in the factory had become masters of "Efficiency," which is just a fancy way of saying they applied the bare minimum amount of paint required to cover the metal. These bikes look stunning on the showroom floor, but the clear coat is often thinner than a shop rag after a long week. Because of this "Robot Efficiency," you're likely seeing high-impact areas like the front fairings and fuel tank edges succumbing to road rash and stone chips far earlier than the bikes of the '90s ever did. If you catch a chip and don't seal it, that thin factory shell doesn't have much "meat" left to protect the primer underneath.

Restoration Tip

When you're fixing a chip on a 2018 frame or tank, you have to fight the urge to "blob" the paint. Since the factory coat is so thin, a single heavy drop of touch-up paint will stand out like a sore thumb. Build your layers slowly. Use a fine-tip brush or a toothpick to apply a paper-thin layer, let it flash off, and then come back for a second pass. This mimics the low-build approach the factory used and prevents you from having a raised mountain of paint in the middle of a perfectly flat panel. If you're working on the Raven black, remember: patience is the only thing that hides the repair.