diff --git a/ultraplot/axes/plot.py b/ultraplot/axes/plot.py
index 3f29d190b..df902902e 100644
--- a/ultraplot/axes/plot.py
+++ b/ultraplot/axes/plot.py
@@ -2707,13 +2707,6 @@ def _parse_cmap(
 
         # Create the continuous normalizer.
         norm = _not_none(norm, "div" if "diverging" in trues else "linear")
-        # If using a diverging norm, fair=True, and vcenter not set, default to midpoint
-        if norm in ("div", "diverging") or "diverging" in trues:
-            fair = norm_kw.get("fair", True)  # defaults to True
-            vcenter = norm_kw.get("vcenter", 0)
-            if fair and vcenter is None and vmin is not None and vmax is not None:
-                vcenter = 0.5 * (vmin + vmax)
-            norm_kw["vcenter"] = vcenter
         if isinstance(norm, mcolors.Normalize):
             norm.vmin, norm.vmax = vmin, vmax
         else:
@@ -2946,6 +2939,7 @@ def _parse_level_lim(
                     f"Incompatible arguments vmin={vmin!r}, vmax={vmax!r}, and "
                     "symmetric=True. Ignoring the latter."
                 )
+
         return vmin, vmax, kwargs
 
     def _parse_level_num(
diff --git a/ultraplot/tests/test_color.py b/ultraplot/tests/test_color.py
deleted file mode 100644
index 61e83a464..000000000
--- a/ultraplot/tests/test_color.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,37 +0,0 @@
-import ultraplot as uplt, numpy as np, pytest
-
-
-@pytest.mark.mpl_image_compare
-def test_vcenter_values():
-    """
-    Test that vcenter values are correctly set in colorbars.
-    """
-    rng = np.random.default_rng(seed=10)
-    mvals = rng.normal(size=(32, 32))
-    cmap = "spectral"
-    # The middle and right plot should look the same
-    # The colors should spread out where the extremes are visible
-    fig, axs = uplt.subplots(ncols=3, share=0)
-    for i, ax in enumerate(axs):
-        specs = {}
-        if i > 0:
-            vmin = -0.2
-            vmax = 2.0
-            specs = dict(vmin=vmin, vmax=vmax)
-            if i == 2:
-                mvals = np.clip(mvals, vmin, vmax)
-        m = ax.pcolormesh(
-            mvals,
-            cmap=cmap,
-            discrete=False,
-            **specs,
-        )
-        ax.format(
-            grid=False,
-            xticklabels=[],
-            xticks=[],
-            yticklabels=[],
-            yticks=[],
-        )
-        ax.colorbar(m, loc="r", label=f"{i}")
-    return fig