Find your car's paint code

It's a small sticker on your car — not a big scary code. This page shows you exactly where to look, in order. Start at the driver's door; most cars have it right there.

First — the one thing that trips everyone up: your paint code is NOT your VIN. The VIN names the car; the paint code names the color. They often share a sticker, but the color has its own little box. You can't read the color out of the 17-digit VIN — so don't go hunting for it there.

Where the sticker hides

1Driver's door jamb — the #1 spot. Open the door and look.
2Glovebox (inside — on the lid or in the box)
3Under the hood (near the firewall / radiator support)
4Trunk or spare-tire well
5B-pillar — the post the door closes against

Start here: the #1 spot

Open your driver's door.
Look at the edge of the door, or the body post it closes against (the B-pillar). You're looking for a printed label — it also carries your VIN and tire info.
Find the short code — usually 2 to 5 characters, in a box marked something like COLOR, PAINT, or EXT PNT. That's it.

What you're looking for

Paint codes are short — usually 2 to 5 characters, letters and/or numbers: 8E, PW7, LA7W, or GM-style WA8555. A two-tone car may show U#### (upper/body) and L#### (lower).

It's the field marked COLOR, EXT PNT, C/TR, or PAINT — not the long VIN. Don't worry if you see both a short and a longer code; either can be the right one.

Close-up of a real sticker,
paint-code field circled
(drop your public-domain photo)

Not on the door? Try these next

Don't quit at the first miss — check these, roughly in this order (the numbers match the diagram):

2 Glovebox — inside, or on the lid.
3 Under the hood — a sticker or metal placard, often near the firewall or radiator support.
4 Trunk — under the lid, or on/under the spare-tire cover.
5 B-pillar / inner fender — the door post, or the wheel-well area.

Exactly where it lives depends on your make and year — so if it's not on the door, keep going down the list before giving up.

Find it faster for your make

GM (Chevy, Pontiac…)SPID label in the glovebox or trunk; look for the WA#### code (older = white sticker, newer = silver).

FordDriver's door edge/jamb — the field marked EXT PNT.

Toyota / LexusDriver's door jamb — the C/TR field (Color / Trim).

Honda / AcuraDriver's-side door-jamb label.

BMWMetal plate in the engine bay, or the door jamb.

Vans / trucksCan vary — B-pillar, rear face of the passenger door, or under the driver's seat.

The golden rule: match by the CODE, never the color name

"Super White" or "Phantom Black" isn't precise — one name can cover several codes, and a near-miss stands out like a sore thumb. Only the code guarantees a match. Use the code every single time.

Still can't find it?

Check the other spots first — under the hood, glovebox, trunk/spare area.
Look it up by VIN through the dealer or manufacturer. The VIN doesn't contain the code, but it's the key to the factory build sheet where it's stored — have your VIN ready.
Check your paperwork — original window sticker, purchase/build docs, or prior body-shop records.
Repaint caution — factory records only show the original color. If the car (or the part) was ever repainted, verify the actual color before ordering to the original code.

What about "paint code by VIN" tools?

The honest picture: the standard 17-character VIN does not encode the paint code — you can't decode the color from the digits. Those tools use your VIN as a lookup key into the manufacturer's build sheet (the same records a dealer pulls), so they reflect the original factory color only — a repaint can still fool them.

Buying a used painted part from us?

We list the donor car's paint code on every painted part — so you can match it to yours (by the code, not the name) before you buy.

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