Mazda Paint Codes: Find Your Color and Order Touch-Up Paint

Here's how it usually starts. You're three car lengths behind a dump truck on the Spaulding, you hear a tick, and by the time you're in the driveway there's a white dot on the hood the size of a pinhead. Not worth a body shop. Absolutely worth eleven dollars and a Saturday morning, because bare steel doesn't stay bare steel through a New Hampshire winter.

The whole job hinges on one thing: the exact code. "Red" isn't a color on a Mazda. 46V is. And 41V is a different red that will look wrong sitting next to it.

Where is the paint code on a Mazda?

Open the driver's door and look at the pillar or the door jamb at about latch height. There's a white or silver label there with a barcode on it. Somewhere on that label is a three-character code, usually two numbers and a letter, sitting next to COLOR, C/TR, or EXT.

That's the one you want. If you see two codes side by side, the second one is the interior trim code.

Two things worth doing while you're crouched down there. Photograph the label, because you'll want it again and you won't remember where it was. And don't work from the brochure name. Mazda has run several reds and several whites at the same time, and a couple of them look identical until they're sprayed side by side on the same panel.

Label gone, or too faded to read? Send us the VIN and we'll pull the factory color off the build record. Our Mazda VIN decoder explains what the VIN itself tells you.

Mazda paint codes and touch-up part numbers

Every code below comes straight out of our own live catalog, with the genuine Mazda part number and a link to the bottle. Mazda has used well over a hundred codes across its history, so if yours isn't in the table, search the bare code and it will come up.

Code	Color	Mazda part number
46V	Soul Red Crystal	0000-92-46V
41V	Soul Red	0000-92-41V
46G	Machine Gray Metallic	0000-92-46G
47C	Polymetal Gray	0000-92-47C
41W	Jet Black	0000-92-41W
34K / 41K	Crystal White Pearl	0000-92-41K
45P	Sonic Silver	0000-92-45P
45B	Eternal Blue	0000-92-45B
42M	Deep Crystal Blue	0000-92-42M
51K	Rhodium White Metallic	N51K-77-710
48B	Ingot Blue	N48B-77-710
48K	Wind Chill Pearl White	N48K-77-710
47S	Platinum Quartz Metallic	N47S-77-710

How Mazda touch-up paint part numbers work

There's a pattern here that saves a lot of clicking. Most Mazda touch-up bottles are numbered 0000-92- followed by your paint code, so 45P becomes 0000-92-45P. Colors introduced more recently use a different format: N, then the code, then -77-710. Rhodium White Metallic is N51K-77-710.

A handful of older colors sit outside both patterns on legacy eight-digit numbers. If the formula comes up empty, search the bare three-character code and let the catalog find it.

Why is Soul Red Crystal so hard to touch up?

Most automotive paint is two-stage: pigmented base, then clear over the top. Mazda's headline finishes are three-stage. On Soul Red Crystal a highly reflective light layer goes down first, then a translucent red that meters how much of that reflection comes back through, then clear. The depth people notice in Mazda's reds is that middle layer doing its work.

Which creates a practical problem. On a two-stage silver, a patient touch-up nearly vanishes. On 46V, the same technique can leave a dot that reads slightly darker or slightly flatter, because you can't rebuild three layers inside a one-millimeter crater. It'll still seal the metal, which is the entire point, and it'll still look better than a rust bloom.

Is it a chip, a scratch, or a body shop job?

Run a fingernail across the damage before you buy anything.

• Nail glides over it. Clear coat only. A polish or light compound will probably take it out. No paint required.
• Nail catches a little. You're into the color. Touch-up plus clear is the right move.
• Nail drops in and you can see grey or shiny metal. Fix it soon.
• Paint is cracked, lifted, or spidered around a dent. Body shop. Our guide to genuine Mazda body parts covers what comes next.

How to touch up a Mazda paint chip

Work in the shade, on a mild dry day. Paint hates direct sun, cold metal, and humidity.

1. Wash, dry, then wipe with isopropyl alcohol. Wax left in the chip will stop the paint from sticking, and you won't find out for a month.
2. Kill any rust. A dab of rust converter, or the lightest touch with a fine abrasive on a toothpick. Don't sand the good paint around it.
3. Build thin coats. Use a toothpick or a fine artist's brush, not the fat applicator in the cap. You're filling a hole, not painting a circle. Fifteen or twenty minutes between coats.
4. Stop just below flush. Slightly low is easy to live with. A blob standing proud of the panel is a bigger problem than the chip was.
5. Clear coat once the color is dry to the touch, again thin.
6. Cure, then level if you want to. Give it several days. A light pass with fine polish will soften the edge. Skip this on three-stage colors unless you've done it before.
7. Wax or seal after a couple of weeks.

Patience is the only real skill involved. Nearly every bad touch-up is one thick coat applied in a hurry.

Bottle, pen, or aerosol?

• Bottle with a brush handles chips and short scratches, which is most of what owners deal with. This is the $10.99 item.
• Aerosol is for larger areas, like a scuffed mirror cap. Needs masking and a lot more care to avoid a visible edge.
• Primer only when you're down to bare metal or bare plastic.
• Clear coat on anything metallic or pearl, which covers nearly every modern Mazda color.

Order by code, never by name. If the label on your car doesn't match anything you can find, call us with the VIN first. Shipping back the wrong red is nobody's idea of a good afternoon.

When to stop and call a body shop

Send it to a professional when the panel is dented, when paint is peeling or delaminating across an area rather than a spot, when the damage crosses a body line, or when it sits on a three-stage panel somewhere obvious. A shop can blend into the adjacent panels, and blending is the only reliable way to make 46V disappear.

Frequently asked questions

How much does Mazda touch-up paint cost?

Genuine Mazda touch-up bottles list at $13.95 MSRP and sell for $10.99 here, about 21% off.

What is the part number for Mazda touch-up paint?

0000-92 followed by your three-character paint code for most colors, or N, your code, then -77-710 for newer ones. Soul Red Crystal is 0000-92-46V.

Can I use touch-up paint from my old Mazda on my new one?

Only if the codes match exactly. The same marketing name across different model years often means a different code and a different formula.

Does touch-up paint expire?

It does. Old bottles thicken and the pigment separates, and pigment that won't remix won't match. If it's been in the garage for years, buy a fresh one.

Do I really need the clear coat?

On any metallic or pearl finish, yes. Without it the repair looks dull and it won't hold up to UV.

How soon should I fix a rock chip?

Before winter if you live anywhere they salt the roads. Surface rust can take hold on exposed steel within weeks.

Where is the paint code if the door jamb label is missing?

Call the parts counter with your VIN at 603-436-6811 and we'll look up the factory color.

Not sure which code you have?

Send a photo of your door jamb label, or just the VIN, and we'll confirm the color and point you at the right bottle. Call 603-436-6811, email [email protected], or use our contact page. Mazda Part Direct is owned and operated by Seacoast Mazda, an authorized Mazda dealer in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

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