Ford Kuga

 Service Manual

Paint - General Information » Color Identification and Chromatics
Color codes and their determination on Ford vehicles

It is necessary to determine the correct color shade of the original paintwork in order to perform a professional and perfect paint repair.

The original paint color shade can be found by:

Inspection of the vehicle type plate with the color code stamped on it.

• Later design
• Earlier design

Color shade catalog or color shade system of the manufacturer.

The bare bodyshell plate with color designation.

Type plate

Type plate - location on Ford vehicles:

Right-hand B-pillar - door rebate

Left-hand B-pillar - door rebate

Hood lock panel

Left-hand vertical edge of inner front wing

Right-hand vertical edge of inner front wing

Right-hand engine compartment side member

Left-hand bulkhead

Right-hand bulkhead

Luggage compartment interior

Inner rear panel - luggage compartment

The type plate gives the color code in the last row.

On the newer type plates, the color code is given in the left-hand column, at the penultimate position.

Color shade catalog or color shade system of the repair paint manufacturer.

The repair paint manufacturers offer a variety of possible systems for the determining the production color shade of motor vehicles. There are electronic systems, color card systems and manuals for the determination of color shades.

Most repair paint manufacturers use the following systems:

A tabular system based on the following parameters:

• Color code
• Make
• Model
• Build year
• Color or color name
• Ancillary codes

A system with color cards based on the following parameters:

• Make
• Color shade
• Build year

Because of the many parameters used, in a tabular system the color shade can also be determined by the lack of a parameter.

When using the color cards, emphasis is placed on matching of the original color shade with the color shade samples. For this reason this method is very helpful when the other parameters are not available.

Comparison of the results of both methods increases the certainty of using the correct original color shade and its formulation.

Additional certainty can be achieved during color shade determination by making a color sample plate. Here it is however important to apply the complete paint structure with base paint and clear lacquer onto a sample plate (1) in order to carry out a color shade and color coverage test.

The color shade comparison is done by comparing the vehicle paintwork with the sample plate (1).

The color coverage test is possible by using the black test stripe (2): If the test stripe (2) is still visible after test painting of the sample plate (1), the coverage is not good enough.

By using this determination of the original color shade, the formulation and information on any very slight fine adjustments which may be necessary can be established.

Bare bodyshell plate

The bare bodyshell plate is located:

• On the hood lock panel.
• Near the type plate.

The color name is stamped on in the last row.

Basic color theory

Metallic and pearl pigments

Color codes and their determination on Ford vehicles

Matching tinted filler to the color code