Nissan Paint Code: Where to Find It and How to Read It
The exact label to look for on a Nissan, how the code is printed, what people mistake it for, and 12 verified Nissan colour codes.
NHTSA vPIC has no colour field, so no VIN decoder returns one. The label on the vehicle is the reliable route.
On a Nissan, the paint code is on the vehicle identification label in the driver's door jamb, printed under or beside the word COLOR. It is three characters mixing letters and digits — KH3, K23, QAB, G41. Nissans built before about 2000 instead carry a metal identification plate on the engine-bay firewall or radiator support. A 17-character VIN does not contain the paint code.
Where is the paint code on a Nissan?
- Driver-side door jamb. The vehicle identification label inside the driver's door opening, on the jamb or on the B-pillar the door closes against. This is the normal place on Nissans built from roughly 2000 onward. The paint code sits toward the lower left of the label under the heading COLOR, usually with TRIM alongside it. Some labels are mounted low near the striker and need you to crouch to read them.
- Driver's door shut edge or hinge area. Some models carry the label on the edge of the door itself or up near the top hinge rather than on the jamb. Refinish suppliers agree that Nissan moves this label between models and generations — PaintScratch notes it is almost always on the door jamb for Altima and Sentra, but tells Frontier and older Pathfinder owners to check under the hood instead — so check both faces of the door opening before concluding it is missing.
- Engine-bay firewall or radiator support. Datsun and Nissan models from roughly the 1990s and earlier carry a metal or foil identification plate under the hood: on the firewall (driver side or centre, near the brake booster) or on top of the radiator support. 240SX and 300ZX are the commonly cited examples. Sources agree the code moved to the door opening as Nissan modernised its labels, but they do not agree on a single changeover year, and some 1990s and early-2000s trucks keep the under-hood plate.
- Passenger-side B-pillar. A handful of models, the Rogue included, put the label on the passenger side. Suppliers list this as the second place to look when the driver's side opening is bare.
How to read the Nissan paint code
Three characters, letters and digits mixed, printed under or next to the field heading COLOR — some labels abbreviate it to COL. or EXT. Examples: KH3, K23, QAB, G41, NAH, KAD. A single letter printed in the TRIM field beside it is the interior code, not part of the paint code; reading it as a fourth character is the most common mistake. On two-tone cars a second three-character code may follow.
- Open the driver's door and read the vehicle identification label on the door jamb and on the B-pillar it closes against; on Nissans from before about 2000, open the hood instead and find the metal identification plate on the firewall or radiator support.
- Find the field headed COLOR (some labels print COL. or EXT.), usually toward the lower left of the label, and read the three characters printed under or beside it.
- Ignore the single letter in the TRIM field next to it — that is the interior code, not part of the paint code.
- If the car is two-tone, note whether the label carries one combination code such as XBJ or XEX, or two separate three-character codes, since you need the body colour and the roof colour.
- Verify the code against Nissan's own colour name: Nissan touch-up paint part numbers are 999PP-SD plus the paint code, so 999PP-SDKH3 confirms KH3 is Super Black.
- If the label is missing, painted over or unreadable, give the VIN to a Nissan dealer parts department or Nissan Consumer Affairs on 1-800-647-7261 — they read the factory build record, which is where the colour is actually recorded.
Common Nissan paint codes
| Code | Nissan colour name | Where it appears |
|---|---|---|
| KH3 | Super Black | Solid non-metallic black. In use from the early 1990s to current model years across nearly the whole Nissan range, so the code alone does not indicate a year. |
| K23 | Brilliant Silver | Metallic silver on Altima, Armada, Leaf, Maxima, Murano, Pathfinder, Rogue, Sentra and Versa. Sold as Airstream on roughly 2005-2010 cars; Infiniti uses the same code as Liquid Platinum. |
| QAB | Pearl White | A three-stage tricoat: white base, translucent pearl mid-coat, clear. Named White Pearl on about 2009-2015 models, Pearl White from 2016. Infiniti calls it Majestic White. |
| G41 | Magnetic Black | Black pearl on Murano, Rogue and others from 2007 onward. Not the same paint as KH3 Super Black. |
| NAH | Cayenne Red | Sold as Force Red on 2011-2012 Juke, Leaf and Rogue, then as Cayenne Red from 2013 to about 2021 on Altima, Rogue, Pathfinder, Frontier, Titan, Cube, Leaf and Xterra. |
| KAD | Gun Metallic | Nissan's grey metallic, very widely fitted. Also listed as Gun Metal or, on Infiniti, Graphite Shadow. |
| RAY | Deep Blue Pearl | Blue metallic on Altima, Frontier, Leaf, Maxima, Murano and Titan. |
| QM1 | Fresh Powder | Solid white on Kicks, Sentra and Versa. Not the same as QAB Pearl White. |
| NBL | Scarlet Ember | Three-coat pearl red from 2018 onward on Altima, Kicks, Leaf, Maxima, Murano, Pathfinder, Rogue, Sentra and Versa. |
| EBL | Sunset Drift | Chromaflair pearl on Altima, Leaf, Maxima, Murano and Rogue. |
| KBY | Boulder Gray | Frontier, Kicks, Murano, Pathfinder and Rogue from 2021. The same code appears as Stealth Gray on some 2024-2025 models. |
| DAN | Obsidian Green Pearl | Pathfinder green, recent model years. |
This list is not every colour Nissan has sold. Always confirm against the label on your own vehicle before ordering paint.
What to know before you order paint
- A 17-character VIN does not encode paint. NHTSA's vPIC decoder — the free federal VIN database at vpic.nhtsa.dot.gov — publishes 144 variables and none of them is colour or paint; decoding a 2020 Nissan Altima VIN through vPIC returns 140 fields with no exterior colour among them. Any site promising a paint code from a VIN alone is either querying a manufacturer build record or inferring from the model.
- Nissan's own parts catalogue is the cleanest code-to-name check: touch-up paint part numbers are 999PP-SD followed by the paint code, so the Official Nissan Parts Store lists 999PP-SDKH3 as Super Black, 999PP-SDK23 as Brilliant Silver, 999PP-SDNAH as Cayenne Red and 999PP-SDG41 as Magnetic Black.
- The same Nissan code can carry different marketing names in different years, so search by code rather than by colour name. PaintRef's cross-reference records NAH as Force Red in 2011-2012 and Cayenne Red from 2013, and K23 as Airstream before it became Brilliant Silver.
- Two-tone Nissans get their own combination code. PaintRef records XBJ as Pearl White QAB with a Super Black KH3 roof, XEX as Boulder Gray KBY with KH3, XAH as Monarch Orange EBB with KH3 and GAQ as Gun Metallic KAD with KH3 — so a label code that returns nothing in a single-colour list is usually a two-tone code.
- If the label is gone, Nissan Consumer Affairs (1-800-647-7261, listed on nissanusa.com) or any dealer parts department can retrieve the factory colour from the VIN, because they read the build record rather than the VIN string itself.
Nissan and refinish sources
Open the underlying public source and verify that its scope matches the question you are asking.
- vPIC Vehicle API — variable list and VIN decodeNHTSA, U.S. Department of Transportation
- Touch-Up Paint listings (999PP-SD part numbers by colour code)Official Nissan Parts Store
- Nissan paint colour cross-reference, including two-tone combination codesPaintRef.com
- Nissan Paint Code Location and How to Read ItPaintScratch
- How to Find Nissan Paint CodesAutomotiveTouchup
Nissan paint code questions
Can I get my Nissan paint code from the VIN?
No, not from the VIN characters themselves. The 17-character VIN encodes make, model, plant, engine and model year, but there is no paint field in it. NHTSA's free vPIC decoder publishes 144 variables and none is colour; decoding a Nissan VIN returns 140 attributes with no exterior colour. Services that appear to do it are querying a manufacturer build record behind the scenes.
Where is the paint code on a Nissan?
On the vehicle identification label in the driver's door jamb for most Nissans built since the 2000s, under the heading COLOR. Also check the B-pillar the door closes against, the door's shut edge and the hinge area, because Nissan moves the label between models. Datsuns and Nissans from before roughly 2000 use a metal plate on the engine-bay firewall or radiator support.
How do I identify the correct K23 silver paint code for my Nissan?
K23 is Nissan's Brilliant Silver, a metallic fitted to Altima, Maxima, Murano, Rogue, Sentra, Pathfinder, Armada, Leaf and Versa. Confirm it by reading K23 in the COLOR field on the door-jamb label rather than by eye, because Nissan has sold several silvers at once. Nissan's touch-up part number is 999PP-SDK23. On 2005-2010 cars the same code was named Airstream.
How do I find the exact KH3 paint code for my Nissan?
KH3 is Super Black, and it appears in the COLOR field of the driver's door-jamb label. The code has run from the early 1990s to current model years on nearly every Nissan, so seeing KH3 tells you the colour but nothing about the year. It is a solid, non-metallic black, which makes it one of the easier Nissan colours to blend. Nissan sells it as 999PP-SDKH3.
What is Nissan paint code NAH?
NAH is Cayenne Red, used from about 2013 to 2021 on Altima, Rogue, Pathfinder, Frontier, Titan, Cube, Leaf and Xterra. The same code was marketed as Force Red on 2011-2012 Juke, Leaf and Rogue, which is why colour-name searches disagree with each other. Nissan lists it as 999PP-SDNAH. Search by the three-character code, not by the marketing name.
What does G41 mean on a Nissan?
G41 is Magnetic Black, a black pearl used on Murano, Rogue and other Nissans from 2007 onward. It is not the same paint as KH3 Super Black: G41 carries pearl flake, so a KH3 touch-up stick will read flat and dull beside it. Nissan's part number is 999PP-SDG41. Read the code off the label rather than guessing between the two blacks.
My Nissan is two-tone. Which code do I use?
Both, and the label may show one combination code rather than two. Nissan gives two-tone combinations their own three-character code: XBJ is Pearl White QAB with a Super Black KH3 roof, XEX is Boulder Gray KBY with KH3, and GAQ is Gun Metallic KAD with KH3. If your code returns nothing in a single-colour list, it is a two-tone code — look up its two component colours.
Can non-Nissan paint match a Nissan colour?
Yes. Every major refinish brand cross-references Nissan codes: PPG, RM/BASF, Glasurit, Autocolor and Martin Senour all publish their own formula numbers against KH3, K23, NAH and the rest, and a paint jobber mixes from those. Good shops still spray a let-down card and blend into adjacent panels, because sun-faded paint drifts from the factory formula whichever brand mixes it.