2021 Subaru Forester
9 factory colors were offered on the Fifth generation (SK) Forester. Your code is on the driver's door jamb sticker on the line marked C/TR — the characters before the slash.
No color changes from 2020. All 9 codes carried over unchanged into 2021. If you are matching paint on a 2020 or 2021 Forester, the roster is identical.
Verified against 2 independent sources: Subaru of America 2021 Forester retail brochure, 'Color Combinations' matrix p.12 - https://cdn.dealereprocess.org/cdn/brochures/subaru/2021-forester.pdf; PaintRef Subaru 2021 colour cross-reference, Forester rows - https://paintref.com/cgi-bin/colorcodedisplay.cgi?manuf=Subaru&year=2021&rows=100.
Palette carried over unchanged from 2020. Dark Blue Pearl (M2Y) remained Sport-trim exclusive; Sepia Bronze Metallic on Premium, Limited and Touring only; Jasper Green Metallic and Horizon Blue Pearl not offered on Sport. Final year for Sepia Bronze Metallic and Jasper Green Metallic.
Where to find your paint code
Under the hood, on the strut tower or firewall plate — Subaru does not put the paint code on the door jamb.
Driver's door jamb
- Open the hood and look at the driver's side strut tower and the firewall.
- Find the small metal or foil plate carrying the model and colour codes.
- The paint code is the three-character entry, often labelled COLOR CODE or COLOR NO.
- On some model years the plate is on the passenger side instead — check both.
If the sticker is missing or faded
- Genuine Subaru touch-up part numbers embed the code — part J361SAJ090A1 is Carbide Gray, code K6U.
- Any Subaru dealer parts desk can look the code up from your VIN.
Other Forester years
Color availability changed year to year. Codes often carried over; names sometimes did not.