OVERTAKE Subaru Touch Up Paint: Color Codes, Primers, and How to Spray It Yourself
There is a gap between a paint pen and a body shop, and most Subaru owners fall straight into it. You scuffed a mirror cover backing out of the garage. You picked up a used lip in the wrong color. You want the hood scoop to match instead of announcing that it came off a different car. None of that is worth a body shop quote, and none of it is going to get fixed by dabbing at it with a pen. OVERTAKE MaxxMatch paint is built for exactly that middle ground: factory color codes in a 12oz aerosol can, matched to the colors Subaru actually sprayed, so you can paint a part properly at home instead of living with a mismatch.
The line now covers 24 products. Sixteen are matched to Subaru factory color codes across the WRX, STI, BRZ, Crosstrek, Forester, Impreza, Outback, and Legacy. The rest are the supporting pieces that a real paint job needs, primers and clear coats, plus a few specialty colors including BBS gold wheel paint. Today, the newest one joins them: OVERTAKE Blue, our own signature color, so the parts you buy from us and the parts you paint yourself finally match.
If you already know your color code and want to skip ahead, the full OVERTAKE paint lineup lives here. If you are not sure what you need yet, the rest of this covers what these cans are for, what they are not for, and what else goes in the cart alongside the color.
Why Does a Performance Parts Company Sell Spray Paint?
Because there was an obvious gap and nobody was filling it well.
Look at what you get offered when you go looking for Subaru paint. On one end there are the generic touch up outfits that will mix any color for any car built in the last forty years, which is useful if you are chasing a rock chip and useless if you are trying to make a spoiler look like it came painted from the factory. On the other end is a body shop, which does excellent work and charges body shop money to do it. In between, for the enthusiast who is painting a part rather than repairing a panel, there was not a high quality option that was actually easy to get.
That is the gap we decided to fill. Accessible, genuinely good spray paint for touch up work and cosmetic upgrades on the parts you already have. It is the same reasoning behind everything else we make. Our customers are people who do the work themselves, and this is work that can absolutely be done at home if the material is good enough to reward the effort.
What Can You Actually Paint With These Cans?
Parts. Whole parts, painted completely, off the car or masked properly on it. That covers a lot of ground on a Subaru:
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Hood scoops
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Mirror covers
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Side skirts and lips
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Fender flares
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Spoilers and wings
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Bumper covers and other exterior trim
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Interior trim pieces
On coverage, one 12oz can handles one hood scoop. For something with more surface area like a set of side skirts, plan on two to three cans. Buy the extra can. Running dry two thirds of the way through a panel is how a good afternoon turns into a bad weekend.
Now the honest part. This paint is not for blending body panels. If you have a scratch across a door or a fender that needs to fade into the surrounding paint, that is a spray gun job with blending solvent and a booth, and you should take the car to a paint and body shop. Aerosol color match is excellent at painting a part completely and uniformly. It is the wrong tool for making a repair disappear into the middle of an existing panel. We would rather tell you that up front than sell you a can and a disappointment.
Which Subaru Colors Does the Line Cover?
Everything below is matched to the factory color code, not to a color name. Names get reused and revised across models and years. The code is the thing that actually identifies your paint, so that is what these are built and labeled around.
Blues
Whites
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Crystal White Pearl K1X, sold as a two can package, covered below
Silvers, Greys, and Black
Reds and Oranges
Specialty Colors
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Subaru Wilderness Copper, for the Wilderness trim accents
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BBS Gold wheel paint, the correct gold for refinishing a set of BBS wheels
How Do You Find Your Subaru Color Code?
Your color code is on a sticker or plate on the car, not in the owner manual and not in the VIN. On older Subarus it is usually on a strut tower under the hood. On newer cars it has generally moved to the driver or passenger door jamb. It is a short three character code mixing letters and numbers, sitting next to the color name. Match that code to the list above and you are done. If the car has been repainted at some point, trust the paint on the car over the code on the sticker.
What Else Goes in the Cart Besides the Color?
A paint job is layers. Skipping one of them is the most common reason a home spray job looks like a home spray job.
Primer, and Which Kind You Need
There are two kinds of primer in the line and the choice comes down to what the surface underneath looks like. Use the standard 1K primer when the part is already smooth and you just need something for the color to bite into. Use the 1K filler primer when there are minor imperfections or sanding scratches to fill first. Filler primer builds thicker and levels the surface, which is what you want on a part that has been sanded, repaired, or lived a hard life. On a smooth part it is unnecessary work.
Clear Coat
Color goes on, clear goes over it. The clear is what gives the finish its gloss and what actually protects the color from weather, UV, and chemicals. For exterior parts, use a 2K clear coat, which is a two component product you activate in the can before spraying. It flows out smooth and cures to a durable, long lasting high gloss. There is also a 1K gloss clear in the line for lighter duty work. Whichever you use, the clear is not the optional step. It is the step that determines whether the part still looks right in two years.
The Crystal White Pearl Exception
One color in the line works differently. Crystal White Pearl K1X is a two layer paint, so it ships as a package of two cans rather than one. The first is the base color, the second is the pearl coat that goes over it. Clear coat then goes on as a third layer. Every other color in the line is a single color coat. If you drive a K1X car, plan the job around three passes, not two.
New: OVERTAKE Blue MaxxMatch Paint
The newest addition is not a Subaru factory code at all. OVERTAKE Blue MaxxMatch paint is our own signature color, matched to the finish on our own parts, in the same 12oz can as the rest of the line.
This one exists because of a question we kept getting. Somebody runs an OVERTAKE part in our blue, likes how it looks, and wants a second piece on the car to match. Until now the answer was that you could not get there, because our blue is our blue. Now you can paint a scoop, a set of mirror covers, a lip, or an interior piece and have it land on the same color as the parts you already bought from us.
It sprays like everything else in the line. Standard primer underneath, color, 2K clear over the top, one can per hood scoop and two to three for anything larger. If you have been building a blue accent theme piece by piece, this is the can that lets you finish it.
Who Is This For?
If you are restoring a tired part, this is a straightforward win. Faded mirror covers and a chalky spoiler make an otherwise clean car look ten years older than it is, and both are a weekend afternoon with a can and some masking tape.
If you buy used parts, it is close to required. Half the good deals on a lip or a set of flares are in the wrong color. Factory code paint turns a cheap mismatched part into the right part.
If you are building a theme, whether that is blacked out trim, gold wheels, or OVERTAKE blue accents, this is how you get there without paying shop rates on every individual piece.
And if what you actually have is a scratch through the clear on a door, this is not your product and we would rather say so. Go see a body shop.
Ready to Match Your Subaru?
Find your color code, grab the matching can, and add the primer and clear that go with it. Shop the full OVERTAKE paint lineup here.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will this actually match my factory paint?
Each color in the line is matched to a specific Subaru factory color code, so it is built to match the paint your car left the factory wearing. Worth knowing: paint on a car ages. Sun, weather, and years of washing shift a finish slightly away from the original standard, and that is true of any color match paint from any supplier. On a complete part painted in full, that is rarely noticeable. On an attempted blend into the middle of a faded panel, it will be, which is one more reason these cans are meant for parts rather than panels.
Can I use this to fix a scratch on my door?
No, and we would rather be direct about it. Blending a repair into an existing panel is body shop work. These cans are for painting a part completely, either off the car or properly masked on it.
Do I really need primer and clear coat?
For a finish that lasts, yes. Primer gives the color something to bond to and evens out the surface. Clear provides the gloss and the protection from weather, UV, and chemicals. Color sprayed by itself onto bare plastic or sanded material will look acceptable for a little while and then will not.
How many cans do I need?
One 12oz can covers roughly one hood scoop. For larger areas like side skirts, plan on two to three. Remember to account for primer and clear separately, since those are their own cans.
What is the difference between filler primer and regular primer?
Filler primer is for filling minor imperfections and sanding scratches on a surface that is not perfectly smooth yet. Regular primer is for a surface that is already smooth and just needs a bonding layer before color. If you have been sanding, reach for filler primer.
