For folks that may find it useful (or who have corrections and additions they can offer) I just did a small update of the Suzuki paint codes spreadsheet I've been keeping. Its a PDF file, and can be found here or here.
Note - this is a 'work in progress' and not complete. Having said that, off road bikes generally will not be included as my interest is just the road bikes. I also have been compiling combinations - what paint and tape colour codes appeared together and will make that available at some point separately. I'm sure there are errors - if you notice any, please let me know.
H2RICK - this overlaps the list you did a few years ago - if you want to use any of this material, I can send you a copy of the spreadsheet so you can make your own edits - just let me know.
And for anyone curious as to why ? Winters are long up here - helps to pass the time
Ian
If at first you don't succeed, just get a bigger hammer !
This is great! Thanks for posting this reference. What would also be cool is to cross-reference these to currently available paint codes. For instance, we found the closest match to Candy Gold-2 is House of Color's Candy Pagan Gold with a gold base coat.
Here in Northern California, shops are supposed to be going to water- (i.e., non solvent-) based paints by October, so presumably any matches to solvent-based paints soon won't help us much.
We in the Chattanooga area have been making the move to water as well. It has not been legislated, but the more progressive shops in the area want to be on board before they are forced. And the marketing advantage has shown to be working for the shops that have converted.
What we have found is that the water based paints are superior in color and application than solvent ever was.
PPG has already developed their Vibrance line in water for the custom market. The candies are still available. I would have to guess that there will be a match for a good portion of the colors out there.
If I had samples of each of the colors needed, I would be happy to match the listed colors to modern products.
I'm very excited for PPG's water based products. They are so much easier to work with and provide advantages that solvent cannot match.
The latest set of bodywork going on my Buffalo will be finished in Envirobase.
Good Heavens, Ian!!!! You really went over the top with that info. I appreciate your offer and will download your pdf and incorporate it into my sheets....with the exception of the 4 stroke stuff. My sheet was made up strictly for the stroker crowd and I could be lynched for including four stroke info in there.
GT550A Mint & Original
H2A Semi-Hot Rod Built From A Basket Case
KZ650C2 Mint & Original...mostly
GSF1200SK6 Bandit...My LD Ride
Additional H2 projects In Boxes.....
MBD Sufferer
Thanks for all the hard work!… but there's a but and maybe a few suggestions/remarks.
For clarification, wouldn't it be better to use the "official" suzuki suffix ie R, J, K, etc? instead of 1 -2 -3, as normally -I doesn't exist. I am thinking of the Tees here.
ie a 69 T250 is a T250, a 70 a T250-II, a 71 T250R, etc.
a 70 T350 is a T350-II.
Likewise, It'd be good to state the first T500 as a T500 Cobra, the 69 model being T500-II.
I also find in my books that (at least here in Europe) The T250 (69) was only available in Mohave Copper (Candy Orange 138) and Candy Lime green (164) not Monterey Green (Sophia Green 159) neither white (pearl metalic White 126) which was only used by the T350 in its first year.
Likewise you still mention T20 being produced and painted in 1969, this shouldn't normally be possible.
If you know me a bit, I am not normally a prick for originality unless the bike is in original state… but I think we could add a few precision to the spreadsheet.
BTW all colors starting with 0 are often undercoats like 046 Silver metallic… they just weren't coated with a color topcoat (like on a T20), or final detail colors like Black 019. (stripes) All 4xx colors are really for seats (leather/vinyl colors)
Plese don't take this as a jab against your work… It's quite the opposite.
This is a great resource. I have a question, what does the color code mean?Ex. the Candy Wine Red, code 715 (for '73 T500) is what I think I need to match the paint on my bike. Is this an industry standard color that could be matched by PPG, Martin Seignour, etc.?
Frank, those alpha-numeric codes for the colours are Suzuki's codes. They MAY also be the codes used by Suzuki's paint supplier (whoever the heck that was) but they are of no use in identifying a suitable modern equivalent.
You'll have to go to the scanning method IF you have a suitable sample of the original paint somewhere. Otherwise, it's a best-guess thing. This is only time, IMO, that's it's great to own a black bike.
GT550A Mint & Original
H2A Semi-Hot Rod Built From A Basket Case
KZ650C2 Mint & Original...mostly
GSF1200SK6 Bandit...My LD Ride
Additional H2 projects In Boxes.....
MBD Sufferer
Greta info Ian, One question though, are these used for Europe bikes too, or just US versions. Cuz, I onlythought that the 1974 GT550 came in the Hawaii green, and a candy red? I could very easily be mistaken on this too.
Novice rider,
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durgam wrote:Greta info Ian, One question though, are these used for Europe bikes too, or just US versions. Cuz, I onlythought that the 1974 GT550 came in the Hawaii green, and a candy red? I could very easily be mistaken on this too.
Well - the names did change several times for the same Suzuki paint code. For the '74 GT550, the tanks were 215 (some kind of green) and 293 (some kind of red) - the problem now of course is having that information doesn't help you as I'm not aware of a publicly available cross reference table to match to new colour codes.
Once I got the colour for my custom build sorted out, I thought I'd continue on an try to document combinations - what tape combos went with which tank colour. I probably need to go through it again and tidy it up a bit
If that doesn't answer your question, just PM me.
Ian
If at first you don't succeed, just get a bigger hammer !
I have matched the red and blue that was on the RE5 in PPG's Deltron and have been made in a user friendly basecoat clear coat instead of a three stage candy. The formulas are available from Jess at Rotary Recycle.
The red will match that on the '76 buffalo as well.
Please understand, these bikes were painted with a three stage candy from the factory. There was an extreme amount of variance from bike to bike. The color I matched was a very good compromise of the any tanks I have seen.
The colors will be available in PPG's Envirobase waterborne soon.
