My car (1997 Honda Civic EX coupe) is Milano Red. BUT, the STOCK OEM paint color that's listed on my door (car's never been repainted) says R-81-5.

When I went to get my rear bumper painted a few years ago, the body shop guy had to look in one of his older paint code books to find R-81-5 so he could paintmatch properly. The computer only showed Milano Red as R-81.

My car's color is a little deeper shade of Milano Red than other 96-00 civic coupes I've seen in Milano Red. What gives???



I have an OEM 99-00 Si Milano Red (R-81) rear lip that is a little lighter than my shade of Milano Red (R-81-5).

 

one of the codes has red tinted clearcoat making it darker. it could be your code im not sure but, if there isn't enough of this red clearcoat applied it wont be dark enough.

 

the -5 should be the varience, that or the 10 vin digit