Pantone™ PMS 138 C

PMS 138 C is a highly saturated, medium-dark orange Pantone color. Bright colors like this often have lower hide than less saturated paints, which means you may need additional coats to achieve full, even coverage. For best results, ensure that surfaces are well-prepared and primed, especially if painting over lighter substrates. Plan for multiple coats to reach a uniform, brand-consistent appearance with PMS 138 C.

Paint matched to PMS 138 C is intended for brand color reproduction in new marketing, display, and fabrication projects. If you need touch-up grade accuracy for repairing an existing part described as PMS 138 C, the best practice is to send a physical sample of the actual part for a custom match. This ensures the touch-up will align visually with installed materials and finishes, since Pantone codes alone do not specify all factors affecting final appearance.

PMS 138 C refers to a specific color in the Pantone Matching System, where 'PMS' marks the system, '138' identifies the color, and 'C' typically indicates the coated version. To order the correct color, always use the full Pantone code, including suffixes like 'C' for coated, instead of relying on descriptive names. This minimizes risk of ordering the wrong product and ensures you get the exact brand standard for PMS 138 C.

When PMS 138 C needs to meet specific brand standards for a major project, order a sample of the paint in your desired finish and apply it to the actual substrate you will use. Review the sample under the lighting conditions where the final result will be installed. This process allows stakeholders to approve the appearance before full production, ensuring color accuracy for marketing and display work involving PMS 138 C.

Unfortunately, no.

Some manufacturers specify Pantone colors as touch up for their products, but Pantone does not work well as a proxy for a touch-up solution (for a litany of reasons such as it doesn't include sheen and Pantone color tolerances are not tight enough for touch up). When we match Pantone colors we are matching to a swatch in a Pantone book - not to your product.

The only way we can provide a touch-up solution for your product is for you send us a part. We would use the part to create a touch-up grade match. Unfortunately, there isn't an effective way to 'spec' the color well enough to produce a touch up without the part.

Read more about using Pantone for touch-up.

Learn more about our paint color matching service.

To make spray paint matched to Pantone PMS 138 C. MyPerfectColor uses an acrylic enamel which is a fast-drying durable coating suitable for interior or exterior use. MyPerfectColor custom spray paint enables you to conveniently achieve a professional spray-smooth finish in any color in any sheen. It sticks well to most surfaces including metal, plastics, powder-coatings, cabinets and primed or previously painted wood.

The 11oz spray will cover about 20 square feet per coat. Keep in mind that it is difficult to gauge how much spray you'll need as it is highly dependent on how it is applied. It is better to have too much than run short.

While MyPerfectColor can provide PMS 138 C in paint, we don't provide any crossover information. We've found that every paint company offers its own unique selection of colors and rarely does a color have an exact equivalent in another company's color collection, especially for a color collection like Pantone which is designed for bright colors and inks.