The paint on a garage door spring is a code. On a torsion spring the color stands for the wire diameter, and on an extension spring for the door weight a pair of springs is built to lift, both under the official color codes DASMA publishes for spring makers.
That code helps us guess the right springs from a photo before a garage door spring replacement visit, and it is also why a guess is all it gives. The colors repeat, they describe one dimension of the spring, and DASMA’s own sheet says to back them with measurements.
What DASMA’s color code is, and who it is for
DASMA’s color code is a four-page technical data sheet written for spring makers, and it says plainly that homeowners and maintenance staff should not use it to replace springs.
The sheet names a trained door systems technician as the person to replace springs. It also calls color coding only partial identification: the colors cover the characteristics charted, while inside diameter, length, stretch, material type and finish sit outside the code entirely.
On the extension spring page it adds that colors should be backed by physical measurements, door weight and the door maker’s information, particularly on older installations. Every caveat in this guide traces back to those lines.
Torsion spring colors by wire diameter
On a torsion spring the color marks the wire diameter, and since eleven colors cover 49 listed sizes, each color stands for three to five different wires.
| Color | Every listed wire size (in.) | Sizes from .177 to .3125 (in.) |
|---|---|---|
| Orange | .1200, .1920, .2730, .3625, .4844 | .1920, .2730 |
| Light blue | .1250, .2000, .2830, .3750, .4900 | .2000, .2830 |
| Yellow | .1350, .2070, .2890, .3938, .5000 | .2070, .2890 |
| White | .1390, .2187, .2950, .4062, .5312 | .2187, .2950 |
| Red | .1430, .2253, .2970, .4218, .5625 | .2253, .2970 |
| Brown | .1480, .2340, .3065, .4305, .6250 | .2340, .3065 |
| Tan | .1562, .2375, .3125, .4375 | .2375, .3125 |
| Green | .1620, .2437, .3195, .4531 | .2437 |
| Gold | .1770, .2500, .3310, .4615 | .1770, .2500 |
| Purple | .1820, .2570, .5938 | .1820, .2570 |
| Blue | .1875, .2625, .3437, .4687 | .1875, .2625 |
| Black | Unspecified or not on the list | Unspecified |
The colors mostly run in a set order as the wire gets heavier, then start over, though purple drops out of the heavier rounds and turns up once more at .5938. That repetition is how gold ends up marking .1770, .2500, .3310 and .4615 inch wire on the same list.
The right-hand column is the one that matters on a house. One spring supplier’s residential wire chart runs from .177 to .3125 inch, and in that band each color covers no more than two sizes. A gold spring there is .1770 or .2500 wire, and a tape across ten coils, 1 3/4 inches against 2 1/2, separates them at a glance.
Extension spring colors by door weight
On an extension spring the color marks door weight in ten-pound steps from 50 to 300 pounds, and the weight listed is what the pair lifts together, one spring on each side.
| Color | Door weight for a pair of springs (lb) |
|---|---|
| Red | 50, 150, 250 |
| Brown | 60, 160, 260 |
| Orange | 70, 170, 270 |
| Gold | 80, 180, 280 |
| Light blue | 90, 190, 290 |
| Tan | 100, 200, 300 |
| White | 110, 210 |
| Green | 120, 220 |
| Yellow | 130, 230 |
| Blue | 140, 240 |
| Black | Unspecified or not on the list |
Ten colors cover 26 weights, so the cycle restarts every 100 pounds. A spring supplier tells buyers to give the door weight along with the color for exactly that reason, and Wikipedia’s garage door article describes the same painted-end convention.
Weight is the number that decides these doors. An insulation kit, a heavier replacement section or several coats of paint can leave a door that has outgrown the color on its springs. DASMA’s sheet on added weight warns that extra weight can throw a door out of balance.
Two marks on one torsion spring
A torsion spring can carry two separate color marks, one for its wire size and one for its winding direction, and the two say different things.
A spring supplier describes the pair: the DASMA color for wire size, plus a red or black winding mark, and it stresses that the wire color does not show which side of the door a spring belongs on. The winding convention comes from DASMA’s terminology, where red goes with the left side and a right-hand wind, black with the right side and a left-hand wind.
Black is the color to read carefully. In the paint code it means an unlisted size, while on a cone it means the right side, so a black cone holding a gold-striped spring is gold-coded wire mounted on the right. Our measuring guide shows how to confirm the wind from the coil itself.
What a spring color tells you, and what it does not
A color answers one question about a spring and leaves the rest open, which is the plain meaning of DASMA’s phrase partial identification.
| Question about the spring | What the color tells you |
|---|---|
| Torsion wire diameter | Narrows it to the sizes that share the color |
| Door weight on an extension spring | Gives the weight within a 100-pound cycle |
| Inside diameter | Nothing; the cone casting shows it |
| Length | Nothing; the spring has to be measured |
| Winding direction | Nothing from the wire color; check the cone or the wire’s tail |
| Cycle rating | Nothing |
| Finish, oil tempered or galvanized | Nothing; the look of the steel shows it |
When the paint is hard to read, missing or mixed
When the mark is unreadable, absent or different on the two springs, the spring is identified by measurement, which DASMA asks for on older installations regardless.
If rust covers the coil where a stripe would sit, the rust matters more than the missing paint. DASMA’s sheet on cycle life says rust reduces the effective area of spring wire and with it the spring’s strength, so that spring deserves a closer look on its own account.
Older springs can also follow a system that has since been dropped. One parts retailer notes that two color systems have been used and one is no longer current, so an old stripe may not line up with today’s chart.
Mixed colors on one door are not automatically a mistake. Makers and earlier installers sometimes pair two wire sizes that share the door’s weight, and a spring supplier tells buyers to measure both springs for that reason.
Springs built for winder systems carry their makers’ own markings. On a Clopay EZ-SET spring the paint dot refers to strength and printed words give the side, while a Wayne Dalton TorqueMaster Plus spring shows its hand on the perch at one end.
How we use the color from your photo
A clear photo of the paint lets us narrow the likely wire sizes before we drive out, and a tape at the door decides between them.
Photograph the stripe on each spring, the cone colors and, on the broken spring only, a tape across ten coils. Keep the door closed and the opener’s plug out; a door whose spring has snapped is too heavy to lift and must not run on the opener, and nobody belongs underneath it.
Leave the cones, the center bracket and the bottom brackets alone, including any bolt with a red head, because each one carries whatever tension is still on the shaft. Winding is a job for a technician with proper bars, which is also where DASMA’s color sheet sends spring replacement.