Brake Caliper Paint

[rayray086]

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That looks good, really dig the 350Z-look. Did the clearcoat dry quickly? I helped a mate do his and we used the clearcoat and they just wouldn't dry.

[Manaz]

The video is pretty cool, thanks!!

It is, but I'd personally recommend removing the calipers and spraying them off the car. You're unlikely to miss bits or overspray the car if your masking doesn't go to plan that way.

[Ozram]

That looks good, really dig the 350Z-look. Did the clearcoat dry quickly? I helped a mate do his and we used the clearcoat and they just wouldn't dry.

They are still a little tacky. The temperature was getting down in the late afternoon when I put the final coat on and it hasn't been over the 21C that they claim is the minimum temp to use the paint since then. Maybe I need to drive them and dry 'em from the inside

Did your mate's ones eventually dry?

[rayray086]

We wiped them down with some thinner then recoated the calipers with the paint. We were thinking of just bolting on the wheels and give it a drive around as you say as well but then decided not to as we'd think the brake dust would just adhere to them (since they were tacky to touch).

[tigger73]

Digging up an old thread. I did a cosmetic upgrade on my brake calipers on the weekend - painted the standard metal finish.

Pretty simple process:

1) Head down to your local auto store and buy a can of high temperature brake caliper paint (should be able to pick these up for around $20).

2) Remove wheels and clean brake calipers (degreaser + karcher high pressure cleaner), then allow to dry (or hit it with a heat gun)

3) Mask up everything that you don't want to get painted.

4) Paint away - lots of light coats to avoid paint runs

5) Wheels back on, stand back and admire your handiwork








I put the R decal on which is made out of heat resistant vinyl and then put a couple of coats of clear over the top.

We'll see how they go. Kept it stealth in black so as not to draw too much attention.

[rshuwy]

thanks for the information mate

I painted mine red If you want someone else to do it, all you need to do is give it to any body/repair shop. It's a fairly easy task for anyone, so if you've got some time and patience I reckon it's better to just do it yourself.

Here's what needs to be done:

1. Jack the car up and take either the two front or two rear wheels off (I did mine two at a time because I didn't use a hoist)
2. Take the wheel off and undo the two(?) brake caliper bolts on the brakes. They are situated behind the caliper, and they bolt onto the ''caliper carrier'', which is the metal bar that bolts the calipers to the hub.
3. Once the bolts are undone, take them right out and leave them aside (I suggest at this point that you make sure your handbrake is off if you're doing the rear brakes). Pry the caliper off of the brake pads and disconnect/take off the brake pads and leave them aside.
At this point, I left the brake caliper on the brake hose and just held it up balanced on two blocks of wood so I could mask it up and paint it without taking the brake lines off. If you want to take the brake lines off you'll need to stop the fluid coming out with a stopper or something similar.
4. Undo the two(?) caliper carrier bolts. These are bolted onto the back of the hub. They're also usually quite tight!
5. Take the carriers off the hub and put them somewhere where you can do some spraying.
6. Use brake cleaner and a wire brush to agitate/clean the brake calipers and carriers. Spray it on, leave for ~10 seconds then scrub until clean (it's not detrimental to worry about 100% cleanliness, just so long as most of the build up is scrubbed off that should be fine).
7. You need to mask up the car if you're going to leave the brake calipers on while painting. First of all, grab lots of newspaper and masking tape. Mask off the hub and stick newspaper from the hub to the edge of the wheel arch, leaving the caliper exposed out of the wheel arch. Tape up the bits of the caliper that aren't to be painted (ie, the pots and the hose etc - basically whatever you don't see when the wheel is on). Then just tape up around the car (I'd say a 1-1.5metre radius) for overspray.
8. Get your paint out, and spray evenly over the brake calipers (and the carriers, wherever you've put them!). It doesn't matter if you don't cover everything in the first coat. Try not to spray on too heavily as you'll get runs in the paint. Remember, lighter coats are better
9. Apply coats of the paint every 10 minutes or so, trying to cover everything. Do as many coats as you want until the area you're painting is completely covered/you're happy with the paint and then leave it to dry for a few hours.
(I should note that you can spray a clear coat onto the brakes now for added protection but I didn't do it.)
10. Put everything back together carefully (so you don't scratch the paint) and let the car down. I would advise to let the brakes dry for another few hours at least, if not overnight, so that any brake dust that comes from your next drive will settle on top of COMPLETELY DRIED paint



Hope that helps mate. If you're not going to do it yourself, you might end up paying a bit in labour!