Painting your brake calipers is easy, really 8)

Start with jacking the wheel that you will be painting off the ground. Refer to your owners manual if you are stuck at this stage.

Remove the wheel from the rotor, and put it away, far away, or else you will end up with red tyres/mags!

http://www.sniperz.net/new/albums/album37/aaa.jpg

The next stage involves a wire brush… just brush the caliper till most of the brake dust is gone, no need to get anal about it and make it spotless, just clean enough, you will know when its clean enough :lol:

http://www.sniperz.net/new/albums/album37/aab.jpg

Next you have to mask off the caliper from the rest of the car… unless you want to pull a Blakie and paint absolutely everything ;) Others will do the extra and completely unnecessary step of dismantling the entire brake system… waste of time.

I found it easiest to get a plastic shopping bag, wrap up the whole area, then just rip a hole in the bag where the caliper is and let it poke through, like in the picture. If it is a windy day, you may want to mask off the surrounding paintwork and shock absorber/spring setup. I also masked off certain bits and pieces on the caliper which I felt didn’t need a coat of paint, its an optional step.

http://www.sniperz.net/new/albums/album37/aac.jpg

Once the area is masked off to your satisfaction, grab your can of Brake/Caliper paint, I got the above “VHT” brand paint specifically for the purpose of painting brakes at SuperCheap Auto for $15.96. It dries in 20mins, or in my case, 5mins, because it was out in the sun :)

Paint all you want. I did 2 coats on mine, and it was plenty. Feel free to do more, but I think 2 coats would be the absolute minimum.

http://www.sniperz.net/new/albums/album37/aad.jpg

Let the paint dry, then rip off all the masking. Replace the wheel as per se the owners manual, then take the car for a drive around the block. This allows for the paint that may have gotten on the disc to be rubbed off by the brake pad.

The end result I think you will find to be quite pleasing :D

http://www.sniperz.net/new/albums/album37/aae.jpg
http://www.sniperz.net/new/albums/album37/aaf.jpg[/img]

Good job, I think this will be helpfull to alot of people

i think we have just covered our first topic for the FAQ.

by the way, hows that going anyway??

i think we have just covered our first topic for the FAQ.

by the way, hows that going anyway??

thanks i actually bought a can of black VHT yesterday i am going to paint the rotors as well because i have vrx mags and they show a bit of the rotor.

i will take pics before and after as well ..

like booya said time to move that to the new FAQ :)

btw on a white car those look HOT

fysh,

What colour do you think you'll paint the rotor?
I think if you painted it glossy black it would fit in with the centre of the VRX mags just nicely.


RessurectoR,

Thanks for the great post, I'll definately be doing this to mine in a few weeks.

Nice how to :)

I would like to add one thing though.

Being "anal" about cleaning the calliper is the best thing you can do :p The cleaner the surface the better the paint will stick and the better the finish will be.

But anyway, looks great and good job :D

fysh,

What colour do you think you'll paint the rotor?
I think if you painted it glossy black it would fit in with the centre of the VRX mags just nicely.


RessurectoR,

Thanks for the great post, I'll definately be doing this to mine in a few weeks.

yep thats what im painting them already got the glossy black can ready to go.

Well, I started on my over the long weekend...

I painted the rotor black with 4 coats. It went really well and looks 100 %. (I painted the rotor b/c you'll see it with my mags)

I then moved on to the caliper.. Looking at your pics RessurectoR, it looks like you painted the back of the actual pad and all.. I decided I didn't want this so my masking was a little tricker.
I did the right hand side of the caliper first (The 'rail' - don't know the name) then when that was done&dry I moved all my masking to the other side and did the bulk of it (masked out the actual pad)..
All in all I think it would have come out really well if I had waited long enough for it to dry before moving the masking.. I smudged the paint in more than one place, and it got some newspaper stuck to it.

Took me a couple of hours to get the one done. I've lernt alot doing this one, so the others will defiantely be better. I'm tempted to remove the caliper completely, but I think I'll convince myself not to.
I imagine I'll probably come back and do this caliper again b/c I'll be better at it by the time I do the others.

I'll be getting my rubber this week, so it should look pretty funny driving around with one bright red caliper ! haha

-Dan

haha man u beat me to it!! hehe

i was getting around to doing this some day soon, hha, ah well, job well done, i have the same pics, except i used a large piece of old sheet which i just wrapped in and around like u did with the shopping bag

ill post pictures too soon, when i get home (at tafe)

also, wats everyones obsession with red!! i know it looks great, but its startin to get on my nerves, i went black, i know u cant see it, but it looks better than rust! im going to do my ear calipers a dark blue, see how that looks, then maybe a silver, give it a few tests

Trav

haha man u beat me to it!! hehe

i was getting around to doing this some day soon, hha, ah well, job well done, i have the same pics, except i used a large piece of old sheet which i just wrapped in and around like u did with the shopping bag

ill post pictures too soon, when i get home (at tafe)

also, wats everyones obsession with red!! i know it looks great, but its startin to get on my nerves, i went black, i know u cant see it, but it looks better than rust! im going to do my ear calipers a dark blue, see how that looks, then maybe a silver, give it a few tests

Trav

i think the best way not neccesarily the easiest way is to take the callipers off , im going to do the rotors anyway but its nothing more than what you would do when changing the brakes so i dont care.

time to go buy a cheap 4 buck bleeding kit and some cheap as chips clamps ;)

Howdy Grecy

I've been umming and rring about this stuff. The calipers in mine are not the biggest issue - but the rotors are VERY visible through the Adrenalins (ROH). And, as you know, the rotors are quite rusty. The rust would need to be removed completely and undercoat applied for "anal" results. Did you do so? And if you did, what did you find as the best method of sanding/scraping the rust off?
I guess you could lift up the front, turn engine on, engage the gear and use some sandpaper while the wheel turns.... ;)
NOOOOOOOO - kids, don't do this at home! Just kidding! :roll:




I painted the rotor black with 4 coats. It went really well and looks 100 %. (I painted the rotor b/c you'll see it with my mags)
-Dan

Update on this.

I only got my mags put on two days ago, so I'm driving around with one red caliper.. haha looks funny as.

Anyway, The painted rotor is 100% excellent.. on that wheel you kinda don't even notice that it's there.. on the others, the rust sticks out like a sore thumb. I've also decided to paint the edge of the disk (where the holes are) as that rust looks crap too.
Anyone know how hard it would be to get the dust cover off? I rekon that'd look good too. Definately worth the effort to do the rotor.
For preperation I just scrubbed it really really hard with a wire brush.. I know that's not the best rust prep, but it was all surface and the paint took to the surface really well. After the wire brush I scrubbed everything down with hot soapy water and a big brush.

The caliper, however, is another story.
I'm happy that I only painted the caliper and not the back of the pad too.. the job I did was a little dody, but I think I can do it better next time (and re-do the dody one too)
I've been wondering though, If I can coat the caliper with a gloss coat.
My mags are shiny silver, the center of them is gloss black, the rotor is gloss black, the dust cover is going to be gloss black.. and the caliper is kinda a dull red.. I think it would look 100% better if I could get it to gloss red.
The VHT caliper paint I bought is "racing red".. anyone got any suggestions to get it more glossy? Can I get a clear-gloss-coat of heat resistant paint?
I also found that after wire brush and soapy water the paint didn't take to the calipers anywhere near as well as the rotor.. not sure why, I'll see how I go on the others.

anyway, I'll be working on it all weekend and will have pics up by mid next week.

Good luck guys,

-Dan

I dont think you'll find clear heat resistant paint, I've never seen it.

Try getting a different brand of heat resistant paint. And the colour on the lids are never a good indication of the colour of the paint unfortunately so it's like a lucky dip!

mine...
Front: Black (a month ago

Rear: Blue (yestrday)

experimentation atm with colours :)

...

anyone got a tech, (or knows how to) get the caliper actually off?

Trav

I talked to my old man about getting the calipers off.. He said it's easy to get one end off, so they "swing around" but getting the whole thing off is a pain he said.
They put a special greese on the bolts so they can get them extra tight and so they don't come off.
He said they are also probably the tightest bolts on the entire car, so you want to put em back properly.

While we're at it, and seeings it doesn't use any AM bandwidth.

Mine:

First I painted the 'rail'
http://opax.swin.edu.au/~grecy/amy/Images/IMGP1186.jpg

Then the 'body'
http://opax.swin.edu.au/~grecy/amy/Images/IMGP1185.jpg

Then the rotor
http://opax.swin.edu.au/~grecy/amy/Images/IMGP1188.jpg

Notice how the two sections of the caliper are seperate, with no paint inbetween.. I'm really gald I did it like this, even if it did take ages.
http://opax.swin.edu.au/~grecy/amy/Images/IMGP1187.jpg

Last one. This is a good example of why you should paint the edge of the disc. This was the first one I did, and I need to re-do it.
It doesn't look like you did that Tiphareth, so you can still see some rust.
http://opax.swin.edu.au/~grecy/amy/Images/IMGP1174.jpg

-Dan

Gosh, you guys did good job at it.

For one sec there, I thought Grecy was going to have RED and BLUE Calipers... :lol: (just a bit doopy sitting in the office) Outside isn't any better though.. :cry: :cry: :cry:

Wish I could go for a drive or something...

I Think the Racing Red paint is a bit Glossy, not as shinny as your MAGs of-course, but if you get some light on them, you can actually see nice reflection of the surround.

of-the side, I think the Stock Headlight Lens are making my new lights seem less bright, I think it's time to save up for some NICE PARABOLICS and clear lens. Might take a while before I can order them in as they cost $450. errr..

My priorities gone up-side down... was meant to get the Filter before the Diamond vision lights.

:roll:

NICE now all i have to do is get the time to do mine :)