Painting the brake calipers

[Dre's One]

I am planning on painting my brake calipers but I've got a few questions for you guys since I didn't really find a DIY.

1. Do I take the calipers off? I've seen some people leaving them on and covering their inside.
2. What sandpaper is the best to use?
3. Do I use a spraycan or a brush? I've seen both being used.

I'm painting them in a sort of light blue color

[JM35]

I actually just painted my calipers recently on my RX8, I made a DIY video for it but haven't gotten to uploading it and putting it all together yet.

If you want them to look the best and don't want to get paint on your brake pads, rotors, etc. then take your calipers off. I kept mine on and just taped, trash bagged, and newspapered everything but the calipers up. Was really late at night so I wasn't too careful or precise. If you are mechanically capable of taking the calipers off, go for it, but keep in mind you have to mess with the brake lines and the brake pads and all that etc.

I didn't sandpaper mine because it was literally just shredding the metal off of my calipers, so I just took a wet rag and wiped them down the best I could. I don't think it needs to be sandpapered honestly, ive done this to two cars and didn't sand paper either. If you are going to use sandpaper, use a very very fine sandpaper, so it doesn't just scrape the metal on your calipers.

Use a spray can, a brush will be waaay harder and cause the paint to have uneven lines and an uneven surface. It will come out a lot better with spray cans.

As for paint, you have to use high temperature paint. I use engine paint, I believe the brand was vmh or something and then duplicolor engine paint for the color. Paint wise youre going to need a high temp Primer, which you apply first. Then you need the color paint that you want, I used Duplicolor High Temp Engine Paint that was tealish blue, and then your going to need a high temperature clear coat to protect the color and add a nice finish.

Hope this helps, let me know if you have any other questions!

[Zombie1]

No! Do not hand paint it either let a shop paint and clear them or have them powder coated. They never look good sprayed or brushed on by hand. IMHO

[JM35]

Spray works perfectly good in my opinion, the 2 cars I did it on look pretty good, and great from a distance.

If you have the money, having a shop do it is clearly the best option but theyre going to charge you by the hour and theyre still going to charge you when theyre sitting around letting the paint dry.

[Yeineken]

Fyi. You don't have to use high temperature. Your brakes will never get hot enough unless you track the car.

[JM35]

It might not be absolutely necessary, but why not use high temp when there's a possibility heat could melt the paint. I would recommend always using high temp. Or atleast use a high temp primer.

[Yeineken]

Originally Posted by JM35

It might not be absolutely necessary, but why not use high temp when there's a possibility heat could melt the paint. I would recommend always using high temp. Or atleast use a high temp primer.

High temp paints only have so many color options I have found. I don't really prefer the colors that they run in. So you can get by using regular car paint to have a lot more options with your color choice. Just my preference.

[muddtt]

I've done a few cars and have always left the calipers on. Just masked eveything off. I usually use a plastic bag over the rotor, painters tape for the stuff in between, and newspaper to cover the over spray.

I usually used some type of high temp paint. Either caliper spray paint or the spray cans that have the picture of the cooking grill on it. They usually cover the normal colors that you'd want: yellow, blue, red, black.

I usually just prepped with brake parts cleaner all over the place with a wire brush. Some light sanding couldn't hurt at all.

Obviously spray paint won't be good enough for some people, and not taking off the calipers won't be good enough for others, and not powder coating...and on and on. It's your car, if you want to use sharpie markers you got a thumbs up from me.

[ShocknAwe]

http://www.tirerack.com/brakes/acces...tail.jsp?ID=41

[bmw1racer]

Dupli-Color also has a kit:

http://www.amazon.com/Dupli-Color-BC...+caliper+paint

and Rust-Oleum:

http://www.amazon.com/Rust-Oleum-Aut...+caliper+paint

[Dre's One]

Thanks for the quick responses from all of you! Great!

I don't think I will take the calipers off. I figured I wasn't getting them powdercoated, so why take them off...
I will use the heat temp for sure, thanks for the tip!

[muddtt]

Originally Posted by Dre's One

Thanks for the quick responses from all of you! Great!

I don't think I will take the calipers off. I figured I wasn't getting them powdercoated, so why take them off...
I will use the heat temp for sure, thanks for the tip!

I usually used a good plastic grocery shopping bag over the rotor and it slipped right under the brake pad to cover it perfectly.

[J-Rod]

I sanded just a bit. Used prep all. Found high temp engine enamel in (as close as possible) Bavarian blue. And a bmw lettering sticker kit on eBay, masked and done. Results are awesome. Everyone loves my bsm with blue calipers, and they match the blue in the wheel center cap. Oh, and over the stickers I used high temp clear coat so the heat wouldn't peel them off. Worked great.

[J-Rod]

http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showt...=873445&page=2

[JM35]

Originally Posted by muddtt

I usually used a good plastic grocery shopping bag over the rotor and it slipped right under the brake pad to cover it perfectly.

Exactly what I did right here except I used white trash bags. Will slip right under the rotor and cover most of the brake pad and the rotor as well of course.